Lancing Tour

Lancing's remarkable Chapel has a very significant role in the lives of pupils and the school community. It symbolises the importance of Christian worship at our school and has a major influence on pupils’ strong sense of moral and spiritual awareness. Lancing staff and pupils demonstrate an inclusive approach to all members of the school community whatever their situation, culture or religious background.

Hear more about the Chapel with Jeremy Tomlinson

Originally built in the 1860s, the College Dining Hall is a central hub of daily activity and excitement at Lancing, serving breakfast, lunch and supper.

The Hall also hosts formal events and dinners such as the Evelyn Waugh Lecture for OLs, current parents and parents of former pupils. The yeargroup Christmas dinners are also held here, as is the reception for the Leavers' Ball.

The Library is a major centre for study and resource and aims to stimulate curiosity and encourage a love of learning. It is well-equipped to teach information handling skills and to promote independent learning. The Library is a perfect place for pupils to spend study periods, with the quiet working atmosphere inspiring diligent and purposeful independent learning. There is an informal seating area where daily newspapers and magazines can be read in comfort.

Great School is one of Lancing’s grandest rooms. It was gifted to the College in 1877 by former pupil Henry Martin Gibbs. With its wonderful acoustics and polished floor, Great School is a perfect venue to host concerts where pupils perform surrounded by portraits of all former Head Masters.

Great School is also used to host guest lectures and debates, attended by pupils and parents.

With its central location, Great School is also a meeting point for pupils, a crossroad of various routes between areas of the school, and is surrounded by 12 classrooms.

The Sanderson Room is an important part of our shared heritage, used for meetings during timetabled lessons, for co-curricular activities outside the school day, and for formal College receptions. It was originally the College Library and home to many very rare treasures.

The College Swimming Pool has in the past been a home training pool for Olympians Karen Pickering, Steven Akers and many other swimmers who have represented Great Britain, including OLs Dennis Allen, Richard Salt and Charlotte Woolliscroft. Swimmers at Lancing have consistently achieved success at the National Bath Cup and other school competitions in the South. It has served as a training facility for Joel Thompson, an upcoming young swimming star who swam for England twice this last year and is a member of one of the College's hire groups. It is in constant use throughout the week with groups from our prep schools learning to swim and also to train, teachers swimming and pupils training. PE lessons and other activities such as water polo and lifesaving all take place here – it’s a pool for all.

The pool is an excellent and well-maintained 25 metre, four lane facility suitable for learning to swim to competition standard, with anti-wave lane ropes and starting blocks. It has undergone major refurbishment to include a new roof, new changing rooms and a new accessible change facility for disabled swimmers soon to be completed. New windows have been installed and there is an enviable view of the Chapel whilst swimming in the pool. We are also told by independent testers that the standard of the water quality in the pool is very high. The pool is maintained and staffed by fully qualified personnel with everyone’s safety, well-being and enjoyment being kept to the fore. 

The Music School, opened in 1969 by Yehudi Menuhin, is home to Lancing’s amazing musicians. It is situated in its own grounds beside the Chapel for easy access for the Choir and organists. It features space for teaching, group work and rehearsal. Lancing also offers a diverse range of musical opportunities and its wider indoor and outdoor spaces around the school present many opportunities to perform.

The additional Bedford Studio is located in the Chapel crypt, offering more space for our many musicians.

The Science Department is home to our teaching rooms and laboratories for Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Psychology and Computer Science. The block and its corridors, located in the heart of the College, are a hive of activity. On Open Mornings this is one of the most popular destinations for visiting families.

The Science Department is also home to our specialist Medical and Engineering Groups, bringing together pupils who have an interest in pursuing a career in these fields.

The contemporary Reeve Art School was built in 2008, bringing the Art Department under one roof as well as gaining massive new studio space. Named after Mr Robin Reeve, former Chairman of the College’s Governing Body, the Art Department is set beautifully on the southern edge of the College with inspiring views over the valley and out to sea. It provides space for pupils to explore a wide range of artistic tools and techniques, and also frequently hosts seminars and exhibitions from our own pupils and visiting artists.

Film - Lancing College Art

Built in 1993, the Design and Technology Department is housed in a striking building featuring a series of large open-plan workshops with a central 'command module'. The centre overlooks open fields with magnificent views to the sea, establishing a relaxing yet inspiring space in which to face modern design challenges.

The Department has extensive facilities for pupils to learn about design theory and to develop their design and practical skills with the use of a wide range of materials. A new Jewellery Quarter has recently been added, funded by the Lancing Association.

The Centre was opened in June 2017 by Harry Meade, one of Britain’s leading event riders, in memory of his father, Richard Meade OBE, Britain’s great Olympic equestrian, and a former pupil of Lancing College.

Set in over 15 acres in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty, Lancing College Equestrian Centre is an exciting new facility for both pupils and the wider community. Its director and proprietor Mrs Jan Tupper oversaw the renovation and conversion of farm buildings and the design of the Centre, working closely with Lancing College.

When not in use by the College, the Centre is also open for local horse riding enthusiasts in the wider community.

With space for 75 boys, Head’s is – by a short distance – the largest House in the school. First occupied in 1857 as the Head Master’s Boarding House with a dozen or so occupants, it has since been converted into generous accommodation for the day boys at Lancing. Its purpose is to provide the day pupils with a House of their own to give them parity of facilities and pastoral structures to the boarders. Its principal aim is to allow them to properly experience the immersive and rewarding richness of boarding school life (and still see their parents every day!).

School House is the third of the original Lancing Houses. It was used as a temporary chapel until the dedication of the Chapel Crypt in 1875. It occupies the south junction of the Lower and Upper Quads and the south wing of the Upper Quad. It has undergone several major changes since it was completed in 1866 and today is Lancing’s largest House, comprising 75 boarders with 15 boys in each year group.

Second’s House, in the north wing of the Lower Quad, is one of the oldest Lancing buildings. In the 1960s a north wing of studies was added with a new Housemaster’s residence at the end. For a few years in the 1970s the former drawing room was used as a day room by Lancing’s earliest girl pupils.

Founded in 1914, Gibbs’ House bestrides the Upper Quad and is home to 70 boys. The tone of the House is set by the adage of the Gibbs’ Family, Tenax Propositi: Strength of Purpose. More colloquially, the boys are encouraged to “get stuck in”, developing those interests and enthusiasms with which they arrived at the College, but also taking the initiative to strike out in original directions, seizing opportunities as they arise and also looking to create their own.

Handford House was built to cater for the rising demand for Sixth Form girls’ places and received its first intake in 1985. Following a major extension in 2016, Handford is now a popular boarding House for up to 70 girls aged 13 to 18 years.

Teme House had originally been built in 1928 as the residence of the Head Master. In June 1940, when Lancing had been requisitioned by the Armed Forces, Teme House was the venue for the first meeting between General Bernard Montgomery and Winston Churchill.

Today, Teme is a happy and vibrant home to some 65 boys across all year groups. Standing proudly at the front of the school, it is the first House visitors see on arriving at Lancing, closest to the Chapel and the sports fields that can be seen from many of its windows.

Founded in 1978, Manor was the first purpose-built girls’ boarding House at Lancing; one of four girls' Houses now in the school.

Manor is home to some 40 day and boarding girls aged 13 to 18 years. As the smallest girls' House, Manor has an intimate family feel where the girls become part of a close-knit community and where friendships last well beyond Lancing.

Completed in 1912, Field’s House occupies a southern extension of the west side of the Upper Quad and at the centre of the College campus. It was originally designed as a boys’ boarding House and was reconstituted as a girls’ House in 2002 to take some of Lancing’s first Third Form girls. Field’s is a perfect home for some 60 girls aged 13 to 18 years; a home away from home with plenty of space to live and work.

The Lower Quad is the original heart of the school, where the foundation stone was laid in 1854. It is a wide open and welcoming space for pupils and visitors alike, surrounded by Head's, School and Second's Houses, as well as the Dining Hall.

The area is also a wonderful place to host large College events such as Founder's Day and the annual Sixth Form Leavers' ball.

The Upper Quad was formed from the completion of Gibbs’ House, Field’s House and the Masters' Tower in 1913. It has become the second centre of the College, with House buildings, the Science Department and Great School on each side.

The perfectly maintained pitches set in the beautiful South Downs are the perfect home to the Lancing College Cricket Club. The Pavilion hosts home and visiting team for post-game refreshments.

Cricket is very much part of life at Lancing for current pupils and also for OLs who frequently use the College facilities to host matches against the alumni of other schools.

Lancing College is home to four hard courts, six grass courts and 14 artificial grass courts. 

The Astro pitches at Lancing College are predominantly used for Hockey and Tennis.

The Lancing College Farm was established in 1983 as an off-shoot of the Science Department and as a co-curricular activity for pupils, rooted in conservation and open to all-comers. It provides opportunities to take many subjects out of the classroom and directly into the field.

The 190-capacity theatre was opened in 1984 by Sir Tim Rice OL, after it was converted from the old Swimming Pool. The state-of-the-art retractable auditorium provides the flexibility to accommodate a variety of different types of stage production.

Reached through an avenue if beech trees, the Outdoor Theatre is built in a disused chalk quarry, giving perfect shelter and peace to host outdoor performances. This mystical arena was opened by Agatha Christie in 1960 and is today used by pupils, most notably on Founder's Day to perform the annual Founder's Day Play to an audience of over 300 parents and pupils.

Repositioned from an earlier site in 1890s, The Grubber was originally the school shop. 

Originally the Dining Hall undercroft was used by pupils until 1911, when it took on a wider use as the College armoury until 1959. More recently, the Megarry Room is used for staff dining and also for hosting special events.

The new College Reception was opened in Spring 2016 creating a wonderful space to welcome pupils, parents, former pupils and the wider community.

A careful and sympathetic transformation was successful in retaining many of the original features. The £300,000 restoration was funded by the Lancing Foundation with funds donated by OLs, current parents and former parents.

The project was the winner of the inaugural Adur Distinction in Building Awards (Category E: Building Restoration) in January 2017.

Sankey’s House is located on the western edge of the campus, with stunning views to the sea and up to the South Downs. Sankey’s is a day House for some 60 girls aged 13 – 18 years from as wide a field as Chichester, Horsham and Lewes.

Sankey’s is open from 7.00am to 9.00pm, enabling girls to take full advantage of the wealth of opportunities available in the extended Lancing day. Even from their first week at Lancing, the girls become part of a strong and collegiate group within and across the different year groups, eating together, working, socialising and actively participating and supporting each other. There is a rich diversity of talent in the House with keen and high performing sports, music and drama enthusiasts across the year groups.

Lancing has a well-equipped, state-of-the-art Health Centre. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and staffed by a team of six qualified Sisters with well over 100 years of nursing experience between them, the Health Centre offers comprehensive health care in the event of illness or accident and emergency, to boarders and day pupils alike.

The Gym was first renovated in early 2014, converting an old squash court into a Bluetooth-powered Technogym. At the time, Lancing was the first independent school to have a gym of this kind, connecting cardio machines to the College’s Wi-Fi to facilitate personalised workout programmes. Following this, pupils’ demand for the gym facilities grew considerably and Lancing recognised the need to expand the existing space. The latest development has comprised inserting a mezzanine floor into the gym and has nearly doubled the usable floor space, enabling pupils to use weights and cardio machines in separate areas. As well as increased space to train, new equipment was purchased including kettle bells, ropes and heavier dumbbells.

In the same building, Lancing has three squash courts – with a high level spectators' gallery – for student use, and where we host our annual prep schools' squash tournament.

A brand new Dance Studio, situated next door to the Gym, opened its doors in late 2017. This is a much improved facility with increased space, a new sprung floor, double ballet barres and mirrors. The studio will be called the Jacqueline Storey Dance Studio, on its official opening in early 2018. Associated with Lancing for over 15 years, Jacqueline Storey inspired a generation or more of Lancing girls and boys to get involved in dance. A renowned singer, dancer, choreographer and director, Jacquie has directed and choreographed in the College and prep schools’ productions of Kiss Me Kate, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady and many more.

Currently, there is an eclectic mix of dance disciplines on offer for pupils, who can practise ballet, street, jazz, contemporary and – for those who enjoy a slower pace of movement – yoga.