King Henry VIII Grammar School, Abergavenny

Abergavenny

Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...

, Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...

 was one of a series of school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

s founded during the Reformation

English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 in 1542 from property seized from monasteries and religious congregations. In this case, a school which had been associated with the local Priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

 Church was administered by the (now Protestant) state instead.

The school provided free education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 to boys in the local area who passed an entrance examination

Entrance examination

An entrance examination is an examination that many educational institutions use to select students for admission. These exams may be administered at any level of education, from primary to higher education, although they are more common at higher levels....

.
The school motto was "Ut Prosim" ("That I may be of service") and school colours were red and blue.
The school was divided into two houses, Oppidan and Rustican, from the Latin for Town and Country.

The school was merged with the local Girls' High School

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 in 1963 and later became a comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 when selection

Selective school

A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems....

 at 11 was abolished. The school is now operating as King Henry VIII School Abergavenny

King Henry VIII School Abergavenny

King Henry VIII School Abergavenny is a comprehensive school in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, South Wales.- History :The modern school was formed by the merger of a number of schools in the town including King Henry VIII Grammar School, which was founded in 1542...

.

A former pupil of the school, David Lewis

David Lewis (lawyer)

David Lewis was a lawyer, Judge and the first Principal of Jesus College, Oxford.- Early life :Lewis was born in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. He was educated at King Henry VIII Grammar School in the town...

, was the first Principal of Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

. Amongst other distinguished pupils, well-known writer and critic Raymond Williams

Raymond Williams

Raymond Henry Williams was a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. He was an influential figure within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature are a significant contribution to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts...

 gave a fictionalised account of his time there in the novel "Border Country"