Duke of York's Royal Military School


The Duke of York’s Royal Military School, more commonly called the Duke of York’s, is a co-educational Academy with military traditions in Dover, Kent. Since becoming an Academy in 2010, the school is now sponsored by the MOD, and accepts applications from any student wishing to board. Before 2010, only those students whose parents were serving or had served in the armed forces were eligible.
With the transition to Academy status, the school became a state boarding academy and oversight transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the Department for Education.
The Duke of York’s has many traditions and rich history, which includes ceremonial parades and uniforms, a monitorial style of education modelled on the English public school system.
This rich history includes a long line of notable alumni, known as Dukies, including senior generals, famous musicians, sportsmen, many leading academic scientists and clergymen and a long list of decorated armed forces personnel.

History

Founded in 1803 by act of Royal Warrant dating from 1801, the school was until 1892 called the Royal Military Asylum. The school’s primary purpose was to educate the orphans of British servicemen killed in the Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1815. Between 1803 and 1909 the Royal Military Asylum was located at what is now known as the Duke of York's Headquarters in Chelsea, London. The school was co-educational; making the Duke of York's the second co-educational boarding school in the United Kingdom. The first co-educational institution was the Royal Hibernian Military School in Dublin, which was relocated and merged with Duke of York's after Ireland declared independence. Today the Chelsea site is home to the Saatchi Gallery.
The school adopted the "Madras system of education" developed by Dr. Andrew Bell, to which Joseph Lancaster made certain improvements. In 1812, three African youths attended the school as teachers for several months thanks to the intervention of the Duke of Gloucester. They were then sent by the African Institution to Sierra Leone, where they were employed as teachers by the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the Earl of Liverpool.
Between 1816 and 1840, the Asylum had a branch in Southampton which provided schooling for up to 400 military orphans and children of serving soldiers of both sexes until 1823, when the boys were transferred to Chelsea, with Southampton taking more girls. A decline in the school numbers resulted in its closure in 1840. From 1841, the buildings were taken over by the Ordnance Survey.
One of the more notable Commandants of the Royal Military Asylum was Major General Peter Brown. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars Brown was unusual in that he was promoted whilst in post, which was highly unusual given the post was not an active command and his predecessors and successors were never promoted in post.
Many of the school's pupils carried acts of gallantry in the wars that the British Army was involved in. One such individual was John Shaul who was awarded the Victoria Cross for extraordinary bravery in the Boer War.
In 1892, the Royal Military Asylum was renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School and in the process became an all-boys school. In 1909, the school relocated to new premises constructed on the cliffs above Dover in Kent. For the duration of World War I, the school was evacuated to Hutton, near Brentwood, Essex. The reason for the evacuation was to provide the military authorities with a transit point in Dover for troops moved to and from the Western Front. In 1940 the school was evacuated to the Saunton Sands Hotel, Braunton, North Devon, returning to Dover in 1946.
In 1994, the school re-admitted girls and returned to co-education.

Academic standards

Between 2007 and 2009 more than 90% of pupils gained 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C. More than 13% of grades were A*/A during the same period.
During this period 19% of grades gained were A/B at AS level and 12% of grades were A/B at A2 level. A total of 32% of grades gained were passes at A2 level.
Most recent results can be found on the School website.

Sports facilities

Pupils have access to extensive sporting facilities; indeed sports take place every day, with main sports like rugby and hockey being played twice per week. Pupils can also engage in sports and athletic training in their own time each day. The school has a strong sporting culture. The 150 acres of land on the school site includes a full size athletics track, two sports halls, swimming pool, indoor squash courts, gymnasium and a dozen full size grass pitches for rugby union, cricket and tennis. £24.9 million was invested in the School's facilities in 2014, with a Sports Hall designed to Sports England specification being added to the site to enhance its already impressive facilities.

Exchanges with NATO member military schools

The Duke of York's runs exchange programmes with military schools within NATO. Of these the most notable is the programme run with the school's French equivalent, the Lycée Militaire in Aix-en-Provence. There are also placements for recent school leavers from respective military schools to assume teaching assistant posts at corresponding schools. The Duke of York's also maintains connections with Missouri Military Academy, Valley Forge Military Academy and College, Wayne, Pennsylvania, and Faujdarhat Cadet College, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Parading, military instruction, adventurous training

Ceremonial Parades take place on some Sunday mornings; the grandest of these being on Remembrance Sunday and the Grand Day at the end of summer term. On Parade, as well as for all military activities, pupils are called cadets and are organised into ceremonial Guards or they play an instrument in the Band. Cadets wear the standard dark blue ceremonial uniform of the British Army. The Duke of York’s Royal Military School Ceremonial Band is the largest within and since 2010 outside the Ministry of Defence, being larger still than the Massed Bands of the Foot Guards of the Household Division. The considerable number of notable musicians educated at the school over the last 207 years demonstrates the very high standards in music tuition. In recent years the band has performed at:
The school employs a Regimental Sergeant Major to co-ordinate ceremonial drill and military instruction.
All pupils are cadets, with ranks ranging from cadet to senior under officer, and entrance to the armed forces at all ranks - as either a ranking soldier or commissioned officer entrant – occurs regularly.
Adventurous Training is run by the school and is available to senior school pupils. Each training camp is completed on Dartmoor at Oakhampton Training Camp and lasts one week, comprising mostly fieldcraft and endurance skills; but always including an extended exercise.

High Table

High Table where a member of the Senior Leadership Team, two sixth form prefects and other students and guests take luncheon. The table is waited on. Guests are invited from the Officers' Messes of nearby Army battalions, Royal Navy ships and Royal Air Force squadrons. Members of the school's board of governors, who are themselves among the most senior military officers and leaders in business and commerce, are also invited regularly.

Boarding houses

The school is currently divided into twelve Houses, nine of which are named after famous British generals, one after a famous admiral of the Royal Navy, another after a famous marshal of the Royal Air Force:
Junior Houses
Senior Houses
Years 12-13
In 2014, a £25m refurbishment of School premises was completed including a new sports hall, upgrading of the main hall into a performing arts centre, two new teaching wings and four new residential houses along with the upgrading of the existing ones. School pupil numbers capacity has been increased by over 50%.

Music

Music plays an important role in the life of the school. The school has several music ensembles of varying size, predominantly featuring military band instruments. The school's marching band has performed at public events such as the Chatham Dockyard Remembrance Day Parade and has been a regular pre-match feature at the Army vs Navy rugby match at Twickenham for many years.
In addition to the concerts and military band engagements that are held throughout the year, the school choir has featured in local television and radio broadcasts with their special version of "Wherever You Are", a song by the composer Paul Mealor which was performed by the Military Wives Choir at the 2011 Festival of Remembrance. The Duke of York's School version featured a pupil of the school reading a letter to her father who served in Afghanistan over Christmas 2011 and was broadcast on the Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 breakfast show on Wednesday 14 December and repeated several times in full on BBC Radio Kent throughout the Christmas period. The YouTube video of the Duke of York's School averaged 1000 hits a day during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Marching Beats

Along with Eton College and Cheltenham College, the Duke of York's Royal Military School is one of only three English schools to have military colours. While Eton and Cheltenham parade their colours on rare occasions, the Duke of York's Royal Military School parades its colours briefly as the Parade enters Chapel, and on a number of ceremonial parades in the course of the year. The colours are of Marron and Dark Blue and can be found in the Head Man's office while not on parade or in Chapel.

Chapel and War Memorials

Despite pupils having multi-faith backgrounds, the school adheres to the practices of the Church of England. Chapel is taken 3 times a week, by pupils, including a full church service on Sunday. Sunday services are preceded by a Parade including the whole school; the school regularly invites notable people from the military to be the inspecting officers on Sunday Parades. Consequently, cadets go to church services in Chapel wearing their ceremonial uniforms. On days of special religious significance, the Chapel follows High Church traditions.
The walls of the chapel are laid up with the battle honours belonging to former Cadets' regiments and corps; but of more note are the historic carved marble tablet lists of the hundreds of Dukies who have sacrificed their lives in Great Britain's various wars and conflicts since 1803. The school has a memorial to the Great War and the Second World War placed just inside of the ex-main entrance to the school. The Parade and Band pay its respects here on the Armistice Commemoration. A great number of former pupils, many of them in the Armed Forces, also attend, along with Dukies who are now Chelsea Pensioners.

Guards' Competition and Grand Day

At the end of each summer term the school parades for Grand Day. This is a special parade of much greater complexity, and is similar in style and length to the Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards. The purpose of Grand Day is to display the school at its finest to a visiting dignitary, who is either a member of the Royal Family or a member of the British armed forces General Staff. Grand Day has its origins in the school parading before its founder, the then Prince Frederick Duke of York and Albany when the school was founded in 1803.
In the build-up toward Grand Day the Guards undergo the Guards' Competition, nicknamed "Drill Comp". The purpose is to test skill at ceremonial drill and standards regarding kit turnout. The outcome of the Guards' Competition ranks the Guards' Order of Precedence for Grand Day. The winning and therefore senior Guard is referred to as Number One Guard, with the others in declining order. Old Dukie, the late Sir John Carter, organised a visit to the School by Lady Margaret Thatcher. George Pooley of Pooley Swords donated a sword called the Thatcher Sword of Honour which is granted to the best performing Guard Officer each year.

Performing Arts

Performing Arts at the Duke of York's Royal Military School has developed and produced several international semi-professional musical production. With a partnership school in West Point, Virginia. The international productions take place every two years with the first production 'Cabaret' 2014 and more recently Phantom of the Opera 2016. Many other productions and performances are produced during the year. Ever other year a smaller scale musical is produced with this years production being Hairspray. A range of other productions such as the annual dance festival and Grand Day production are great showcases to show what the school has to offer in the art form.

Bi-centenary and new Colours

The School celebrated its bi-centenary in 2001–02. It held a commemorative service at Christmas in 2001 as well as a special Parade at the end of 2003, when it received new colours from Prince Andrew Duke of York.
The school celebrated the centenary of its move to Dover in 2009 and amongst many special events hosted a reception at the House of Lords, as well as parades and drama productions.

A change in traditions

Until 1999 the School's headmasters were all serving military officers of the rank of at least lieutenant colonel. Since then there have been four civilian headmasters. The school also has a regimental sergeant major among its staff whose primary role is to co-ordinate military standards and drill discipline.
The school's first civilian students were accepted in 2011 after the school was granted academy status. Prior to this, the school had taken only students whose parents were veterans or currently serving in the United Kingdom's military forces.

Notable alumni

Alumni are known as "Dukies".
Sadly pupils of the school did die and some of those are buried in the churchyard of St Martin of Tours church in the nearby village of Guston. There are 12 grave markers for boys of the school. There are also two members of staff are buried in Dukies' Corner.

Other British Educational Establishments with Military Connections