Educational Establishments
Hurst viewed from the air
to full health or, for Mo, making representations to be granted leave to stay in the UK.
It is encouraging to see such care
offered by an employer in this day and age. The team bond serves to help cope with the long hours and year-round requirements of managing the expansive sporting facilities. I remark on the team’s smart workwear.
“Yes, Sussex Safety Wear keep us looking pretty,” quips Neil. “I’m hot on the importance of us keeping safe and sound on site. We’re fully kitted out with all manner of protective equipment, from shoes, boots and wellingtons to sun lotion, and I make sure that we all wear what’s necessary.” Neil, unlike many in his position, is
perhaps unusual in that, rather than living on site, he instead chose to live locally and forego the sheltered existence that independent schools can offer turfcare professionals. “There are great advantages to being a part of the school community and living on site,” Neil says. “But, for me, the idea didn’t appeal. I love the job but I also enjoy life outside of Hurst, with my family, so in all my time here I’ve never once lived in.” The chance to break from a work environment arguably makes for more productive staff and the opportunity to step back and reflect upon things, he adds. Hurstpierpoint College (simply
referred to as ‘Hurst’ and branded accordingly) is my latest delve into the world of the Woodard Group of schools. Readers may recall Lancing and Ardingly colleges featured in the June/July issue so will, hopefully, have an insight into the
Formal gardens are part of the grounds team’s remit, both at the senior school ...
prestige and architectural stature of these educational establishments. Hurst is no less formidable. Its chapel may not be quite as imposing as Lancing’s, although it is pretty monumental in size nonetheless, and a sense of history hangs all around me, as it does at every Woodard site I have visited.
The school was established in 1849 as St John’s Middle School in the town of Shoreham-by-Sea, ten miles south-west of the village of Hurstpierpoint on the West Sussex coast at the mouth of the River Adur.
The school’s first headmaster, Rev
Edward Clarke Lowe, who had worked with founder Nathanial Woodard at Lancing College, lived in Hurstpierpoint for twenty-two years until his retirement in 1872. The school moved to the Mansion House in the village in 1850 and, thanks to local benefactors the Campion Family, was able to relocate to its present site on 21 June 1853. The design of Hurst College took inspiration from the collegiate system at Oxford and Cambridge with the layout intended to resemble those cities’ powerhouse institutions. Woodard designed the college to have adjoining inner and outer quadrangles with the chapel and dining hall opposite each other. Today, many of the traditions remain and new pupils carry on the heritage of the school into the 21st century, some of which are fascinating. The one that always sticks in the memory for all Hurst alumni is the annual, steep walk by the entire senior school’s pupils and staff up to the top of ‘Danny’ - the Hurst name
for Wolstonbury Hill, on the South Downs immediately to the south of the College - for the annual Ascension Day service. To this day, the Headmaster still issues ‘Lowe’s Dole’ to the Choir and Sacristans for their work with the spiritual life of the College. As strongly traditional, although more ‘mainstream’ is Hurst’s sporting heritage, which features as heavily in school life today as it has always done. The main sports for boys are rugby and
hockey in the winter, with cricket and athletics in the summer term, although the appeal of football is growing but currently remains a lower priority. The principal sports for girls are the usual suspects; hockey, netball, athletics and swimming in the summer term. Girls’ cricket is also growing in popularity. A wider range of additional sports are on hand for all, with football, tennis and triathlon among the most popular, with mini lacrosse, played by the Prep School boys and girls, recently introduced Riding has always made its way on to the agenda thanks to Hurst’s close links with Hickstead showjumping centre nearby along the A23, where numerous events have been staged since the College forged a formal partnership with the international venue, including The Hurstpierpoint College Schools Team Show Jumping Competition and The Hurstpierpoint College National Schools & Pony Club Championships, which have led to the College earning a strong reputation in equestrian sports, enhancing their sporting prowess on the national stage. Last year a Hurst sixth- former won the Schools Senior Individual
100 PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 The inner quad
Set up for rugby
Men at work
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