123-449: Findlay Southerns Stephenson Towlson Woodhouse Grove School ('The Grove') is a private , co-educational , day and boarding school and sixth form . it is located to the north of Apperley Bridge , West Yorkshire , England (Apperley Bridge is located in the City of Bradford , however the school is located just over
246-616: A Methodist middle class boarding and day school under a new policy laid down by the Wesleyan Conference. The sermon on the New Foundation Day was given by the Reverend Robert Newton Young, himself a former pupil of the school between 1837 and 1843, and the sermon was based around the text “Bone et Fidelis” or “Good and Faithful” which was to become the new school motto to the present day. By the summer term of 1884,
369-508: A board of governors, and are owned by a mixture of corporations, trusts and private individuals. They are independent of many of the regulations and conditions that apply to state-funded schools . For example, the schools do not have to follow the National Curriculum for England , although many such schools do. Historically, the term private school referred to a school in private ownership, in contrast to an endowed school subject to
492-492: A boarding school twenty miles away in Mirfield , Roe Head (now part of Hollybank Special School ), where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor . In 1833 she wrote a novella, The Green Dwarf , using the name Wellesley. Around about 1833, her stories shifted from tales of the supernatural to more realistic stories. She returned to Roe Head as a teacher from 1835 to 1838. Unhappy and lonely as
615-405: A charitable end in itself, irrespective of poverty. The transformation of free charitable foundations into institutions which sometimes charge fees came about readily: the foundation would only afford minimal facilities, so that further fees might be charged to lodge, clothe and otherwise maintain the scholars, to the private profit of the trustees or headmaster. Also, facilities already provided by
738-488: A commemorative wall plaque at the school, did not catch on. Few alterations were needed to convert the house for use as a school, but the barn was cleaned up as a schoolroom and the stables converted as a chapel. The drawing room became a lecture and study room and thirty wooden cribs (or cots) were provided for the boys to sleep on. The school opened on 8 January 1812 under the headship of John Fennell as first master and with an initial roll of twenty seven pupils. For much of
861-507: A condition can be borne, and the internal conflict brought about by social repression of individual desire. Its main character, Lucy Snowe, travels abroad to teach in a boarding school in the fictional town of Villette, where she encounters a culture and religion different from her own and falls in love with a man (Paul Emanuel) whom she cannot marry. Her experiences result in a breakdown but eventually, she achieves independence and fulfilment through running her own school. A substantial amount of
984-407: A cottage and a competency of our own, I do think we might live and love on till Death without being dependent on any third person for happiness... how sorely my heart longs for you I need not say... Less than ever can I taste or know pleasure till this work is wound up. And yet I often sit up in bed at night, thinking of and wishing for you. Some scholars believe it is possible that Charlotte Brontë
1107-542: A dramatic house fire. The book's style was innovative, combining Romanticism, naturalism with gothic melodrama , and broke new ground in being written from an intensely evoked first-person female perspective. Brontë believed art was most convincing when based on personal experience; in Jane Eyre she transformed the experience into a novel with universal appeal. Jane Eyre had immediate commercial success and initially received favourable reviews. G. H. Lewes wrote that it
1230-554: A first or an upper second-class degree than a student from the same social class background, of the same gender, who had achieved the same A-level score at a state school. The averaged effect was described as very variable across the social class and A-level attainment of the candidates; it was "small and not strongly significant for students with high A-level scores" (i.e. for students at the more selective universities) and "statistically significant mostly for students from lower occupationally-ranked social-class backgrounds". Additionally,
1353-470: A larger and somewhat one-sided correspondence in which Héger frequently appears not to have replied, reveal that she had been in love with a married man, although they are complex and have been interpreted in numerous ways, including as an example of literary self-dramatisation and an expression of gratitude from a former pupil. In 1980 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels , on
SECTION 10
#17329052497761476-570: A marginal difference and the pattern – particularly in relation to school background – is in any case inconsistent." A study commissioned by the Sutton Trust and published in 2010 focused mainly on the possible use of US-style SAT tests as a way of detecting a candidate's academic potential. Its findings confirmed those of the Smith & Naylor study in that it found that privately educated pupils who, despite their educational advantages, have only secured
1599-591: A novelist and has remained controversial among the sisters' biographers ever since. In view of the success of her novels, particularly Jane Eyre , Brontë was persuaded by her publisher to make occasional visits to London, where she revealed her true identity and began to move in more exalted social circles, becoming friends with Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Martineau whose sister Rachel had taught Gaskell's daughters. Brontë sent an early copy of Shirley to Martineau whose home at Ambleside she visited. The two friends shared an interest in racial relations and
1722-423: A particular religion, or schools may require pupils to attend religious services. Only a small minority of parents can afford school fees averaging (as of 2021) over £36,000 per annum for boarding pupils and £15,000 for day pupils, with additional costs for uniform, equipment and extra-curricular activities. Scholarships and means-tested bursaries to assist the education of the less well-off are usually awarded by
1845-462: A poor A-level score, and who therefore attend less selective universities, do less well than state educated degree candidates with the same low A-level attainment. In addition, as discussed in the 2010 Buckingham report "HMC Schools: a quantitative analysis", because students from state schools tended to be admitted on lower A-level entry grades, relative to entry grades it could be claimed that these students had improved more. A countervailing finding of
1968-440: A private escape where she could act out her desires and multiple identities". Charlotte's "predilection for romantic settings, passionate relationships, and high society is at odds with Branwell's obsession with battles and politics and her young sisters' homely North Country realism, none the less at this stage there is still a sense of the writings as a family enterprise". However, from 1831 onwards, Emily and Anne 'seceded' from
2091-569: A private fee-charging model following the 1965 Circular 10/65 and the subsequent cessation in 1975 of government funding support for direct grant grammar schools . There are around 2,600 independent schools in the UK, which educate around 615,000 children, some 7 per cent of all British school-age children and 18 per cent of pupils over the age of 16. In addition to charging tuition fees, they may also benefit from gifts, charitable endowments and charitable status . Some of these schools (1,300) are members of
2214-641: A private school admissions are at the discretion of the governing body of the school. In 2006, pupils at fee-paying schools made up 43 per cent of those selected for places at Oxford University and 38 per cent of those granted places at Cambridge University (although such pupils represent only 18 per cent of the 16 years old plus school population). In 2024, the Labour government removed the exemption from value-added tax (VAT) from private school fees. From January 2025, private schools will have to charge 20% VAT. A major area of debate in recent years has centred around
2337-399: A private school and 184,580 having attended a state school, 64.9 per cent of the former attained a first or upper second class degree, compared to 52.7 per cent of the latter. No statistical comparisons of the two groups (State vs Private) were reported, with or without controls for student characteristics such as entry qualifications, so no inferences can be drawn on the relative performance of
2460-519: A private school at secondary stage, via entrance examinations. Private schools, like state grammar schools, are free to select their pupils, subject to general legislation against discrimination . The principal forms of selection are financial, in that the pupil's family must be able to pay the school fees, and academic, the latter determined via interview and examination. Credit may also be given for musical, sporting or other talent. Entrance to some schools may be orientated to pupils whose parents practise
2583-549: A process which combines academic and other criteria. Private schools are generally academically selective, using the competitive Common Entrance Examination at ages 11+ or 13+. Schools often offer scholarships to attract abler pupils (which improves their average results); the standard sometimes approaches the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) intended for age 16. Poorly-performing pupils may be required to leave, and following GCSE results can be replaced in
SECTION 20
#17329052497762706-524: A publicly funded state school ). Prep (preparatory) schools (also known as "private schools") educate younger children up to the age of 13 to prepare them for entry to the public schools and other secondary schools. In 2023, the Independent Schools Council reports that private schools contribute £16.5 billion to gross value added (GVA) in Britain. Some former grammar schools converted to
2829-607: A publisher, although she was heartened by an encouraging response from Smith, Elder & Co. of Cornhill, who expressed an interest in any longer works Currer Bell might wish to send. Brontë responded by finishing and sending a second manuscript in August 1847. Six weeks later, Jane Eyre was published. It tells the story of a plain governess, Jane , who, after difficulties in her early life, falls in love with her employer, Mr Rochester . They marry, but only after Rochester's insane first wife, of whom Jane initially has no knowledge, dies in
2952-583: A recreation." This advice she respected but did not heed. In 1839 Brontë took up the first of many positions as governess to families in Yorkshire , a career she pursued until 1841. In particular, from May to July 1839 she was employed by the Sidgwick family at their summer residence, Stone Gappe , in Lothersdale, where one of her charges was John Benson Sidgwick (1835–1927), an unruly child who on one occasion threw
3075-408: A result, 119 of these schools became independent. Pupil numbers at independent schools fell slightly during the mid-1970s recession . At the same time participation at all secondary schools grew dramatically, so that the share of the independent sector fell from a little under 8 per cent in 1964 to reach a low of 5.7 per cent in 1978. Both these trends were reversed during the 1980s, and the share of
3198-436: A small car was bought by the school to ferry prepared meals from the main school kitchen to Brontë House, until a proper kitchen was built several years later. A boarding facility is provided for pupils. The school has three parts: The school has good examination results. The Sports Hall and theatre complex was built in 2003, followed by a Music and Performing Arts centre in 2009. A 25m competition pool Jubilee Swimming pool
3321-634: A son, Branwell , to be taken care of by her sister, Elizabeth Branwell . In August 1824, Patrick sent Charlotte, Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. Charlotte maintained that the school's poor conditions permanently affected her health and physical development, and hastened the deaths of Maria (born 1814) and Elizabeth (born 1815), who both died of tuberculosis in May (Maria) and June (Elizabeth) 1825. After
3444-576: A teacher at Roe Head, Brontë took out her sorrows in poetry, writing a series of melancholic poems. In "We wove a Web in Childhood" written in December 1835, Brontë drew a sharp contrast between her miserable life as a teacher and the vivid imaginary worlds she and her siblings had created. In another poem "Morning was its freshness still" written at the same time, Brontë wrote "Tis bitter sometimes to recall/Illusions once deemed fair". Many of her poems concerned
3567-436: A tiny, delicate, serious, little lady, with fair straight hair and steady eyes. She may be a little over thirty; she is dressed in a little barège dress with a pattern of faint green moss. She enters in mittens, in silence, in seriousness; our hearts are beating with wild excitement. This then is the authoress, the unknown power whose books have set all London talking, reading, speculating; some people even say our father wrote
3690-593: A trust or of charitable status. Many of the older independent schools catering for the 13–18 age range in England and Wales are known as public schools , seven of which were the subject of the Public Schools Act 1868 . The term "public school" meant they were then open to pupils regardless of where they lived or their religion (while in the United States and most other English-speaking countries "public school" refers to
3813-666: Is 25%. Such 'exam access' arrangements are given for a range of disabilities and educational special needs such as dyslexia , dyspraxia and ADHD . In 2002, Jeremy Smith and Robin Naylor of the University of Warwick conducted a study into the determinants of degree performance at UK universities. Their study confirmed that the internationally recognised phenomenon whereby "children from more advantaged class backgrounds have higher levels of educational attainment than children from less-advantaged class backgrounds" persists at university level in
Woodhouse Grove School - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-413: Is an essential part of boarding education, and many such schools have their own distinctive ethos, including social aspirations, manners and accents, associated with their own school traditions. Many former pupils aspire to send their own children to their old schools over successive generations. Most offer sporting, musical, dramatic and art facilities, sometimes with extra charges. Educational achievement
4059-512: Is generally very good. Independent school pupils are four times more likely to attain an A* at GCSE than their non-selective state sector counterparts, and twice as likely to attain an A grade at A-level . A much higher proportion go to university. Some schools specialise in particular strengths, academic or other, although this is not as common as it is in the state sector . Independent schools can set their own discipline regime, with much greater freedom to exclude children, primarily exercised in
4182-465: Is located just across the road from the school's chapel. Kingswood School , near Bath , in the West Country , served as the sole Methodist school from 1748, but was inconvenient for northern residents. The topic was raised at Conference in 1781 and John Wesley replied, "Probably we may (provide such a school). Let our brethren think of a place and a master and send me word". Adam Clarke returned to
4305-434: Is refuted by one of Emily Brontë's diary papers, in which she describes preparing meat and potatoes for dinner at the parsonage. It has been argued that Gaskell's approach transferred the focus of attention away from the 'difficult' novels, not just Brontë's, but all the sisters', and began a process of sanctification of their private lives. Brontë held lifelong correspondence with her former schoolmate Ellen Nussey . 350 of
4428-478: The Assisted Places Scheme in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees for those pupils capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees. This was essentially a response to the decision of the previous Labour government in the mid-1970s to remove government funding of direct grant grammar schools , most of which then became private schools; some Assisted Places pupils went to
4551-520: The Glass Town Confederacy to create a 'spin-off' called Gondal , which included many of their poems. After 1831, Charlotte and Branwell concentrated on an evolution of the Glass Town Confederacy called Angria . Christine Alexander, a Brontë juvenilia historian, wrote "both Charlotte and Branwell ensured the consistency of their imaginary world. When Branwell exuberantly kills off important characters in his manuscripts, Charlotte comes to
4674-578: The High School of Dundee . In Scotland, it was common for children destined for private schools to receive their primary education at a local school. This arose because of Scotland's long tradition of state-funded education, which was spearheaded by the Church of Scotland from the seventeenth century, long before such education was common in England. Private prep schools only became more widespread in Scotland from
4797-776: The Independent Schools Council . In 2021, the average annual cost for private schooling was £15,191 for day schools and £36,000 for boarding schools . The Independent Schools Yearbook has been published annually since 1986. This was a name change of a publication that started in 1889 as The Public Schools Yearbook . Some independent schools are particularly old, such as The King's School, Canterbury (founded 597), The King's School, Rochester (founded 604), St Peter's School, York (founded c. 627), Sherborne School (founded 705), Wells Cathedral School (founded 909), Warwick School (c. 914), King's Ely (c. 970) and St Albans School (948). These schools were founded by
4920-534: The Sutton Trust study was that for students of a given level of A-level attainment it is almost twice as difficult to get a first at the most selective universities than at those on the other end of the scale. Private sector schools regularly dominate the top of the A-level league tables, and their students are more likely to apply to the most selective universities; as a result private sector students are particularly well represented at these institutions, and therefore only
5043-464: The United Kingdom . The authors noted "a very well-determined and monotonically positive effect defined over Social Classes I to V" whereby, for both men and women, other things being equal, academic performance at university is better the more advantaged is the student's home background". but they also observed that a student educated at a private school was on average 6 per cent less likely to receive
Woodhouse Grove School - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-399: The abolitionist movement ; recurrent themes in their writings. Brontë was also acquainted with William Makepeace Thackeray and G. H. Lewes. She never left Haworth for more than a few weeks at a time, as she did not want to leave her ageing father. Thackeray's daughter, writer Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie , recalled a visit to her father by Brontë: ...two gentlemen come in, leading
5289-677: The sixth form by a new infusion of high-performing sixth-form-only pupils, which may distort apparent results. On the other hand, pupils performing poorly cannot legally be excluded from a state school solely for poor performance. Private schools, as compared with maintained schools, generally have more individual teaching; much lower pupil-teacher ratios at around 9:1; longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching) and homework (known as prep); though they have shorter terms. They also have more time for organised extra-curricular activities. As boarding schools are fully responsible for their pupils throughout term-time, pastoral care
5412-481: The 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools created a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes. They were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Much of
5535-451: The 19th century, between 1812 and 1875, Woodhouse Grove and Kingswood operated as separate schools for children aged between eight and fifteen years old, with both schools under direct control of conference. The school also had a local management committee and there were frequent conflicts with conference over duplicated but differing decisions relating to teacher selection, staff salaries and building expansion needs. Between 1875 and 1883,
5658-474: The Bible at Charlotte, an incident that may have been the inspiration for a part of the opening chapter of Jane Eyre in which John Reed throws a book at the young Jane. Brontë did not enjoy her work as a governess, noting her employers treated her almost as a slave, constantly humiliating her. She was of slight build and was less than five feet tall. In 1842 Charlotte and Emily travelled to Brussels to enrol at
5781-505: The Establishment, with all her faults – the profane Athanasian Creed excluded – I am sincerely attached." In a letter to Ellen Nussey she wrote: If I could always live with you, and daily read the bible with you, if your lips and mine could at the same time, drink the same draught from the same pure fountain of Mercy – I hope, I trust, I might one day become better, far better, than my evil wandering thoughts, my corrupt heart, cold to
5904-790: The High Court to bring a judicial review of the Charity Commission's public benefit guidance as it affected the private education sector. This was heard by the Upper Tribunal at the same time as a reference by the Attorney General asking the Tribunal to consider how the public benefit requirement should operate in relation to fee-charging charitable schools. The Upper Tribunal's decision, published on 14 October 2011, concluded that in all cases there must be more than de minimis or token benefit for
6027-718: The Secret Shame". In 2022, he co-wrote (with Caitlin Smith) and presented a BBC Radio 4 series, In Dark Corners , about abuse and cover-up at some of Britain's elite schools, including Eton College , Fettes College , Gordonstoun and its junior school. An investigation into official exam data by the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, in 2017, showed that 20% of private school pupils were given extra time for their GCSE and A level exams, as compared with fewer than 12% of pupils in public sector schools. The most commonly given amount of extra exam time
6150-424: The UK educating some 628,000 children, comprising over 6.5 per cent of UK children, and more than 18 per cent of pupils over the age of 16. In England the schools account for a slightly higher percentage than in the UK as a whole. According to a 2010 study by Ryan & Sibetia, "the proportion of pupils attending independent schools in England is currently 7.2 per cent (considering full-time pupils only)". Most of
6273-445: The accusations of "coarseness" that had been levelled at her writing. The biography is frank in places, but omits details of Brontë's love for Héger , a married man, as being too much of an affront to contemporary morals and a likely source of distress to Brontë's father, widower, and friends. Mrs. Gaskell also provided doubtful and inaccurate information about Patrick Brontë, claiming that he did not allow his children to eat meat. This
SECTION 50
#17329052497766396-463: The age of three through to graduation from the sixth form. The school is located in a rural setting close to the metropolitan centres of Leeds , 10 miles (16 km) distant and Bradford, 4 miles (6 km) away. Leeds Bradford International Airport is approximately 3 miles (5 km) north-east of the school. The school benefits from the Apperley Bridge railway station , opened in 2015, which
6519-454: The better degrees than state students of the same gender and class background having the same A-level score. In 2011, a subsequent study led by Richard Partington at Cambridge University showed that A-level performance is "overwhelmingly" the best predictor for exam performance in the earlier years ("Part I") of the undergraduate degree at Cambridge. Partington's summary specified that "questions of school background and gender" ... "make only
6642-668: The boarding school run by Constantin Héger (1809–1896) and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Héger (1804–1887). During her time in Brussels, Brontë, who favoured the Protestant ideal of an individual in direct contact with God, objected to the stern Catholicism of Madame Héger, which she considered a tyrannical religion that enforced conformity and submission to the Pope. In return for board and tuition Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music. Their time at
6765-408: The books – the wonderful books. ...The moment is so breathless that dinner comes as a relief to the solemnity of the occasion, and we all smile as my father stoops to offer his arm; for, genius though she may be, Miss Brontë can barely reach his elbow. My own personal impressions are that she is somewhat grave and stern, specially to forward little girls who wish to chatter. ...Everyone waited for
6888-409: The brilliant conversation which never began at all. Miss Brontë retired to the sofa in the study, and murmured a low word now and then to our kind governess... the conversation grew dimmer and more dim, the ladies sat round still expectant, my father was too much perturbed by the gloom and the silence to be able to cope with it at all... after Miss Brontë had left, I was surprised to see my father opening
7011-458: The charitable foundation for a few students could profitably be extended to further paying pupils. Some schools still keep their foundation students in a separate house from other pupils, or distinguish them in other ways. After a time, such fees eclipsed the original charitable income, and the original endowment would become a minor part of the school's finances. By 2022 senior boarding schools were charging fees of over £40,000 per annum. Most of
7134-552: The church and were under its complete dominion. During the late 14th and early 15th centuries the first schools independent of the church were founded. Winchester (1382) and Oswestry (1407) were the first of their kind (although they had a strong Christian religious ethos) and such early "free grammar schools" founded by wealthy benefactors paved the way for the establishment of the modern " public school ". These were typically established for male students from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds. English law has always regarded education as
7257-570: The church without him. Because her father did not attend it was Miss Wooler (Charlotte's former teacher at Roe Head School, and life-long friend), as "friend", who "gave away" Charlotte (Gaskell: Vol II, Chap XIII). The married couple took their honeymoon in Banagher , County Offaly, Ireland. By all accounts, her marriage was a success and Brontë found herself very happy in a way that was new to her. Brontë became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to Gaskell, she
7380-514: The continuing charitable status of private schools, which means they are not charged business rates by local councils, amongst other benefits. This is estimated to save the schools about £200 per pupil and to cost the Exchequer about £100 million in tax breaks, assuming that an increase in fees would not result in any transfer of pupils from private to maintained sector. Since the Charities Act
7503-399: The critical reaction to Brontë's work, as accusations were made that the writing was "coarse", a judgement more readily made once it was suspected that Currer Bell was a woman. However, sales of Jane Eyre continued to be strong and may even have increased as a result of the novel developing a reputation as an "improper" book. A talented amateur artist, Brontë personally did the drawings for
SECTION 60
#17329052497767626-414: The day as a potent and sophisticated piece of writing although it was criticised for "coarseness" and for not being suitably "feminine" in its portrayal of Lucy's desires. Before the publication of Villette , Brontë received an expected proposal of marriage from Irishman Arthur Bell Nicholls , her father's curate , who had long been in love with her. She initially refused him and her father objected to
7749-534: The deaths of his older daughters, Patrick removed Charlotte and Emily from the school. Charlotte used the school as the basis for Lowood School in Jane Eyre , which is similarly affected by tuberculosis that is exacerbated by the poor conditions. At home in Haworth Parsonage , Brontë acted as "the motherly friend and guardian of her younger sisters". Brontë wrote her first known poem at the age of 13 in 1829, and
7872-462: The degree results of all students who graduated in 2013/14, suggested that 82 per cent of state school pupils got firsts or upper seconds compared with 73 per cent of those from private schools. Later, HEFCE admitted that it had made a transposition error, and that in fact, 73 per cent of state school graduates gained a first or upper second class degree compared with 82 per cent of private school graduates. This admission attracted far less publicity than
7995-419: The discipline was in the hands of senior pupils (usually known as prefects ); this was not just a way to reduce staffing costs, but was also seen as vital preparation for the senior pupils' later roles in public or military service. More recently heads of public schools have been emphasising that senior pupils now play a much reduced role in maintaining discipline. To an extent, the public school system influenced
8118-622: The early 1960s, as well as a hangover from centuries ago when only Latin and Greek were taught at many public schools. It was Martin Wiener 's opposition to this tendency which inspired his 1981 book English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit: 1850–1980 , which became an influence on the Thatcher government's opposition to old-school gentlemanly Toryism . The curriculum in private school
8241-440: The first of these emphasised team spirit and " muscular Christianity " and the latter the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations. Edward Thring of Uppingham School introduced major reforms, focusing on the importance of the individual and of competition, as well as the need for a "total curriculum" with academia, music, sport and drama being central to education. Most public schools developed significantly during
8364-417: The former direct-grant schools such as Manchester Grammar School . The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, and since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries. The former classics-based curriculum was also criticised for not providing skills in sciences or engineering, but was perhaps in response to the requirement of classics for entry to Oxbridge until
8487-422: The front door with his hat on. He put his fingers to his lips, walked out into the darkness, and shut the door quietly behind him... long afterwards... Mrs Procter asked me if I knew what had happened. ...It was one of the dullest evenings [Mrs Procter] had ever spent in her life... the ladies who had all come expecting so much delightful conversation, and the gloom and the constraint, and how finally, overwhelmed by
8610-535: The grounds of an older mansion known as Upperwood House where Charlotte Brontë was once governess to the White family's two children. The first master of the new school was Dr F.C. Pritchard, MA, who later wrote the 1978 history of the school and its development. Initially, Brontë House had no kitchen facility of its own and the children were escorted back and forth in all weathers to the Grove for their lunches and dinner. Later,
8733-570: The guidance of the Secretary of the Methodist Education Committee, Rev. H. B. Workman , the preparatory school at Brontë House was founded in 1934 as a junior preparatory school for five- to eleven-year-old boys. The school became a coeducational establishment in 1985. The school stands in the grounds of a former private residence called Ashdown House and was originally known as 'Woodhouse Grove Preparatory School'. Ashdown House stood in
8856-455: The imaginary country Angria have also been published since her death. In 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for her. The daughter of an Irish Anglican clergyman, Brontë was herself an Anglican. In a letter to her publisher, she claims to "love the Church of England. Her Ministers indeed, I do not regard as infallible personages, I have seen too much of them for that – but to
8979-484: The imaginary world of Angria, often concerning Byronic heroes , and in December 1836 she wrote to the Poet Laureate Robert Southey asking him for encouragement of her career as a poet. Southey replied, famously, that "Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it even as an accomplishment and
9102-498: The independent schools reached 7.5 per cent by 1991. The changes since 1990 have been less dramatic: the share fell to 6.9 per cent by 1996 before increasing very slightly after 2000 to reach 7.2 per cent in 2012. By 2015, the figure fell back to 6.9 per cent, with the absolute number of pupils attending independent schools falling everywhere in England apart from in the South East . In 2011 there were more than 2,500 private schools in
9225-569: The independent schools today are still registered as a charity, and bursaries are available to students on a means test basis. Christ's Hospital in Horsham is an example: a large proportion of its students are funded by its charitable foundation or by various benefactors. The educational reforms of the 19th century were particularly important. Reformers included Thomas Arnold at Rugby , and then Samuel Butler and later Benjamin Kennedy at Shrewsbury ;
9348-463: The influence of Walter Scott , and Brontë's modifications to her earlier gothic style have led Christine Alexander to comment that, in the work, "it is clear that Brontë was becoming tired of the gothic mode per se ". "At the end of 1839, Brontë said goodbye to her fantasy world in a manuscript called Farewell to Angria. More and more, she was finding that she preferred to escape to her imagined worlds over remaining in reality – and she feared that she
9471-731: The inspectorial bodies listed above are inspected through the national inspectorates in each country. Private schools in Scotland educate about 31,000 children. Although many of the Scottish private schools are members of the ISC they are also represented by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools , recognised by the Scottish Parliament as the body representing private schools in Scotland. Unlike England, all Scottish private schools are subject to
9594-579: The larger private schools are either full or partial boarding schools , although many have now become predominantly day schools . By contrast there are only a few dozen state boarding schools . Boarding-school traditions give a distinctive character to British private education, even in the case of day-pupils. A high proportion of private schools, particularly the larger and older institutions, have charitable status. The Independent Schools Council (ISC), through seven affiliated organisations, represents 1,300 schools that together educate over 80 per cent of
9717-483: The late 19th century (usually attached to an existing secondary private school, though exceptions such as Craigclowan Preparatory School and Cargilfield Preparatory School do exist), though they are still much less prevalent than in England. In modern times many secondary pupils in Scotland's private schools will have fed in from the school's own fee-paying primary school, therefore there is considerable competition facing pupils from state primary schools who seek to enter
9840-544: The municipal border in the City of Leeds ). The school, and its preparatory junior school, Brontë House, is located in the Aire Valley . There are approximately 1,000 students on roll, currently including around 90 boarders. The school was founded as an all-boys boarding preparatory institution, for the sons of Methodist Ministers. It developed over the latter part of the 20th century. Woodhouse Grove has evolved into an independent education centre, providing education from
9963-478: The novel's dialogue is in the French language. Villette marked Brontë's return to writing from a first-person perspective (that of Lucy Snowe), the technique she had used in Jane Eyre . Another similarity to Jane Eyre lies in the use of aspects of her own life as inspiration for fictional events, in particular her reworking of the time she spent at the pensionnat in Brussels. Villette was acknowledged by critics of
10086-591: The original erroneous assertion. Across all English universities, state school students who scored two Bs and a C at A-level did on average eight per cent better at degree level than their privately educated counterparts. Two Bs and a C represents an entry tariff of 112, well below the average demanded by any of the UK's Russell Group universities. Charlotte Bront%C3%AB Charlotte Nicholls ( née Brontë ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), commonly known as Charlotte Brontë ( / ˈ ʃ ɑːr l ə t ˈ b r ɒ n t i / , commonly /- t eɪ / ),
10209-593: The poor, but that trustees of a charitable private school should decide what was appropriate in their particular circumstances. The Charity Commission accordingly published revised public benefit guidance in 2013. In Scotland , under the Charities and Trustee Investment Act (Scotland), there is an entirely separate test of charitable status, overseen by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator , which assesses
10332-402: The principles of natural justice as adopted by the state sector, and private law as applied to Higher Education. This belief is reinforced by the fact that the legal rights of pupils are governed by a private contract, as opposed to rights implemented by the national government. For instance, a pupil seeking admission to a state school that is rejected is legally entitled to appeal, whereas at
10455-404: The project was abandoned. In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne self-financed the publication of a joint collection of poems under their assumed names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The pseudonyms veiled the sisters' sex while preserving their initials; thus Charlotte was Currer Bell. "Bell" was the middle name of Haworth's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls whom Charlotte later married, and "Currer"
10578-456: The public benefit provided by each registered school charity. Journalist Alex Renton has written about abuse of pupils at boarding schools; The Guardian reported that he says that boarding school are "simply unsafe" and that "he has, he says, a database of more than 800 criminal allegations from former schoolchildren of 300 mainly private boarding schools". He presented an episode of the television programme Exposure , "Boarding Schools,
10701-576: The pupils in the UK private sector . Those schools in England which are members of the affiliated organisations of the ISC are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate under a framework approved by the Government's Department for Education (DfE). Private schools not affiliated to the ISC in England are inspected by Ofsted . Private schools accredited to the ISC in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland or others in England out with
10824-668: The rescue and, in effect, resurrects them for the next stories [...]; and when Branwell becomes bored with his inventions, such as the Glass Town magazine he edits, Charlotte takes over his initiative and keeps the publication going for several more years". The sagas the siblings created were episodic and elaborate, and they exist in incomplete manuscripts, some of which have been published as juvenilia . They provided them with an obsessive interest during childhood and early adolescence, which prepared them for literary vocations in adulthood. Between 1831 and 1832, Brontë continued her education at
10947-491: The role of women in society, was published in October 1849. Unlike Jane Eyre , which is written in the first person, Shirley is written in the third person and lacks the emotional immediacy of her first novel, and reviewers found it less shocking. Brontë, as her late sister's heir, suppressed the republication of Anne's second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall , an action which had a deleterious effect on Anne's popularity as
11070-486: The same regime of inspections by Education Scotland as local authority schools and they have to register with the Learning Directorate . The nine largest Scottish private schools, with 1,000 or more pupils, are George Watson's College , Hutcheson's Grammar School , Robert Gordon's College , George Heriot's School , St Aloysius' College , The Glasgow Academy , Dollar Academy , the High School of Glasgow and
11193-710: The school roll had expanded to 155 pupils. During the Second World War, and under direct grant funding after the Education Act 1944 , the school expanded, with boarding pupils placed and paid for by London County Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire authority. Traditionally a school for boys only, the school first admitted girls to the sixth form in 1979 and has been fully co-educational since 1985. For several years, HM Inspector of Schools had recommended that Woodhouse Grove make better provision for younger pupils. Under
11316-513: The school systems of the British Empire , and recognisably public schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries. Until 1975 there had been a group of 179 academically selective schools drawing on both private and state funding, the direct grant grammar schools . The Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975 required these schools to choose between full state funding as comprehensive schools and full independence. As
11439-533: The school was cut short when their aunt Elizabeth Branwell, who had joined the family in Haworth to look after the children after their mother's death, died of internal obstruction in October 1842. Charlotte returned alone to Brussels in January 1843 to take up a teaching post at the school. Her second stay was not happy: she was homesick and deeply attached to Constantin Héger. She returned to Haworth in January 1844 and used
11562-800: The second edition of Jane Eyre and in the summer of 1834 two of her paintings were shown at an exhibition by the Royal Northern Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Leeds. In 1848 Brontë began work on the manuscript of her second novel, Shirley . It was only partially completed when the Brontë family suffered the deaths of three of its members within eight months. In September 1848 Branwell died of chronic bronchitis and marasmus , exacerbated by heavy drinking, although Brontë believed that his death
11685-520: The site of the Madam Heger's school, in honour of Charlotte and Emily. Kazuo Ishiguro , when asked to name his favourite novelist, answered "Charlotte Brontë's recently edged out Dostoevsky ...I owe my career, and a lot else besides, to Jane Eyre and Villette. " The Green Dwarf, A Tale of the Perfect Tense was written in 1833 under the pseudonym Lord Charles Albert Florian Wellesley. It shows
11808-408: The situation, my father had quietly left the room, left the house, and gone off to his club. Brontë's friendship with Elizabeth Gaskell, while not particularly close, was significant in that Gaskell wrote the first biography of Brontë after her death in 1855. Brontë's third novel, the last published in her lifetime, was Villette , which appeared in 1853. Its main themes include isolation, how such
11931-688: The some 500 letters sent by Brontë to Nussey survive, whereas all of Nussey's letters to Brontë were burned at Nicholls's request. The surviving letters provide most of the information known on Charlotte Brontë's life and are the backbone of her autobiographies. Brontë's letters to Nussey seem to have romantic undertones: What shall I do without you? How long are we likely to be separated? Why are we to be denied each other's society- I long to be with you. Why are we to be divided? Surely, Ellen, it must be because we are in danger of loving each other too well- Ellen, I wish I could live with you always. I begin to cling to you more fondly than ever I did. If we had but
12054-574: The spirit of the state system. Francis Green and David Kynaston have written that "among affluent countries, Britain’s private‑school participation is especially exclusive to the rich", and that the "existence in Britain of a flourishing private-school sector not only limits the life chances of those who attend state schools but also damages society at large". Many of the best-known public schools are extremely expensive, and many have entry criteria geared towards those who have been at private "feeder" preparatory schools . The Thatcher government introduced
12177-427: The spirit, and warm to the flesh will now permit me to be. Elizabeth Gaskell 's biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857. It was an important step for a leading female novelist to write a biography of another, and Gaskell's approach was unusual in that, rather than analysing her subject's achievements, she concentrated on private details of Brontë's life, emphasising those aspects that countered
12300-408: The study could not take into account the effect of a slightly different and more traditional subject mix studied by private students at university on university achievement. Despite these caveats, the paper attracted much press attention. The same study found wide variations between different independent schools, suggesting that students from a few of them were in fact significantly more likely to obtain
12423-577: The subject at the 1806 conference, in his first year as conference president. With the purchase at Woodhouse Grove in Apperley , near Bradford, the decision to found the school was made by ballot at the Wesleyan Conference of 1811, still under Clarke. It initially provided an education for the sons of the itinerant ministers in service of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in the north of England. The original name, The Wesleyan Academy , as evidenced by
12546-573: The time spent in Brussels as the inspiration for some of the events in The Professor and Villette . After returning to Haworth, Charlotte and her sisters made headway with opening their own boarding school in the family home. It was advertised as "The Misses Brontë's Establishment for the Board and Education of a limited number of Young Ladies" and inquiries were made to prospective pupils and sources of funding. But none were attracted and in October 1844,
12669-529: The two groups. The stand-out finding of the study was that private school students achieved better in obtaining graduate jobs and study, even when student characteristics were allowed for (sex, ethnicity, school type, entry qualifications, area of study). In 2015, the UK press widely reported the outcome of research suggesting that school-leavers from state schools that attained similar A level grades go on to achieve higher undergraduate degree classes than their private school counterparts. The quoted figures, based on
12792-403: The two schools were combined as a single school, despite the problems caused by being two hundred miles apart. The Grove served as a preparatory school with pupils then relocating at the age of thirteen to the upper school at Kingswood. The school was refounded on 21 September 1883, the "New Foundation Day", to admit boys from a wider spectrum of backgrounds. The Grove received its first pupils as
12915-504: The union at least partly because of Nicholls's poor financial status. Elizabeth Gaskell , who believed that marriage provided "clear and defined duties" that were beneficial for a woman, encouraged Brontë to consider the positive aspects of such a union and tried to use her contacts to engineer an improvement in Nicholls's finances. According to James Pope-Hennessy in The Flight of Youth, it
13038-498: The very ablest of them are likely to secure the best degrees. In 2013, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) published a study noting, amongst other things, that a greater percentage of students who had attended a private school prior to university achieved a first or upper second class degree compared with students from state schools. Out of a starting cohort of 24,360 candidates having attended
13161-559: The wider interests of the school. In England and Wales there are no requirements for teaching staff to have Qualified Teacher Status or to be registered with the General Teaching Council. In Scotland a teaching qualification and registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) are mandatory for all teaching positions. Private schools are often criticised for being elitist, and seen as lying outside
13284-465: The year after to teach her sisters, Emily and Anne , at home, then returned to Roe Head in 1835 as a teacher. In 1839, she undertook the role of governess for the Sidgwick family, but left after a few months. The three sisters attempted to open a school in Haworth but failed to attract pupils. Instead, they turned to writing; they each first published in 1846 under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Although her first novel, The Professor ,
13407-409: Was "an utterance from the depths of a struggling, suffering, much-enduring spirit", and declared that it consisted of " suspiria de profundis !" (sighs from the depths). Speculation about the identity and gender of the mysterious Currer Bell heightened with the publication of Wuthering Heights by Ellis Bell (Emily) and Agnes Grey by Acton Bell (Anne). Accompanying the speculation was a change in
13530-496: Was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature . She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre , which she published under the male pseudonym Currer Bell . Jane Eyre went on to become a success in publication, and is widely held in high regard in the gothic fiction genre of literature. Brontë enrolled in school at Roe Head, Mirfield , in January 1831, aged 14 years. She left
13653-431: Was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness". She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855, three weeks before her 39th birthday. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis , but biographers including Claire Harman and others suggest that she died from dehydration and malnourishment due to vomiting caused by severe morning sickness or hyperemesis gravidarum . Brontë
13776-775: Was born on 21 April 1816 in Market Street, Thornton (in a house now known as the Brontë Birthplace ), west of Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire , the third of the six children of Maria (née Branwell) and Patrick Brontë (formerly surnamed Brunty), an Irish Anglican clergyman. In 1820 her family moved a few miles to the village of Haworth , on the edge of the moors, where her father had been appointed perpetual curate of St Michael and All Angels Church . Maria died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters, Maria , Elizabeth , Charlotte, Emily and Anne , and
13899-512: Was buried in the family vault in the Church of St Michael and All Angels at Haworth. The Professor , the first novel Brontë had written, was published posthumously in 1857. The fragment of a new novel she had been writing in her last years has been twice completed by recent authors, the more famous version being Emma Brown : A Novel from the Unfinished Manuscript by Charlotte Brontë by Clare Boylan in 2003. Most of her writings about
14022-680: Was completed at the time of the school's 200th year founding anniversary. The Old Grovian Association currently has 3,600 members from previous students and staff. Notable alumni include: 53°50′24.27″N 01°41′59.39″W / 53.8400750°N 1.6998306°W / 53.8400750; -1.6998306 Private schools in the United Kingdom Private schools in the United Kingdom (also called independent schools ) are schools that require fees for admission and enrollment. Some have financial endowments , most are governed by
14145-704: Was consequently 'modernised' and according to a 2010 report from the Department for Education, private school pupils had "the highest rates of achieving grades A or B in A-level maths and sciences" compared to grammar, specialist and mainstream state schools, and pupils at private schools account for a disproportionate number of the total number of A-levels in maths and sciences. Some parents complain that their rights and their children's are compromised by vague and one-sided contracts which allow Heads to use discretionary powers unfairly, such as in expulsion on non-disciplinary grounds. They believe private schools have not embraced
14268-407: Was due to tuberculosis . Branwell may have had a laudanum addiction. Emily became seriously ill shortly after his funeral and died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848. Anne died of the same disease in May 1849. Brontë was unable to write at this time. After Anne's death Brontë resumed writing as a way of dealing with her grief, and Shirley , which deals with themes of industrial unrest and
14391-509: Was in a romantic or sexual relationship with Ellen Nussey. On 29 July 1913 The Times of London printed four letters Brontë had written to Constantin Héger after leaving Brussels in 1844. Written in French except for one postscript in English, the letters broke the prevailing image of Brontë as an angelic martyr to Christian and female duties that had been constructed by many biographers, beginning with Gaskell. The letters, which formed part of
14514-569: Was not what is called "feminine" – we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice; we had noticed how critics sometimes use for their chastisement the weapon of personality, and for their reward, a flattery, which is not true praise. Although only two copies of the collection of poems were sold, the sisters continued writing for publication and began their first novels, continuing to use their noms de plume when sending manuscripts to potential publishers. Brontë's first manuscript, 'The Professor', did not secure
14637-525: Was passed in November 2006, charitable status is based on an organisation providing a "public benefit", as judged by the Charity Commission . In 2008, the Charity Commission published guidance, including guidance on public benefit and fee charging, setting out issues to be considered by charities charging high fees that many people could not afford. The Independent Schools Council was granted permission by
14760-580: Was rejected by publishers, her second novel, Jane Eyre , was published in 1847. The sisters admitted to their Bell pseudonyms in 1848, and by the following year were celebrated in London literary circles. Brontë was the last to die of all her siblings. She became pregnant shortly after her wedding in June 1854 but died on 31 March 1855, almost certainly from hyperemesis gravidarum , a complication of pregnancy which causes excessive nausea and vomiting. Charlotte Brontë
14883-401: Was the generosity of Richard Monckton Milnes that made the marriage possible. Brontë, meanwhile, was increasingly attracted to Nicholls and by January 1854, she had accepted his proposal. They gained the approval of her father by April and married on 29 June. Her father Patrick had intended to give Charlotte away, but at the last minute decided he could not, and Charlotte had to make her way to
15006-521: Was the surname of Frances Mary Richardson Currer who had funded their school (and maybe their father). Of the decision to use noms de plume , Charlotte wrote: Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because – without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking
15129-494: Was to go on to write more than 200 poems in the course of her life. Many of her poems were "published" in their homemade magazine Branwell's Blackwood's Magazine , and concerned the fictional world of Glass Town . She and her surviving siblings – Branwell, Emily and Anne – created this shared world, and began chronicling the lives and struggles of the inhabitants of their imaginary kingdom in 1827. Charlotte, in private letters, called Glass Town "her 'world below',
#775224