St. George's School, Harpenden

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St George's School, Harpenden was originally sited in Keswick, in the Lake District and was run by the headmaster, Rev. Cecil Grant. In 1907, Cecil Grant moved his students to the buildings in Harpenden, Hertfordshire where the school has remained for the last ninety-nine years. The school is now under the guidance of the current headmaster, Norman Hoare and his deputies, Brian Towler and Patrick Storrie. It was one of the first coeducational schools in the UK.

St George's was originally a grammar school, became a comprehensive school in 1976 and is now a voluntary aided school. It is one of a handful of state boarding schools.[1]

The School moto is Aim Higher which appears over one archway. In 1917 a Montessori unit was opened.

St George's School website can be found here and contains the most recent information about the school.

1 Christian ethos
2 House system
3 Curriculum
4 Boarding
5 Notable Aluminus
6 References

[edit] Christian ethos

It has managed to maintain a Christian basis in all aspects of school life. The chapel, which seats approximately 300 people is used daily for worship and assemblies. Because the school has a great sense of community, students are obliged to attend three chapels per term on either a Sunday morning or evening. The school offers special carol services at Christmas for both the junior (years 7-8) and senior (years 9-13) students. As the school has many ex-pupils who fought, died and were wounded in the first and second world wars, there is also a special Remembrance Sunday service. Chapels are generally taken by the current preacher, Rev. Manning but are often littered with guest speakers.

[edit] House system

The school is split into four houses: Watts (yellow) Grant (green) Monk (blue) and Goddard (red) named after Rev. Arthur Watts, a former headmaster, Rev. Cecil Grant, the founder of the school and Bertram Monk and Lister Goddard, two young men who died in the Great War.

Each house is made up of approximately 300 pupils from all years, a team of 12 tutors, a head of house and a deputy head of house, two house captains, chosen from the sixth form and a team of sixth form prefects. Every year, a boy and a girl are chosen from the lower sixth to represent their school as head boy and head girl. They continue their posts into year 13.

The house system aims to welcome the students at St George's into a larger family environment, but one which is less intimidating than that of an entire school. This is especially helpful for younger or new students.

Throughout the school year, the houses compete in a number of events to earn points towards the Chapman Cup. These events include Interhouse Music, Drama, and a variety of sports. These events are predominantly student coordinated, mainly by the house captains, music, drama and sports captains. Pupils get very competitive and the events are always filled with drama, suspense and a lot of enthusiasm and energy. Some of the proudest moments and best memories are taken from competing for your house.

[edit] Curriculum

St. George's is reputed to have some of the highest examination results in the country for state schools and rivals some of the public schools, although it should be noted that all three senior schools in central Harpenden are of like standard. The school is good in Sports, Arts, Technology and Sciences but this does not mean that any of the other subjects get left behind. As well as classroom teaching, the school has a wealth of extra-curricular clubs, teams and educational visits both residential and abroad. It is currently applying for status as a modern languages college, a status currently given to another school in Harpenden.

The school music department offers peripatetic instrumental tuition for all woodwind, string, and brass instruments as well as classical and jazz piano, guitar, drums and voice. David Harvey (former bassist for high-profile acts such as Percy Sledge, Alicia's Attic and The Tornados) teaches guitar and bass guitar through the school. Regular concerts take place in the chapel and the old library. St George's is also attended by one of Britain's good Scottish pipers.

St George's has a longstanding history of sporting excellence. The two main sports played are lacrosse, for girls and rugby for boys. The school also has netball, cricket, tennis, gymnastics, rounders, basketball and athletics teams who compete in Hertfordshire and sometimes further afield.

Education at St George's aims to recognise all achievements by teams and individuals.

[edit] Boarding

Keswick and Crosthwaite House are currently home to over 120 boy and girl boarders. Often, children from abroad come to St George's to board and often spend seven years of their education in Hertfordshire before going on to university or careers. Every year a head boy and head girl are elected exclusively for the boarding house. These two students from the upper sixth help to run the boarding house effectively and aid relationships between matrons and students.

[edit] Notable Aluminus

Michael Oakeshott, an English philosopher with particular interests in political thought. Attended 1912 to 1920.
Patrick Heron, English abstract artist with work currently hanging in the Tate gallery, St Ives.
Lennox Berkeley, British composer of French influence, moving towards serialism in later life. Attended 1919-1921.
Kate Mullins of the The Puppini Sisters^[1]
Donald Coxeter one of the great geometers of the 20th century.
Kenneth Horne the comedian attended St. George's School.
Dominic Stewart-Smith, an early yet obscure pioneer of the modern day computer architecture, attended from 1955-1966.
alex cashman the buff one