Pocklington School

The most common entry points are at Pre-School and Reception, at Pocklington Prep School and the First Year (Year 7), Third Year (Year 9) or Sixth Form in Pocklington School. Pupils can however be accepted for all school years subject to vacancy. All pupils are interviewed as part of the admissions process. Academic scholarships and exhibitions are offered to candidates for the First Year, Third Year and Sixth Form of Pocklington School. A limited number of Sixth Form Bursaries, worth up to 100% of the day tuition fee, are available to Sixth Form applicants.

The current head is Becky Lovelock,^[2] who took over the role in September 2025.

Pocklington School has a number of traditions, such as the year group naming convention (first year, second year, etc.). Its motto Virtute et Veritate is Latin for With courage and truth.^[3]

There are four day houses: Dolman (named after the school's founder John Dolman), Gruggen and Hutton (named after former headmasters Rev. Gruggen and Rev. Hutton) and Wilberforce (named after the 18th/19th-century anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce who attended the school).

The school has an armed forces centre, located on the edge of campus in the Annand VC Cadet Centre.^[4] The Combined Cadet Force takes part in various competitions each year and cadets can attend camps around the country.

The school sports hall is housed in the train shed of the former Pocklington railway station, designed by George Townsend Andrews.^[5] The school runs outreach programmes engaging other schools, and working in the local community, as well as an app called Chatta to improve communication among preschool children, and has won awards for this work.^[6]

The School’s alumni or “Old Pocklingtonians” includes actors, bishops, scientists and politicians.

William Wilberforce is the school's most notable pupil. He attended Pocklington School from 1771–76 and is famous as the parliamentary campaigner who brought about the abolition of the slave trade and the emancipation of slaves.^[7] A statue of a freed slave sculpted by Peter Tatham (1983–93) is in the centre of the St Nicholas Quadrangle. A bronze statue of Wilberforce as a boy, by York sculptor Sally Arnup, stands near the school foyer. Dr John Sentamu unveiled the new statue in autumn 2007, which was erected in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire.^[8] Pocklington School appeared in a television programme entitled In Search of Wilberforce, made by former BBC news presenter Moira Stuart, and first shown on BBC 2 on 16 March 2007.

The school's alumni are known as "Old Pocklingtonians".^[9]

• Richard Annand, attended 1925–32, awarded the Victoria Cross in 1940 during the Battle of France. His final visit to the school was in 2002 to unveil a copy of his citation. This can be seen in the Senior School Reception entrance. The new CCF Centre, opened in 2009, is named after him.^[10]
• Scott Boswell, cricketer.^[11]
• Prof. Mark Child, attended 1947–1955, Coulson Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, Oxford.^[12]
• Sir James Cobban, attended 1920–29, educationalist, headmaster of Abingdon School, 1947–70.^[13]
• Cecil Cooper, Dean of Carlisle^[14] from 1933 to 1938.
• Martin Crimp, attended 1968–74, playwright.^[15]
• Alexandra Dariescu, attended 2002–2003, Piano soloist.^[16]
• Arthur Stuart Duncan-Jones, attended 1890–1897, Dean of Chichester for 25 years, speaker on foreign affairs and on Christian attitudes to war.^[17]
• Adrian Edmondson, attended 1969–75, co-writer/actor in Bottom and The Young Ones.^[18]
• Stewart Eldon, attended 1966–71, British Ambassador to Ireland.^[19]
• Andrew Farquhar, attended 1966–72, Major General, General Officer Commanding 5th Division, awarded the Legion of Merit by the U.S.A. in 2005.^[20]
• David H. French, archaeologist^[21]
• Sebastian Horsley, artist and writer.^[22]
• John How, attended 1894–1899, Bishop of Glasgow and Primus of the Church of Scotland. In the 1930s, he was Chaplain to George V, Edward VIII and later George VI.^[23]
• Ralph Ineson, actor and voice-over artist.^[24]
• Alec Ingle, RAF fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain^[25]
• Richard Leonard, attended 1973–80, former leader of the Scottish Labour Party.^[26]
• Stephen Maxwell, author and politician.^[27]
• Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, attended 1894–99, personal physician to Winston Churchill, author of The Anatomy of Courage and The Struggle for Survival, his personal accounts of looking after Churchill.^[28]
• Oswald Longstaff Prowde, attended 1890–1895, English civil engineer^[29]
• Robin Skelton, attended 1937–1943, poet and literary scholar.^[30]
• Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE, attended 1950–54, playwright. His portrait, presented to the school by Peter Stoppard (1949–1953), hangs in the senior school reception entrance.^[31]
• Frank Swindell, Archdeacon of Singapore^[32] 1916–1929.
• Reverend Graham Usher, attended 1981–1989, Bishop of Norwich^[33]
• Alick Walker, attended 1936–1943, palaeontologist^[34]
• Peter Walker CB CBE, attended 1959–68, Air Marshal, director, Joint Warfare Centre, Europe.^[35]
• Rob Webber, attended 1994–2004, England international rugby union player (hooker).^[36]
• William Wilberforce, attended 1771–1776, politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to stop the slave trade.^[7]
• Sir Dawson Williams, attended 1867–1872, consultant physician and longest-serving editor of the British Medical Journal^[37]