Old Swinford Hospital

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Old Swinford Hospital
Location
Map
Heath Lane

Stourbridge
,
West Midlands
,
DY8 1QX

England
Coordinates52°27′03″N 2°08′39″W / 52.4507°N 2.1442°W / 52.4507; -2.1442
Information
TypeVoluntary aided boarding
Day and boarding school
MottoUt prosim, vince malum bono
Religious affiliationChurch of England
Established1667; 358 years ago (1667)
FounderThomas Foley
Local authorityDudley
SpecialistsBusiness and Enterprise, Science
Department for Education URN103870 Tables
OfstedReports
ChairMalcolm Wilcox
HeadmasterPaul Kilbride
Staff185 [1]
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment947 [2]
Houses6
Colour     
PublicationThe Foleyan
Former PupilsOld Foleyans
Websitehttp://www.oshsch.com

Old Swinford Hospital is a secondary boarding school in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, West Midlands, England[3] that has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It is one of 36 state boarding schools in England.

History

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Old Swinford Hospital from Hagley Road, Stourbridge

Old Swinford Hospital opened in the late summer of 1667. Originally called Stourbridge Hospital,[4] it was founded by Thomas Foley, an ironmaster and prominent local landowner, whose main estate was at Great Witley, west of Stourport in Worcestershire, but with strong Stourbridge connections. It was to educate 60 boys from "poor but honest" families nominated by specified parishes in Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The school was sometimes named as Foley's blue coat school[5] or hospital, or Oldswinford Hospital Endowed School.[6] The school had increased to 70 boys by 1868.[7][8][9]

The school experienced a period of growth following the appointment of William Maybury as headmaster, with the number of boys reaching 160 by 1883. To accommodate the increased enrollment, a new boarding house, named after Maybury, was constructed during this time. Additionally, a sanatorium (now known as Foster House) had been built by the early 1870s. Despite the construction of the Great Hall in 1905, the school's finances deteriorated by the early 1920s. This led the administration to limit enrollment, allowing the number of pupils to fall to 125. This decline continued dramatically, reaching a low of only 42 boys by 1947. The following year, 1948, marked the first record of parents making direct payments for their children's attendance.

Under the leadership of headmaster LWP Sheppard in the 1950s, the school encouraged students to remain and complete their O Levels, which led to the creation of a small Sixth Form. In 1979, with the support of the school governors and the local authority, plans were set in motion to significantly increase the school's capacity to 500 boys. This expansion was primarily funded by increased parental contributions for tuition. New boarding houses were constructed to support this growth.[10][11]

The school became one of the first in the country to adopt Grant Maintained Status. This allowed the institution to retain independent control over its administration and organization, moving beyond the direct authority of the local education authority. However, this status was abolished in 1997 following the election of the new Labour government.[12]

From 2004, Old Swinford Hospital allowed girls to enter the school from sixth form, and in 2021, the school became fully coeducational for the first time in its history with girls admitted from year 7 onwards.[13][14] As part of the expansion, the school acquired the former Stourbridge College site in 2019.[15]

Houses

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The house system was established in 1929 with three houses using local place names; Stourbridge (briefly also known as School), Kidderminster and Dudley. In 1931 Stourbridge was renamed Foley, Kidderminster became Lyttleton and Dudley was rededicated after the Earls of Dudley (each being the name of a figure in the school history). This remains the basis of the house naming convention ever since.[16]

As of 2025, there are six active boarding houses.

House Built Namesake
Dudley 1984 the Earls of Dudley, the family who bought the Foley's estate of Witley Court
Foley 1982 Thomas Foley, the founder of the School
Foster 1667 A prominent local family (see James Foster)
Potter 2009 Christopher Potter OBE, headmaster from 1978 until 2001
Baxter 1990 Richard Baxter, a 17th-century Puritan minister
Prospect Prospect Hill, the house's location

Former houses include:

House Built Namesake
Chance
Lyttelton Named after the Lyttelton family who built nearby Hagley Hall[17]
Maybury 1845 William Maybury, headmaster of the school from 1883-1928
Stone HC Stone, headmaster of the school from 1928–1951
Witley 1983 Witley Court, the Foley family mansion

Admissions

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Admission to the school, irrespective of place type, primarily only happens in Years 7 or 12. There is no catchment area and admission is non-selective except for Flexi-Boarders who are subject to an aptitude test for year 7 entry. Boarding fees and day student facilities are charged but not tuition.[18]

Academics

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Old Swinford Hospital is a specialist Business and Enterprise School, a Specialist Science School and has recently[when?] been awarded an Artsmark and Sportsmark.

GCSE results in 2024 were above the national average, 87.8% of grades awarded were awarded 9-4, meanwhile 40% achieved grade 7 or above in English and Maths. An average point score of 5.02 per student, mathced with 64.0% achieving 5 subjects at grade 5 or above including English and Maths. For A-Levels in the same year, across 104 students 68.5% achieved grades A*-C in all examinations. The average points per pupil was 94.08 - the UK average was 35.29.[19][20]

Ofsted

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Old Swinford Hospital is currently rated as Good by Ofsted, as of the most recent inspection in 2022. The school has retained this level since 2010, having previously been rated Outstanding in 2006.[21][22]

Sport

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Sport is a key part of Old Swinford Hospital school, with significant focus on Rugby Union. A number of former pupils have played professionally, and at international level. In 2023, the 1st XV and U15s achieved national champion status having won their respective Continental Tyres Vase Finals at Twickenham.[23]

In addition to Rugby, the school also offer a range of team sports including Basketball, Cricket, Football, Hockey, Netball and Tennis. Previously Badminton, Rounders and Rugby Sevens have also been offered.[24]

The school have extensive sports facilities on-site including numerous sports pitches for rugby, football and cricket, tennis, squash and basketball courts, cricket nets, two gymnasiums and two climbing walls.[25] In recent years Old Swinford Hospital has expanded sports facilities beyond the school. In 2006, plans were submitted to redevelop farmland at Treherns Fields near Hagley. The development caused concern locally, and was approved in 2007.[26][27] In 2025, the school approached the Ernest Stevens Trust to redevelop part of the Stanley Road Playing Fields in Norton. The school have proposed a £1m investment in new hockey, football and tennis facilities.[28] The school also own the land that Stourbridge Golf Club is built and operated from, with a long term lease between the two parties.[29]

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Old Swinford Hospital has international links with schools and educational establishments abroad.[citation needed] The three most notable are in the table below. Old Swinford has a history of raising money, and assisting in many ways with St. John's Secondary School in Nandere, Uganda through various charitable events and days and through the Uganda Link society. When the school had power issues in 2007, Old Swinford managed to raise the money needed to get power supplies back within one day.[citation needed]

School City
Uganda St. John's Secondary Senior School[30] Nandere
Argentina St. George's College North[30] Buenos Aires
Australia St. Joseph's Nudgee College[30] Brisbane

Old Foleyans

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See also: Category:People educated at Old Swinford Hospital

Former students of the school are called Old Foleyans after the founder of the school, Thomas Foley.

Arts

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Media

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Military

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Politics

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Sport

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Other

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Headmasters since 1667

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  • Mr W. Broadhurst (1667–1682)
  • Mr J. Pearkes (1682–1727)
  • Mr T. Hill (1727–1748)
  • Mr J. Price (1748–1787)
  • Mr E. Sherriff (1787–1802)
  • Mr J. Hodges (1802–1818)
  • Mr J. Fisher (1818–1835)
  • Mr J. Brindley (1835–1839)
  • Mr W. Dixon (1839–1846)
  • Mr W. Evans (1846–1849)
  • Mr J. Anderson (1849–1876)
  • Mr T. Pardoe (1876–1883)
  • Mr WJ Maybury (1883–1928)
  • Mr HC Stone (1928–1951)
  • Mr Lawrence Sheppard MBE (1951–1978)[35]
  • Mr Christopher Potter OBE (1978–2001)
  • Mr Melvyn Roffe (2001–2007)
  • Mr Peter Jones (2007–2014)
  • Mr Paul Kilbride (2014–present)

See also

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[edit]

References

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  1. ^ "Old Swinford Hospital Stourbridge". theschoolsguide.com.
  2. ^ "Old Swinford Hospital". gov.uk.
  3. ^ "about-the-school". Old Swinford Hospital. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Thomas Foley after William Trabute, line engraving, late 18th to early 19th century". Home / Collections / Large Image - NPG D30030; Thomas Foley. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  5. ^ The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales Volume 4. A. Fullarton and Company. 1843. p. 274. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  6. ^ The lancet London: a journal of British and foreign medicine, surgery, obstetrics, physiology, chemistry, pharmacology, public health and news, Volume 2. 1852. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  7. ^ OLD SWINFORD - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868
  8. ^ Hopkins, Eric (June 1969). "A Charity School in the Nineteenth Century: Old Swinford Hospital School, 1815-1914". British Journal of Educational Studies. 17 (2): 177–192. doi:10.1080/00071005.1969.9973249. JSTOR 3119259.
  9. ^ Sheppard, LW (1953). "From charity foundation to residential technical school". The Vocational Aspect of Education. 5 (10). Routledge: 37–42. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  10. ^ "A Short History" (PDF). oldswinford.alumni-online.com.
  11. ^ "Lives in brief". thetimes.com.
  12. ^ Anderson, Lesley (2000). "Farewell to Grant Maintained Status: the future of self-governing schools". School Leadership & Management. 20 (3). Routledge: 371–385. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  13. ^ "State Black Country boarding school to admit 11-16 girls for first time in 350-year history". expressandstar.com. Express and Star. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  14. ^ "Old Foleyans" (PDF). oldfoleyans.com.
  15. ^ "Stourbridge College building on verge of sale to 350 year-old £12k a year state boarding". feweek.co.uk.
  16. ^ "The Foleyan: July, 1931" (PDF). The Foleyan. III (1): 14. July 1931. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  17. ^ British History Online: History of the parish of Old Swinford
  18. ^ "Admissions and Fees". Old Swinford Hospital.
  19. ^ "2024 GCSE and A-Level Results" (PDF). oshsch.com.
  20. ^ "Average score for students taking A levels and other qualifications". gov.uk.
  21. ^ "Old Swinford Hospital". oftsed.gov.uk.
  22. ^ Owen, Dan. "Short inspection of Old Swinford Hospital" (PDF). Ofsted. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  23. ^ "Dramatic draw seals extraordinary double for Old Swinford Hospital". therugbypaper.co.uk.
  24. ^ "sports home". oshschsport.com.
  25. ^ "Sport". oshsch.com.
  26. ^ "Villagers fight play field plan". stourbridgenews.co.uk.
  27. ^ "Hagley councillors slam pitches decisio". stourbridgenews.co.uk.
  28. ^ "Part of public park in Stourbridge could be used as school's all-weather sports pitch". expressandstar.co.uk.
  29. ^ "Old Swinford Hospital Report 2020". charitycommission.gov.uk.
  30. ^ a b c "Housemaster Job Description". Old Swinford Hospital. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  31. ^ "Nicholas Bailey". livingmag.co.uk.
  32. ^ "The Foleyan 1964" (PDF). oldfoleyans.com.
  33. ^ "Captain Roi Edgerton ('Tug') Wilson CBE DFC MiD Royal Navy". naval-review.com.
  34. ^ "PhilipD avies". bbc.co.uk.
  35. ^ Sheppard, L W (1953). "From charity foundation to residential technical school". The Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education. 5 (10): 37–42. doi:10.1080/03057875380000041.