Abstract
IN the development of the teaching of natural science in schools, Clifton College has, from the earliest days, played a very important part. Fortunate in possessing a succession of sympathetic headmasters, and in securing the services of men like Debus, Worthington, Sir William Tilden, Shenstone, and Rintoul, Clifton rapidly acquired a reputation for sound scientific education, and exerted a powerful influence upon contemporary educational practice. Laboratories were built and well equipped, and there was a constant stream of visitors to see what were then the latest developments of the new movement. At this time the College far out-distanced other schools in accommodation for science teaching, but, like many other pioneers, it has since been left behind by those to whom it pointed the way. Some expansions and improvements were made from time to time, but finally the buildings became so much out-of-date and inadequate to the needs of the school that new and extensive premises were a necessity. When, thanks to the initiative of Mr. Norman Whatley, the present headmaster, the problem was at length seriously taken in hand, it was resolved to erect an entirely new science block, worthy of the tradition of the school, and one, too, which should restore to Clifton its former position in the van. Old Cliftonians responded generously to the call for funds, and sufficient was soon forthcoming to allow the council to proceed with the scheme. A stroke of good fortune came at once, in that it proved possible to secure the services as architect of Mr. Alan E. Munby, whose genius in this particular genre is well known to scientific workers. The total cost of the scheme is estimated at £50,000; and Mr. Whatley was able to announce at the opening of the building by the Prince of Wales on June 2 that fourfifths of this amount, or £40,000, had already been given. This satisfactory result is due almost entirely to the unaided efforts of the Right Hon. J. H. Whitley, Speaker of the House of Commons, who has interested himself personally in the scheme from the outset.
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The New Science School at Clifton College. Nature 119, 871–873 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119871a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119871a0