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| Clifton College | |
|---|---|
 Arms of Clifton College | |
| Address | |
College Road , BS8 3JH England | |
| Coordinates | 51.4618° N, 2.6200° W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public school Private boarding and day school |
| Motto | Latin: Spiritus Intus Alit The spirit nourishes within |
| Established | 1862 |
| Founder | John Percival |
| Department for Education URN | 109334 Tables |
| Head of College | Tim Greene |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age | 2 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 1,171 |
| Capacity | 1,200 |
| Houses | 12 (in the Upper School) |
| Colour(s) | Blue, Green, Navy |
| Former pupils | Old Cliftonians |
| Website | cliftoncollege |
Clifton College is a public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike most contemporary public schools, it emphasised science rather than classics in the curriculum, and was less concerned with social elitism, for example by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated boarding house for Jewish boys, called Polack's House.[1][2][3] Having linked its General Studies classes with Badminton School, it admitted girls to every year group (from pre-prep up to Upper 6th, excepting 5th form due to potential O-levels disruption) in 1987, and was the first of the traditional boys' public schools to become fully coeducational.[4] Polack's House closed in 2005 but a scholarship fund open to Jewish candidates still exists.[5] Clifton College is one of the original 26 English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Yearbook of 1889.
The school was also the headquarters of the US army in Britain during part of the Second World War. General Omar Bradley used the school's buildings as a staff office from October to November 1944.[6]
Clifton College is one of the few schools in the UK to have educated several Nobel laureates:[citation needed] Sir John Kendrew, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962; Sir John Hicks, winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics; Sir Nevill Francis Mott, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977; and Geoffrey Hinton who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024.
- ^ Roach, John (1991). Secondary Education in England, 1870–1902. p. 145. ISBN 9780415035729.
- ^ Vlaeminke, Meriel (2000). The English Higher Grade School. Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-7130-0220-1.
- ^ Martin, D.J. (October 1999). "Review of Clifton after Percival by Derek Winterbottom (1990)" (PDF). p. 47. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2008.
- ^ The Best School of All: 150 Years of Clifton College, ISBN 9781906507039
- ^ "Polack's House Educational Trust". Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- ^ "Clifton and World War II: Evacuation from Bristol and supporting the War Effort". Clifton College. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2020.