monastery. The school keeps a strong link with the cathedral by which it is overshadowed, forming a key part of school life with pupils attending services in the Cathedral at least once per week in Acremont and the Junior School, and twice per week in the Senior School, and being the venue for Start of Term, End of Term, Admission of Scholars, and Prize Giving services, alongside purely religious services. A teaching institution has been on the site since 970, making it the seventh oldest school in the United Kingdom. An article in The Illustrated London News from 1882 provided the following which showed the state of the school at that time: "The head master, after some allusion to the former history of the school (in which Edward the Confessor had been educated, and which, in the seventy years after its new foundation by Henry VIII, had developed, into a school of upwards of 300 boys, among whom were many of distinction), recounted the honours achieved in the past year. Among these were successes in the Civil Service and Indian Civil Service examination, an exhibition at Worcester College, Oxford, a first in the May examination at Queens' College, Cambridge, and a second at Peterhouse."In his memoirs from 1955, the Reverend Christopher Campling described the school's state when he became chaplain. "Academic standards were not high, but a few boys gained admission to Oxbridge each year. The music in the school was especially good, because the choristers of the cathedral choir stayed on after their voices had broken." A Roll of Honour in School House lists 24 Old Eleans who were killed during World War I. Another Roll of Honour is located outside of the Hayward Theatre and features the names of 89 Old Eleans killed while in service of the British Armed Forces during The First World War, Second World War, and The Troubles. Kidnapping In November 1999, a 14-year-old pupil was kidnapped as he left the school premises, and held by three men. Police were able to stop the kidnappers' vehicle as the victim was being driven away from a hotel in Essex three days later; it is thought the boy was about to be drowned in the River Thames, as a 20 ft length of cable, ropes ties, handcuffs and a 56lb weight were found in the gang's vehicle. The parents of the boy received mobile phone calls