Over
Easter, the Oundle School Dive Club made its annual pilgrimage to the Red Sea.
After leaving the new marina in Hurghada and completing a check dive,
the rest of the week was spent diving a mixture of northern reefs and wrecks. Particular highlights included the three dives on the wreck of the Thistlegorm,
a wreck School divers have dived before but never in such good visibility and
with the opportunity to spend so much time on the site.
With two day and one night dives (when the wreck comes alive with colour
as the encrusting corals start to feed) the pupils explored almost every area
possible. Although sharks were absent from this trip, most of the group
had a dive with a turtle and some good views of spinner dolphins from the
Zodiac.
Trip organiser, Adam Langsdale, commented, “Despite the unusually windy conditions the group approached all their
dives with enthusiasm and a great deal of interest. Our dive guides (Sonia
and Zizou) were outstanding and offered unending help and advice during the
trip.”
Pupil, Harry Godwin-Austin (17), commented, “As a keen diver, the trip was an amazing
experience. I was one of five pupils taking the PADI Advanced open water course
with the boat’s leading instructor Sonia Goggel (a rather fitting name for a
dive instructor!). The highlight of the week for me was diving the Dunraven
wreck where we saw many rays, crocodile fish and an octopus in amazing visibility
and comparatively hot water.
William Brettle (16) added, “Highlights
for me included seeing an astonishing range of sea-life, including a turtle,
lionfish, stingrays and Napoleon fish, as well as superb coral reefs; visiting
remarkably well-preserved wrecks, including the SS Thistlegorm, and getting to
know the crew on board the boat. The trip was enjoyed enormously by all, both
in and out of the water.”
Background
Information on Oundle School
Oundle
School is situated in the quintessentially English market town of Oundle, about
90 miles north of London. The School’s buildings, dating from the 17th to the
21st centuries, are dispersed throughout the town, which is, to a large extent,
its campus.
The School’s history dates back
to 1556, when Sir William Laxton, Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers
and Lord Mayor of London, endowed and re-founded the original Oundle Grammar
School, of which he was a former pupil. In 1876, the Grocer’s Company divided
the School into two parts; Laxton Grammar School, primarily for the inhabitants
of the town, and Oundle School, primarily for pupils from further afield. In
2000, the Grocers’ Company reunited the two schools under the common name of
Oundle School and retained the name of Laxton for the day House.
At the beginning of the 20th
century, Oundle was put firmly on the map of leading English public schools by
its most famous headmaster, F W Sanderson, who established Oundle’s reputation
as one of the great science and engineering schools, a reputation still
renowned today. In 2007, SciTec - a major and ground-breaking new science
complex - opened, housing 16 state-of-the-art laboratories. The School is now
embarking on a large SciTec Campus development project which will see a new Mathematics department constructed adjacent to SciTec as well
as a significant upgrade to the Design and Technology department within the
Patrick Engineering Centre. Due for completion in September 2016, the
development will unite Science, Mathematics, Design, Technology and Engineering
both physically
and philosophically, enabling pupils to
move seamlessly from theory to practice and from pure science to the
achievement of a workable technology. A concurrent Sports Masterplan will
upgrade sporting facilities across the School over the next few years,
including a new 1st XI cricket pavilion due to open April 2015.
There are currently 1100 pupils
on roll at Oundle School, with 850 boarders and 250 day pupils. Also within the
Corporation of Oundle School is Laxton Junior School, a day School for children
aged 4 to 11.