building built with local Yorkstone and Lakeland slate. The school was built for the trustees of Benjamin Flounders and the trustees of St. John's Hospital, Barnard Castle, who managed the Baliol endowment, and was overseen by a University of Durham committee. Flounders was a Quaker industrialist who had helped to fund the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The Flounders trustees financed the entirety of the construction of the school with a donation of £31,000. A further £20,000 was raised by subscription to cover initial running costs, £10,000 of which came from St John's Hospital. The gift from St John's was conditional on the school being situated in Barnard Castle, and this determined its location. The school's governance was inspired by the county school movement of Joseph Lloyd Brereton, who was largely inspired in turn by the example of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School. The object of the school was to provide a liberal education, with fees a fraction of those charged by public schools. Tolerance of non-conformist denominations such as Methodism and Roman Catholicism informed the school's ethos, and the school has always remained independent of the Church of England. Brereton's son became the first headmaster of the school. In contrast to the largely classical education offered by many of the public schools of the time, the school always maintained a focus on scientific and technological education. A strong sporting programme was believed to build character. Extensions over the next few years included a sanatorium in 1890 (now the music school) and a swimming-bath block in 1896. In 1900 a £4,000 (£400,000 in 2010) science block was opened by Lord Barnard with Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham in attendance. The building is now inhabited by Tees and Dale houses. The school name was changed to Barnard Castle School in 1924, and it was by this time one of the largest public schools in the North of England. When Harold Birkbeck was appointed headmaster in 1935 there were 193 pupils. In 1942 the school was elected to the Headmaster's Conference, making it an "official" public school. Following the introduction of the Education Act 1944, from 1945 the school became a direct grant grammar school and the number of pupils enrolled at the school increased substantially. In April 1961 a £65,000 (£1.1 million in 2010) appeal was launched for funding to build new science blocks and a library building. By