There were just seven girls and 31 boys in the first class held at Newtown School when it was founded by the Quakers 200 years ago in Waterford. Today the school has 380 students.

It still occupies the original beautiful site bought by the Society of Friends from Sir Thomas Wyse in 1798 for the purpose of instructing students "in whatsoever things were civil and useful in creation". The school is still surrounded by the old high stone wall which surrounded the estate. Its imposing entrance gates are now listed.

This year anybody who has had any contact with the school down through the years will celebrate its long and uninterrupted tradition. The bicentenary is to be marked by a series of social and academic occasions, as well as exhibitions, conferences, tours, sporting events and the publication of Newtown School, Waterford, a History 1798 - 1998 by Maurice Wigham. Sadly, Wigham, a past pupil and a former principal, some weeks ago, just before his book was published.

The history was launched in Dublin on Friday by Dr Roy Foster, the current Carroll Professor of Irish History at Oxford, and a past pupil of Newtown. He said that the volume had "contributed significantly to Irish history in the larger sense".

Wigham notes that in the early days of the school "not all Quaker households used the `plain language' consistently", However, once a child went to Newtown "there was no compromise - it was `thee' and `thou' and correctly used too".

From very early on at Newtown, he writes, "there was an annual excursion to Tramore or Woodstown . . . one after another horse-drawn vehicles appeared up the drive and were lined up in front of the school. They were packed with food for the day and everyone waited expectantly for the world to pile in and move off".

One of the boys to arrive for the first class in Newtown on August 1st, 1798, was Richard Allen. He subsequently became a teacher and a headmaster there. In the interim, some five generations of Allens, who are based today at Ballymaloe, Co Cork, have been to Newtown.

Over the years the school has kept its archive roll books and records. Family names from the business world including Bewleys, Jacobs and Goodboodys feature. Among its famous past pupils are the actor, Ralph Fiennes, and rugby player Nick Popplewell.

Today the school is co-educational and multi-denominational. "Our philosophy does still maintain its core Quaker values in terms of educating for life," says Simon Harrison, chairman of the board of governors.