St Bartholomew's School  St. Bartholomew's School (known colloquially as St Bart's) is a co-educational state funded academy school founded in 1466 in Newbury, Berkshire in the United Kingdom. It accepts students aged 11–18 and has approximately 1,700 students on roll, including a sixth form of around 400. Bartholomew's is thought to be the 42nd oldest school in the UK still in existence. Bartholomew's is one of only a few state schools to participate in the Combined Cadet Force (a programme sponsored by the Ministry of Defence), with around 200 cadets between the ages of 14 and 18 taking part in weekly training sessions, activities, and residential trips. It is also one of the few state schools to play the sport of lacrosse. The school has produced many talented players, some of whom have gone on to represent England and Wales. The school, in July 2007, became the first state school to win in the "Schools and Universities Polo Association Cup". The school operates a house system whereby the student body is divided into four houses, each named for a former pupil who died in the First World War:  Patterson house uses the colour gold, whilst purple is used occasionally in conjunction with the main colour. The fourth house in the boys' school formerly always used purple, but switched to the gold of the girls' school's fourth house when the schools merged in 1975. Students from each house enter into annual competitions in sport, music and drama versus the other houses, where pupils represent their house. Examples of these are the house netball, house football, house rugby, house lacrosse, house hockey, house tennis, house rounders, house dance, house choir, house instrumental, and many others. There are also house plays which are written by year 12 students (aged 16 and 17) and performed by year 10 students (aged 14 and 15). The winning house in each competition is awarded a certain number of points, which are accrued during the academic year. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the "House Championship". "Junior/Senior House Colour Awards", in the form of ties, are awarded at the end of Years 10 and/or 12 to students who excel in a certain field, either academic or extracurricular. The ties are distinct from the normal school tie, consisting solely of the colour of the wearer's house. Girls were once given sashes instead of ties but this practice fell out of favour with the students and so they were awarded ties just as their peers were.