COWLEY SCHOOL,

(OXFORD DIOCESAN CENTRAL,)

NEAR OXFORD.

EXAMINATIONS

DECEMBER, 1869.

OXFORD

PRINTED BY J. VINCENT.

سامة

COWLEY DIOCESAN SCHOOL.

The annual examination of the boys of this School being concluded, Saturday, Dec. 11, was fixed on for the distribution of prizes. The proceedings commenced at two o'clock in the School-room, when there were present the Ven. C. C. Clerke, Archdeacon of Oxford; the Rural Dean, Rev. J. H. Ashhurst; the Incumbent of Cowley, Rev. R. M. Benson; the Secretary to the Examining Committee, Rev. S. L. Warren; the Principal, Mr. Hurman; the Rev. G. J. Watts, M.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, whom the Principal has recently appointed Head Master and Chaplain, and the other Masters.

The Ven. Archdeacon Clerke presided, who called on the Rev. J. H. Ashhurst, the Rural Dean, to open the proceedings.

The Rural Dean said: I am very glad to meet you again at your annual distribution of prizes, and I feel that we are extremely fortunate in having Archdeacon Clerke among us this day. I asked the rev. gentleman, who is the Bishop-Designate of Oxford, to be present, but he said he was so much engaged in winding up the business connected with his duties as Rector of Honiton, that he could not possibly attend, but he had promised to take great interest in the School, and be present at their next distribution. We then tried to get the Archdeacon,

who is the most intimately connected with the Diocese of Oxford, because in the interval of Bishop Wilberforce's leaving, and the coming of the new Bishop, we may say the Diocese is represented by the Archdeacons, and the Archdeacon of Oxford kindly consented to be present, and we are much obliged to him for coming. Moreover, as the Bishop is the Visitor of the School, and the Archdeacons are patrons, it gives the School the character which I hope it will always hold, that of "the Diocesan School," and that its teaching will be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Church of England. All teaching is of little use, unless conducted on religious grounds. Mr. Hurman has thought a great deal on the subject, and is anxious that you should feel the importance of an education founded on the one great principle of doing your duty in that state of life in which you may be placed. This year, for the first time, Mr. Hurman has appointed a Head Master, who is in Holy Orders, to read the prayers to you, and to help in the work of the School, and he (Mr. Hurman) contemplates having a chapel built within the School ground, so that when you go there for your morning and evening prayers, you will remember that you are going into a place set apart for the worship of God. In your School-room, perhaps, circumstances arise which may prevent your paying that proper attention to your prayers which you should do, but that will not be the case in a place set apart specially for prayer. I feel strongly that it is a move in the right direction, and I am glad to support it, for there

can be no doubt but that an orderly habit of divine worship is a great element in the formation of character, and by the blessing of the Almighty it will have a good effect on you. The rev. gentleman then referred to the various subjects of the examination, and said, I am pleased to hear Mr. Blunt (of whom we all think a good deal, owing to his writings and the many works he has published), say that he is well satisfied with the knowledge of the boys in the Prayer Book. It shows that the standard of divinity is high in the School. Many schools that send in boys to the local examination do not take up the whole of the divinity work, and therefore I am pleased to find that you do, and that the certificates before me all bear the mark that you have satisfied the Examiner in the rudiments of faith and religion. I don't wish to detain you, because the Archdeacon is about to give away the prizes, and, from the office he holds, he will address you with much more force than I can; and his words will have much more weight than any I can use. Therefore all I need do is to thank you for your attention during the time I was here as Examiner, and to tell you that, on the whole, I am satisfied with the younger branches. In all Schools the great difficulty is to keep up the younger parts of the School at all at a level with the higher classes. Very often the latter do all the principal work, and the lower ones a very little. In the lower School here I am very glad to see most creditable answers of the boys, for their ages, although there are always in these examinations boys coming out far better