This Friday, 13th March, a new edition of Founder’s Day will take place, one of the most significant and emblematic traditions at The Grange School. On this date, the Grangonian Community comes together to pay tribute to Mr John A. S. Jackson, founder and first Headmaster of our School, whose vision, principles and spirit continue to be present in our school life.
In this feature article, we invite you to learn more about the origins of this important ceremony and, above all, to gain a deeper understanding of the life and legacy of Mr Jackson, who almost a century ago dreamed of founding in Chile a school inspired by the values and educational standards of independent schools in the United Kingdom. With vision, conviction and perseverance, that dream became a reality, giving rise to an Proyecto Educativo whose foundation lies in The Grange School Fundamentals and which has shaped generations of pupils, remaining fully relevant today in our beloved School.
The history of Founder’s Day
Since 1959, the The Grange School Community has commemorated Founder’s Day each year, a date that invites us to remember the life and work of Mr John Alfred Stewart Jackson, founder and first Headmaster of our School, who passed away in March 1958. This ceremony is also an opportunity to reconnect with the origins of our institution and with the values that shaped its Proyecto Educativo.
During this occasion, pupils and members of Staff gather together with representatives of the Jackson family, the John Jackson Educational Foundation (FEJJ), the School’s Board of Governors, the Old Grangonian Club (OGC), the Grangonian Spirit of Service Foundation (FOGSS), Sindicato No. 1 and 2, The John Jackson XV, and The British and Commonwealth Fire & Rescue Company “J.A.S. Jackson”, as well as pupils from 6º Básico to 4ºEM, who lay floral tributes in honour of our founder.
Among the most significant and moving moments of the ceremony are the playback of Mr Jackson’s voice during the reading of the Prayer, as well as the minute of silence accompanied by the siren of the fire engine from the 14th Fire Company, in his honour.
Each year, the ceremony also includes the participation of a special guest who, from their own experience and perspective, shares a reflection on the importance and enduring relevance of Mr Jackson’s Educational Project in their life, offering our pupils a message that invites them to reflect on how these values may accompany and inspire them in their own future paths.
On this occasion, our special guest will be Mrs Josephine Jackson, a former pupil and granddaughter of the School’s founder, who until the end of last year was a member of our teaching Staff and who is now embarking on new professional challenges, while maintaining a deep connection to the path her grandfather began 98 years ago. We will share her words with the whole Community later on.
A founder with a clear vision
Nearly a century ago, Mr Jackson dreamed of founding in Chile a school inspired by the values and educational standards of independent schools in the United Kingdom. His purpose was to educate young people of integrity, who would be trustworthy and able to make a positive contribution to society, an idea he expressed in a phrase that now forms part of our mission and continues to guide the path of our School:
“We want to form pupils that are trustworthy and will be useful to society.”
That dream gave rise to an educational project centred on holistic education, aimed at developing the Grangonian Profile in every pupil. This is founded on four fundamental pillars: Academics, Arts, Sports and Service, which seek to promote pupils’ intellectual, physical, artistic and social development. At the heart of this vision lies the concept of the All Rounder, which represents the ideal of forming balanced individuals, capable of developing across different areas of school and personal life. These principles are reflected in The Grange School’s six core values: All Rounder, Fair Play, Spirit of Service, Joy of Learning, Team Spirit and Good Manners, which guide the formation of well-rounded pupils, committed to those around them and prepared to make a positive contribution to society.
Who was Mr John A S Jackson?
To understand the history of The Grange School is also to come to know more closely the person who gave it life. Mr John Alfred Stewart Jackson was not only the founder of our School: he was a man of deep conviction, strong character and an exceptional educational vision that would shape the course of the institution through to the present day.
Born in Valparaíso into a British family, he was linked from an early age to the English educational tradition. While still a teenager, he travelled to England to continue his education, first at The Moorland House, in the county of Cheshire, and later at Cheltenham College. Those years within the British Public School system would profoundly shape his understanding of education and of the formative role of a school.
During this period, he not only stood out for his academic performance, but also for his leadership, discipline and active involvement in sport. He was appointed Prefect and served as captain of various school teams, reflecting from an early age the ideal of a holistic education that he would later seek to instil in his own pupils.
His youth was also shaped by the historical events of his time. The outbreak of the First World War interrupted his studies and led him to enter the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. At just 19 years of age, he graduated as a second lieutenant in the British Army and was sent to the front in France, where he took part in various military operations and was wounded during the Somme offensive.
That experience, lived at such an early stage in his life, left a profound mark on his character. Strength, a sense of duty, resilience and commitment to a purpose greater than oneself became defining traits that would shape his life, that of his family, and would later also influence the educational vision he advanced when founding The Grange School.
After the war, Mr Jackson resumed his studies at the University of Cambridge, where he continued to deepen his education under the principles of British schooling. However, family financial difficulties led him to return to Chile. Far from representing a setback, that return became the starting point of his life’s great project: to found a school in Chile that would offer an education inspired by the values, standards and traditions he had experienced at first hand.
It was then that his dream began to take shape: a school that would not simply produce good pupils, but also good people. A school where academic excellence would coexist with sport, the arts, service, teamwork, good manners and the joy of learning. In other words, an educational community capable of forming young people of integrity, who would be trustworthy and useful to society: All Rounders.
Understanding Mr Jackson from this more human perspective allows us to value his legacy all the more. Behind The Grange School was a man who lived through intense experiences, who knew at first hand the demands of discipline, leadership, adversity and service, and who chose to transform all of this into an educational endeavour with meaning and purpose. Remembering his story is not only about looking to the past, but also about recognising the example of a life shaped by vision, courage and a deep educational vocation.
The vision, mission and values that inspired Mr Jackson when founding The Grange School, and which we mentioned earlier in this feature, remain present today in the School’s Educational Project and are also reflected in The Grange School Fundamentals, a document that brings together the principles that guide our school life and continue to shape our community to this day.
Within it are gathered texts that have accompanied the life of the School since its earliest days and which continue to form part of our ceremonies and Assemblies, transmitting the ideals and spirit that inspired the foundation of The Grange School.
These include:
- Regular biblical readings, in particular Matthew 7:24–27 and the Lord’s Prayer.
- School Mission (J. A. S. Jackson, “Aim of the School,” 1937 School Prospectus)
- School Song (Hobsbawn & Curry)
- Assembly Bidding Prayer (J. A. S. Jackson, on tape)
The founding of The Grange School
On 4th June 1928, The Grange School opened its doors in a house on Pedro de Valdivia Avenue, in the Villa Ángela area, with just 12 pupils. From the very first day, Mr Jackson gave the educational project a clear identity: an education founded on four fundamental pillars, Academics, Arts, Sports and Service, which sought to promote the holistic development of pupils.
During its first ten years, the School operated in Villa Ángela. However, Mr Jackson had an even more ambitious vision: to have a site of its own, with improved facilities and extensive sports fields that would allow school life to flourish fully. Thanks to his conviction and leadership, that dream began to become a reality a decade later, when the School’s new premises were inaugurated in 1938.
On that day, before pupils, teachers and families gathered together, Mr Jackson shared with deep emotion that this project had for years been his “dream school”, built through effort, the support of the community and a shared vision. In his speech, he expressed the pride and gratitude he felt on seeing that dream finally become a reality, in words that still echo in the history of the School:
“Ladies and Gentlemen and boys of The Grange School, I feel very happy to welcome you to a building of which we may all feel proud. For the last three years in my end-of-term speeches I have talked to you of my dream school and asked you to help me build it. You gave me your support and now my dream has come true. I can only thank you with all my heart and hope that you, as part of this community, feel as happy and proud as I do. I do not say that everything is perfect; someone once told me that one cannot reach perfection until one has built three houses. But do not be alarmed, we shall not build three schools, we shall stay with this one.”
Today, decades later, Mr Jackson’s legacy remains fully alive in the life of the School. His vision continues to be reflected in the values that guide the formation of our pupils: All Rounder, Fair Play, Spirit of Service, Joy of Learning, Team Spirit and Good Manners.
We also share the words of Captain Balfour, a close friend and collaborator of Mr Jackson, spoken in the final tribute at his funeral:
“Mr Jackson’s spirit will remain for ever in every corner, in every brick of this building that he built with such effort and dedication.”
Ninety-eight years after the founding of The Grange School, Founder’s Day continues to be a meaningful occasion on which to remember the life and work of Mr Jackson and to reflect on the legacy he left to the Grangonian community.
Each generation of Grangonians receives this inheritance and contributes, through its own experience, to keeping alive a tradition that has accompanied the School since its foundation. Founder’s Day thus offers an opportunity to remember those origins and also serves as an invitation for our pupils to continue projecting, through their daily actions, the spirit and values that Mr Jackson envisioned for The Grange School.
