Bournemouth School

General information

Bournemouth School is a boys' grammar school and co-educational sixth form in Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England, for children aged 11 to 18.HistoryThe school was founded by Dr. E. Fenwick and opened on 22 January 1901, admitting 54 boys. The 1906 syllabus included natural science, drawing, vocal music, drill and gymnastics alongside history, geography, shorthand and book keeping. During the First World War, at least 651 young men who had been or were attached to the school served, and 98 of those died, while 95 were wounded.The school moved to the present East Way site in 1939, formerly occupying buildings in Porchester Road and Lowther Road.From 1939 to 1945 the school housed over 600 members from Taunton's School, Southampton (then a grammar, now a sixth form college), due to evacuation from large cities. Among the Taunton staff was English master Dr. Horace King, later Lord Maybray-King, Speaker of the House of Commons.On 2 June 1940, about 800 French soldiers evacuated form Dunkirk were temporarily billeted in the school. Additional gas cookers were installed in the kitchen (now Languages Office) and staff were involved in preparing food and drink for the soldiers who occupied corridors and form rooms. One form room was used a temporary hospital for the more seriously wounded. Two days later, a further 300 arrived and remained in the school for about a week. An absence of occupation was not to last long. On 19 June, after the French had been moved elsewhere, 400 or so British soldiers arrived, having been rescued from Cherbourg by the Royal Navy. It was agreed they would occupy the ground floor, leaving the senior school to carry out their summer examinations in the rooms above. Normal education resumed on 26 June.