Establishment and early history Norwich School traces its origins to the founding of an episcopal
grammar school in 1096 by
Herbert de Losinga, first
Bishop of Norwich. The continuity of the current Norwich School with the 1096 school would make it one of the oldest surviving schools in the United Kingdom. Parr's fame for severity spread a sort of panic through the city, especially among the mothers, who would sometimes interpose a remonstrance, which occasioned a ludicrous scene, but seldom availed the culprit, while the wiser were willing to leave their boys in his hands.
Richard Twining, the tea merchant, however, was advised by his brother John to send his eldest son to Norwich, writing of Parr, "I have been told that he flogs too much, but I doubt those from whom I have heard it think
any use of punishment too much".
John Crome, the landscape painter and founder of the
Norwich School of painters, became a drawing master at the school at the beginning of the 19th century, a position he held for many years. The Norwich School of painters was the first provincial art movement in England, and Crome has been described as one of the most prominent British landscape painters alongside
Constable and
Gainsborough. Several notable artists of the movement were educated at the school including
John Sell Cotman,
James Stark,
George Vincent,
John Berney Crome, and
Edward Thomas Daniell.
Frederick Sandys, the "Norwich
Pre-Raphaelite", who also attended the school, had his roots in the movement. Some staff, such as Dr. Samuel Forster, were associated with the movement; Forster was headteacher when John Sell Cotman attended the school. Forster became vice president of the Norwich Society of Artists, the society established in 1803 for artists of the movement. Charles Hodgson who taught mathematics and art, and his son David who taught art, were also supporters of Crome. The number of pupils fluctuated significantly at the beginning of the 19th century, with usual numbers between 100 and 150 pupils, but falling to eight pupils in 1811 and 30 in 1859. Under the headship of the classical scholar
Edward Valpy (1810–1829) pupil numbers increased and the school enjoyed a prosperous period, though its development was hindered by its charter whose trustees preferred to spend most of the £7,000 a year income on the Great Hospital, leaving £300 for the school. In 1837, in the wake of the
Municipal Reform Act the patronage of the governors went to twenty-one independent trustees appointed by the
Lord Chancellor, separating the governance of the school from the city corporation. As a result of a later 1858 court case
Attorney-General v. Hudson the school became independent of the Great Hospital, gaining an endowment of its own and a
Board of Governors to administer it. A separate school was established to provide training for boys to enter industry and trade called the
King Edward VI Middle School or Commercial School. The school, however, underwent dramatic reform under
Augustus Jessopp, one of the great Victorian reforming headteachers, whose headship lasted from 1859 to 1879. The curriculum was broadened to include non-classical subjects such as mathematics, drawing, German and French, as part of a trend seen in several schools including
Marlborough College,
Rossall,
Wellington,
Clifton and
Richmond to establish modern departments where pupils would be allowed to omit learning Greek and follow a non-classical curriculum to fulfill the increasing demand for a "high" but less classical education. A strict moral code was instilled, the chapel becoming the focal point of school life, a
prefectorial system was implemented to encourage leadership and responsibility, and there was a greater focus on sport which was thought to foster team spirit and individual initiative, reflecting the prevailing belief in
muscular Christianity among educationalists. The Schools Inquiry Commission (1864–1868), which examined endowed grammar schools under the chairmanship of
Lord Taunton, reported that the school "gives the highest education in the county of
Norfolk" and sent on average twice as many boys to university as all the other endowed schools in Norfolk each year. The commissioners also praised the Commercial School, despite it facing competition from similar schools: "the extent of its usefulness and the soundness of its practical teaching, is second to none". By 1872 there were 127 pupils, 91 of whom were boarders who were drawn from all over the south-east of England. At the first meeting of the
Headmasters' Conference in 1869 Jessopp represented Norwich School as one of the original thirteen members. Although successful his efforts were hindered by the effects of agricultural depression as four-fifths of endowment income came from land, and the school ultimately thrived as a city day school.
20th century to present Extensive building development was completed in 1908, which included converting the chapel back to religious use, a redesigned School Lodge and a block of six classrooms designed by
Edward Boardman called the New Buildings. To secure its finances the school accepted a grant from the
Board of Education in return for offering 10 per cent of its intake to places funded by central government. Pupil numbers grew steadily to 277 in 1930 and there was further modernisation of the curriculum. During the
Second World War several buildings were destroyed in the
Baedeker raids on Norwich, while School End House was commandeered by the
Auxiliary Territorial Service and the Bishop's Palace was used by the
American Red Cross. In total, 102 pupils who attended the school died in the two world wars. Post-war reconstruction was assisted by the Dean and Chapter who leased further buildings in the Close and the
Worshipful Company of Dyers, one of the
Livery Companies of the
City of London, through HH Judge Norman Daynes, an ON and Prime Warden of the Company. Though functional the new buildings had little aesthetic value; according to
Pevsner they "spoil the North West part of the precinct beyond hope of redemption". The Dyers' continue to be a major benefactor of the school. Following the
Education Act 1944 the school became a
direct grant grammar school, increasing the number of free places to one quarter of its intake, however reverted to full independence when the scheme was phased out in 1975. A preparatory school called the
Lower School was established in 1946, rebuilt in 1971 by architects Feilden and Mawson, and has undergone several extensions since. The 1950s saw a closer relationship with the Dean and Chapter following the merger of the choir school and the lease of the Bishop's Palace. Boarding was phased out in 1989 and the buildings used for boarding, School House and the Bishop's Palace, were converted into teaching space. Girls were admitted to the
sixth form for the first time in 1994, ending nearly 900 years of single-sex education. In 1999 the Daynes Sports Centre opened and the former gymnasium was converted into the Blake Drama Studio and two further laboratories. The same year the artists
Cornford & Cross were commissioned by the
Norwich Gallery to produce a series of sculptures beside the River Wensum. One of the works,
Jerusalem, was installed on the school playing fields until July 2002. Part of the installation was later donated to the art department. In 2008 new science laboratories opened on St Faiths Lane in the south section of the Close. The facilities include a
seismometer which is part of the
British Geological Survey's schools network. That same year, the school began to admit girls below the sixth form for the first time, initially as young as age eleven. The next year, 2009, all school-age girls were eligible for admission. An eighth house called Seagrim, named after distinguished ONs
Derek and
Hugh Seagrim, was created in 2009. In 2011 the first female
head of school in the school's history was chosen. The extension of the Lower School was completed in 2018 when 4 changing rooms and a shower block had been converted into classrooms for roughly 60 pupils from Reception to Year 3. This has allowed pupils to enter the school at the age of 4 instead of 7. There are currently plans to build a new
Refectory in the Senior School site to provide space for the evergrowing number of pupils at the school. There are plans in place for the old refectory (only meant to have been temporary when built) to be demolished and classrooms built in its place. ==Location and buildings==