Dragon School

"Old Dragon" redirects here. For other uses, see Dragon (disambiguation).

The Dragon School

Motto	Arduus ad Solem (Striving towards the Sun)
Established	1877
Type	Preparatory School
Religion	Anglican
Head Master	John R. Baugh
Founder	Rev. A. E. Clarke
Location	Bardwell Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 6SS England
Students	650 (approx.)
Gender	Co-Educational
Ages	8–13
Houses	9
Colours	Navy & Mustard
Publication	The Draconian
Former pupils	Old Dragons
Website	dragonschool.org

Coordinates: 51°46′05″N 1°15′23″W / 51.76818°N 1.25639°W / 51.76818; -1.25639

The Dragon School is a British coeducational, preparatory school in the city of Oxford, founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School, or OPS. It is primarily known as a boarding school, although it also takes day pupils. Although established primarily as a boys' school, there have always been girls as day pupils at the school, and girls were first admitted as boarders in 1994.

The school accepts pupils from the age of 8 ("E Block") through to 13 ("A Block"), although an associated "pre-prep", Lynams, accepts children from age 4 to the age of 8. As of September 2001, the school had 840 pupils, of both sexes.

History

School House at the Dragon School, on Bardwell Road in North Oxford.

The Dragon School was founded in 1877, and was originally named the Preparatory School and sometimes called Lynam's Preparatory School. The school was started by a committee of Oxford dons. The school's original remit was to provide a high standard of academic grounding and pastoral care to the children of professors of the University of Oxford. Indeed, many early teachers were or had been 'dons' themselves. Among the most active of the dons was a Mr George, so the first pupils decided to call themselves "Dragons" after Saint George and the Dragon. The 'Dragon' name, which has been attributed to an off-hand quip by a teacher at rival school Summer Fields, gained popularity, and in time, the school was officially renamed to the Dragon School.

Teaching started in September 1877 at rooms in Balliol Hall, located in St Giles', central Oxford, under A. E. Clarke.^[1] The school expanded and moved within two years to 17 Crick Road, which became known as "School House".^[2] Charles Cotterill Lynam (known as the "Skipper") took over as headmaster in 1886. In 1894, C. C. Lynam took out a lease on land at the current site at Bardwell Road. £4,000 was quickly raised through subscriptions from local parents for the erection of new school buildings.^[3] and the move was completed within a year. The school was known as Oxford Preparatory School and also Lynam's, but gradually its current name was adopted.

The present site in Bardwell Road in central North Oxford is just to the west of the River Cherwell. It became the second school to take part in the Harrow History Prize in 1895, and many of its pupils have won this over the years, an early winner being Miss Kit Lynam. The school was run for many years by the Lynam family.^[4]

Traditions

Dragon School playing fields off Bardwell Road.

Like many other prep schools, the Dragon has a number of long-standing traditions, among the more notable being the use of nicknames for teachers (to their faces — 'Inky', 'Guv', 'Smudge', 'Putty', 'Moocow', 'Lofty', 'Jumbo', 'Splash','PABS', etc.) and calling female teachers 'Ma' (e.g., "Ma Jones"). Previously, some male teachers had been called 'Pa' (e.g., Mr Wyeth-Webb, who was known affectionately as 'Pa Wa-Wa'). This nickname was feminised when male staff members' wives became important figures in their own right (e.g., 'Ma Wa-Wa'). Ultimately, the masculine form fell out of common use, but the female form has remained popular. Temporary teaching assistants (usually in their late teens or early twenties, often natives of former British colonies) are known as 'stooges'. As is the case at most boarding institutions, the Dragon has developed its own unique lexicon besides, incorporating a slang particular to the school ('pill' meaning ball, 'with you' meaning pass, and so on).

Headmasters

'Inky' as a young schoolmaster with his old Alvis car on the school playing fields.

The following have been headmasters of the school, several from the Lynam family:^[4]

• Rev A.E. Clarke 1877–1886
• C.C. Lynam ('Skipper') 1886–1920
• A.E. Lynam ('Hum') 1920–1942
• J.H.R. Lynam ('Joc') 1942–1965
• R.K. Ingram ('Inky') 1965–1989
• M.W.A. Gover ('Guv') 1972–1989 (head of day pupils, co-headmaster with 'Inky')
• N.P.V. Richardson 1989–1992
• H.E.P. Woodcock 1992–1993
• R.S. Trafford 1993–2002
• J.R. Baugh 2002–

Lynams

Lynams is the Dragon School pre-prep named after the first headmasters of the Dragon School. This is where children may start at the age of 4 and leave at the age of 8 (Year 3). From here they can move on to the main school or they may choose to move on to a different school. The current Headmistress is Mrs West.

Notable alumni and alumnae

Former pupils of the Dragon School are referred to as Old Dragons. The following people were students at one time:^[5]

• Robert Acland (born 1941), pioneer microsurgeon and anatomist^{[citation needed]}
• Robert Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Ilminster (born 1927), civil servant
• Sir Gawain Bell (1909–1995) colonial administrator, Governor of Northern Nigeria
• Henry Barratt (born 1983), rugby union player
• Michael Beloff QC (born 1942), barrister, President of Trinity College, Oxford
• Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984), poet, Poet Laureate from 1972
• Sir Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989), composer
• Alain de Botton (born 1969), writer and television producer
• Humphry Bowen (1929–2002), chemist and botanist
• Jonathan Bowen (born 1956), computer scientist
• Julian Brazier (born 1953), politician
• Henry Brett, polo player, captain England polo team 2003–06
• Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart (1942–2008) politician
• William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir (1916–2008), novelist, poet and statesman
• Sir Giles Bullard (1926–1992), diplomat
• Sir Julian Bullard (1928—2006), diplomat
• Humphrey Carpenter (1946–2005), journalist, author, and musician
• Tristram Cary (1925–2008), composer.
• Christopher Cazenove (1945–2010), actor
• Leonard Cheshire VC (1917–1992), World War II RAF pilot and activist for the disabled
• Colin Clark (1905–1989), economist
• Hugh Dancy (born 1975), actor
• Jack Davenport (born 1973), actor
• Quentin Davies, politician
• Ralph Henry Carless Davis (1918–1991), historian
• Cressida Dick (born 1960), senior police officer
• Oliver Dimsdale (born 1972), actor
• Lady Antonia Fraser (born 1932, née Pakenham), historical author
• Tim Fry, (1934–2004) designer of the Hillman Imp^{[citation needed]}
• Cyril Gadney, rugby player and president of the RFU^{[citation needed]}
• The Rt. Hon. Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963), politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955–1963
• Jonathan Gili (1943–2004), documentary film maker
• J.B.S. Haldane (1892–1964), geneticist and evolutionary biologist
• Tim Henman (born 1974), tennis player
• Tom Hiddleston (born 1981), actor
• Brent Hoberman, co-founder of lastminute.com
• Tom Hollander (born 1967), actor
• Peter Hopkirk (born 1930), journalist, author
• Air Marshal Sir Peter Horsley (1921–2001) Royal Air Force commander
• Frances Houghton (born 1980), rower and Olympic silver medallist
• Lord Hunt (born 1942), leading authority on turbulence modelling
• Sir Tim Hunt, biochemist and Nobel laureate
• Brian Inglis (1916–1993), journalist and historian
• Pico Iyer (born 1957), journalist and author
• Peter Jay (born 1937), television journalist, and former BBC economics editor
• Patrick Jenkin PC (Lord Jenkin of Roding, born 1926), politician
• David Jessel, journalist
• Stephen Jessel, journalist^{[citation needed]}
• Dom Joly (born 1968), comedian
• Sir John Kendrew (1917–1997), molecular biologist and Nobel Laureate
• Andrew Lack (born 1953), biologist and botanist
• Hugh Laurie OBE (born 1959), British comedian and actor
• David Lewis (born 1947) Lord Mayor of the City of London 2007–08
• Leo Lewis, journalist
• Hugh Miles (born 1977), journalist and author
• Naomi Mitchison (née Haldane, 1897–1999), British novelist and poet
• Philip Moore, Baron Moore of Wolvercote (1921–2009),Civil servant and personal private secretary to the Queen
• Robert Moore, ITN correspondent^[6]
• John Paul Morrison (born 1937) inventor of Flow-based programming
• Sir John Mortimer (1923–2009), playwright (his time at the school in the 1930s is fictionalised as "Cliffhanger School" in his play "A Voyage Round My Father"), barrister and novelist
• Sir Peter Newsam (born 1928) educator (also Staff)
• Sir Roger Norrington (born 1934), musician and conductor
• Ed O'Brien (born 1968), musician (member of Radiohead)
• Rageh Omaar (born 1967), journalist and writer
• Julian Opie (born 1958), artist
• Stephen Oppenheimer (born 1947), genetic researcher and author
• Ronnie Poulton-Palmer (born c.1890) killed in World War I, rugby player
• Jonathan Pugh (born 1962) cartoonist
• Sir Timothy Raison (born 1929), politician, journalist and author
• Jack Randle VC (1917–1944), distinguished serviceman, T/Captain, 2nd Bn. The Royal Norfolk Regiment
• Adrian Rawlins (born 1958), film and television actor
• Andrew Robinson (born 1957), author and editor
• William Leefe Robinson VC (1895–1918), distinguished serviceman, lieutenant, 39 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps
• Aubrey de Sélincourt (1894–1962) writer
• Nicholas Shakespeare (born 1957), journalist and novelist
• Nevil Shute (1899–1960), novelist
• Frank Sidgwick (1879–1939) founder of publishers Sidgwick and Jackson^{[citation needed]}
• Sir John Slessor, Marshal of the Royal Air Force
• Sir John Smyth VC, distinguished serviceman, lieutenant, 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, Indian Army
• Richard Sorabji (born 1934) academic and historian of classical philosophy
• Timothy Sprigge (1932–2007) philosopher
• Jon Stallworthy (born 1935) academic and poet
• Rory Stewart OBE (born 1973), politician, author and diplomat
• Christopher Tolkien, son of J. R. R. Tolkien
• Peter Tranchell (1922–1993), musician, composer, and teacher
• Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, Royal Navy admiral
• Sam Waley-Cohen (born 1982), jockey and businessman
• Tom Ward (born 1971), actor (Silent Witness)
• Paul Watkins (born 1963), Booker Prize-nominated author
• Emma Watson (born 1990), actress
• Admiral Sir Hugo White (born 1939), Royal Navy admiral, Commander-in-Chief Fleet 1992–95
• Jack Whitehall (born 1988), comedian
• Conrad Wolfram (born 1970), technologist
• Stephen Wolfram (born 1959), physicist, computer programmer
• Shaun Wylie (1913–2009), mathematician and World War II codebreaker
• Baroness Young (1926–2002), politician
• Max Irons (Born 1985), Actor

Staff

• Gerd Sommerhoff

Notes

The dragon-like creature shown on the crest is technically a wyvern.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Jaques, C. H. (1977). "I: Beginnings". A Dragon Century: 1877 – 1977. Blackwell's. pp. 1–7. 
2. ^ Jaques, C. H. (1977). "II: The Crick Road Era". A Dragon Century: 1877 – 1977. Blackwell's. pp. 7–21. 
3. ^ Jaques, C. H. (1977). "III: To Bardwell Road". A Dragon Century: 1877 – 1977. Blackwell's. pp. 22–35. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Jaques, C. H. (1977). A Dragon Century: 1877 – 1977. Blackwell's. pp. 10–11. 
5. ^ "Eminent Dragons". Dragon School. http://www.dragonschool.org/old-dragons/alumni/our-history/eminent-dragons.html. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
6. ^ http://www.suttontrust.com/reports/Journalists-Backgrounds-final-report.pdf

External links

• The Dragon School website