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Highgate School |
| Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate | |
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| Motto | Altiora In Votis (Latin: I pray for the higher things) |
| Established | 1565 |
| Type | Public School (Independent) |
| Religious affiliation | Church of England |
| Headmaster | Mr Adam Pettitt, M.A. |
| Founder | Sir Roger Cholmeley |
| Location | North Road London N6 4AY England |
| Staff | 125 full-time |
| Students | 1,313 |
| Ages | Reception to Year 13 |
| School colours | Maroon & Navy
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| Affiliations | Eton Group, HMC |
| Website | http://www.highgateschool.org.uk/ |
Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate (Highgate School) is a British Independent School in London, England. It is a member of both the Headmaster's Conference and the Eton Group. Highgate recently made the move towards co-education ending over 400 years of single sex education. According to the Good Schools Guide, "Its decision to go co-ed has helped to put its popularity and academic standards on upward trajectories."1
When founded the school was legally documented as the Free Grammar School of Sir Roger Cholmeley, Knight at Highgate in letters patent of Queen Elizabeth I in 1565. In this period up to 1871 it was known commonly as The Free Grammar School at Highgate, the Highgate Grammar School or the Cholmeley School, when not referred to legally. By the 1870s the school was by no means free anymore and provided to gentlemen esquire and the upper middle classes. For this reason the name was changed to "Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate", which it is still known by today in the charitable status list. In the later part of the 19th Century the school's current title Highgate School developed, as it competed with better-known public schools with area names like Eton College, Harrow School and Winchester College.
Three separate schools now come under the Highgate Foundation, which manages not only the Senior School but also a prep school and a pre-prep school.
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The school was established in 1565 by a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I giving permission for Sir Roger Cholmeley to erect a free grammar school for boys. A significant expansion of the school occurred under Headmaster The Revd Dr John Bradley Dyne (Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford) between 1838-1874. During this period the current chapel and main buildings were erected, designed by Reginald Blomfield (who had also designed Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford). A fragment of the older school building, a gateway with a rusted bell mechanism above between the porter's lodge and the main school building, remained intact until 2006 when the bell was refurbished and the old entrance itself rebuilt in a more modern style.
During the Second World War the school's buildings were commandeered by the British government and the school was evacuated to Westward Ho! in Devon, returning to Highgate in 1943. This return was maybe slightly premature because one afternoon in 1944 a V-1 Doodlebug flying bomb landed and exploded in the field behind the Junior School. Luckily, the only serious casualty was a cricket scorebox.
By 1965 the school occupied a large site in Highgate Village, as well as extensive sports fields and several boarding houses in the surrounding area.
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was buried in the school chapel, his grandson an Old Cholmeleian. However, in 1965 after a row with the council there was a ceremonial disinterring of Coleridge at which the then Poet Laureate John Masefield spoke and the remains were reburied at St Michael's parish church just a few hundred yards away.
Highgate School is also home to the oldest school freemasons lodge in the world, Cholmeley Lodge No 1731, formed in 1878.
In 2003, the school took the decision to become fully co-educational ending over four hundred years of single-sex education.
Due to the Foundation's significant ownership of land and properties around the school, it has been able to invest greatly in the school's facilities; the relatively recent conversion from boarding to day school has increased the space available for this to continue. The Foundation's governing body consists of 12 members; 5 are nominated (one each by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, by the Bishop of London, and by the Lord Chief Justice), and the rest are co-opted. The school is a member of the Eton Group of leading independent schools.
The school operates a house system like many other public schools and on entering, pupils are placed in a house according to where they live (although the system does appear inaccurate, on occasions). These houses are Northgate, Southgate, Westgate, Eastgate, Queensgate, Kingsgate, Midgate, Fargate, Heathgate, The Lodge, School House and Grindal. Each house has a Housemaster in charge of the pastoral, as well as academic well-being of house-members, and tutors for each year group. This system was established to create 'house spirit' among the students, allowing for both academic and sporting competitions among the houses. Some of these, like School House, Grindal, Cordell and The Lodge used to be boarding houses. Grindal and Westgate are the only houses to have their own old boys' clubs, The Mitre Club and the Zephyr Club respectively. However, other houses, such as Kingsgate, are newer, having been created by a dissaffected group of Westgateans in the 1970s.
Former pupils are known as Old Cholmeleians - current pupils are Cholmeleians - after the school's founder, Sir Roger Cholmeley, and Highgate has a diverse range of well-known old boys, most notably in the arts and literature. All former pupils are inducted into the Old Cholmeleians' Society upon leaving; the society has several events at the school and elsewhere for old pupils. Members past and present include:
Jonathan Tusder - (Major-General; The 2Seljuq Warriors)
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