Sir Roger Manwood's School is a selective grammar school located in Sandwich, Kent, England. The school was judged 'Outstanding' in all categories by Ofsted in 2012, including its boarding provision in 2018.
History
The school was founded in 1563 by Sir Roger Manwood, an eminent barrister, jurist and supporter of the reformation of the Church in England. Manwood's intention was to create a free grammar school to make education more accessible to the local townspeople. The original location of the school was at Ash Road in Sandwich but it was moved to its current location at Manwood Road in 1895. There are four foundations which appoint governors: Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lincoln College, Oxford, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and the Diocese of Canterbury. In 1960 there were 100 boarders. The school today mainly consists of day pupils, although up to 55 boarders can reside in the school grounds. The boarders are separated into two houses; ‘The Grange’ accommodating the girls and ‘The Lodge’ the boys. After a long-running tradition of being an all-boys school, girls were first admitted in 1982.
Admissions
In order to gain entry the prospective student must first pass the 11+ examination, informally known as the "Kent Test". Once enrolled, new pupils are assigned a house, which will also be their form group from Years 7 to 9. From years 10 to 13 pupils from each house are mixed into new forms. Each house is identified by a different colour. The houses and colours are as follows: Atlas House is red, Carmarthen House is orange, Founders' House is green, Stour House is light blue and Ypres House is dark blue. The houses were previously Tudor, Trappes, Knolles and Dorman.
Facilities include a full size sports hall, a gym, a half sized hockey astroturf and a tarmac'd area, and three sports fields one with a pavilion. Sports offered include gymnastics, badminton, football, basketball, trampolining and table tennis, in addition to the main sports of rugby, hockey, netball, rounders, cricket and athletics. The astroturf is used to play tennis and hockey. It was opened by Mel Clewlow, an England women's hockey captain and Old Manwoodian. The school first XI were Kent county champions in 2017/18. The school has produced notable national sports alumni - Mel Clewlow was England women's hockey captain for many years; Tamsin Beaumont is a member of the current England women's cricket team; Eugene Gilkes and Keith Stock both GB athletes.
The school has a Combined Cadet Force group with an army section. Annual events include an Inspection day, Founder's Day parade, which celebrates the founding of the school and pays homage to Sir Roger Manwood and a summer camp.
Notable former pupils
The Old Manwoodians Association is an alumni association for ex pupils of the school. They are reasonably active and play a part in the school on a day-to-day basis. The OMs help out the school sports by playing regular fixtures in many of the sports. Three of the most notable OM fixtures on the calendar are the OM v 1st team girls' hockey, OM U21s v 1st XI Cricket and OM v 1st XI Cricket which are all popular fixtures. The two cricket fixtures usually take place in "Cricket Week" which is usually after the busy A Level exam period. Old Manwoodians include:
