Magdalen College School Brackley Alumni

This page exists to help former students reconnect, share memories, and celebrate the many experiences that shaped our time at school — the lessons, the friendships, the triumphs, the disasters, the school plays, the sports days, the exam nerves and everything in between. Like any long-standing institution, the school will have seasons of change and challenge. Alumni will have a range of views — and that’s entirely understandable.
However, this space isn’t here to relitigate inspection outcomes or turn every post into a wider debate. It’s here to celebrate shared history and current student achievements — academic, artistic, sporting and otherwise. Let’s keep discussion respectful, constructive, and focused on connection. Thanks for helping make this a positive community.

Just to say thanks very much to all our MCS gardeners (students, staff and planter in chief Miss Garner.)

Letter from the Chair of the IEB and Interim Executive Head to Alumni.

Brackley from the South (1721)

In Brackley but where?

Brackley from the Oxford Rd

Happy Christmas All.. have a great holiday. Sicut lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias.

Article below is from 1993, but on another note all of the following was typical when I was at school in the 1970s.. Sadly not the case in 2025!

1. Standing for Teachers

Students often stood when any teacher entered the classroom, not just the headteacher. Sometimes, the whole class would greet the teacher in unison (e.g., “Good morning, Sir/Madam”).

2. Morning Assemblies

Daily assemblies were common, where students lined up by class, sang hymns or the national anthem, and listened to announcements.
In some schools, prayers were recited regardless of personal beliefs.

3. Uniform Inspections

Teachers or prefects checked uniforms, shoes, and sometimes fingernails for cleanliness.
Hair length and style were often regulated, especially for boys.

4. Saluting or Greeting Staff

In some schools, students were expected to tip their caps or say “Good morning” when passing a teacher in the corridor or outside.

5. Strict Classroom Etiquette

Raising your hand before speaking was mandatory.
Addressing teachers formally (“Sir,” “Miss,” or “Mr/Mrs [Surname]”) was expected.

6. Standing for Hymns or National Anthem

During assemblies or special events, standing for hymns or the anthem was a sign of respect.

7. Prefect Authority

Senior students (prefects) had authority to enforce rules, and younger students were expected to show respect to them too.

Some background concerning St Johns Site - Magdalen College School Brackley (a UK state secondary) includes three Grade II listed buildings. These have fallen into disrepair over the years and the school general grant cannot keep up with the cost of maintenance. Similarly, the ESFA keep refusing CIF bids. Is this an unusual situation? A further complication is that the land the school sits on and arguably the ancient buildings actually belong to one of the richest Oxford Colleges.

Unfortunately, what you describe is not unusual — it’s actually a common and increasingly serious issue across the UK education estate, particularly for older schools with listed buildings.

Here’s some context that may help explain your situation:

🏛️ 1. The challenge of listed buildings in schools
Grade II listed buildings come with strict regulations from Historic England or local conservation officers, limiting what maintenance and alterations can be done.

This drives higher costs — specialist materials, heritage architects, and conservation-compliant contractors.

However, school funding formulas don’t account for this. The General Annual Grant (GAG) or School Condition Allocations (SCA) are based largely on pupil numbers and not the complexity or age of the estate.

💷 2. Why CIF bids are often refused
The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is heavily oversubscribed:

In recent rounds, only around 20–30% of applications were funded.

Priority is given to health and safety, compliance, and urgent condition issues that can demonstrate “significant risk of closure” or “failure to operate”.

Projects involving heritage restoration often score poorly because they’re seen as non-critical or too expensive per pupil benefit.

The DfE’s assessors also tend to favour well-presented, tightly costed, and urgent bids with strong survey evidence.

For listed buildings, that creates a catch-22: you can’t easily show urgency (since the issue may be deterioration, not imminent failure), but deferral worsens the damage and cost.

🧾 3. What many schools in your position do
Other schools and trusts facing this situation have explored:

Partnerships with local authorities (even if academy status applies) for heritage and community-use projects.

Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic England grants, or Architectural Heritage Fund for specific conservation works — though these can’t fund general maintenance.

Community fundraising tied to heritage education or local cultural value.

Phased conservation management plans, which can strengthen future CIF or capital bids by showing strategic stewardship.

Condition surveys by RICS-accredited surveyors experienced with heritage assets, to strengthen evidence for ESFA or DfE.

🧠 4. Summary
So — no, your situation is not unusual. Many schools with listed buildings are trapped between:

Expensive statutory maintenance obligations, and

Funding streams not designed to cover heritage costs.

The problem has been highlighted repeatedly by the National Audit Office and DfE condition reports — which note that the school estate, especially older parts, is deteriorating faster than available capital funding can sustain.

St Johns Building..

Someone on this site asked what EPA was, I thought I would post my answer for information. Schools used to be controlled by local councils, since 2001 however they have mostly (85 % of all secondary schools) converted to become academy schools which receive funds from central government and run independently of council control. Since 2011 academy schools have been encourage to group together in what are known as Multi Academy Trusts (or MATS.) The MAT that we have joined is called EPA Trust - https://www.epa-mat.org/ which stands for Eynsham Partnership Academy Trust as that is where the first schools in the trust were located.