Harrow School

Harrow School
Mottoes	Latin: Stet Fortuna Domus ("Let the Fortune of the House Stand") Donorum Dei Dispensatio Fidelis (Latin:"The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God")
Established	1572 (1243)
Type	Public, Boarding school
Religious affiliation	Predonimantly Anglican
Head Master	Barnaby J Lenon[1]
Chairman of the Governors	Mr Peter Siddons
Founder	John Lyon of Preston
Location	Harrow on the Hill High Street London Borough of Harrow London HA1 3HP England
Staff	~200 (full-time)
Students	~800
Gender	Male
Ages	13 to 18
Houses	11
School colours	Blue & White
Publication	The Harrovian
Former pupils	Old Harrovians
Badges	Rampant Lion Crossed Arrows
Website	www.harrowschool.org.uk

Harrow School, commonly known as "Harrow", is a world-famous all-boys British independent school^[2], re-founded in 1572 under the Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I by John Lyon after the schools original founding in 1243.^[3]

Harrow is a public school for boys. The school is located in Harrow on the Hill in Middlesex, England. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.^[4]

The school was founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Elizabeth I of England; although a school in some form has existed on the hill since 1243.^[3] Today Harrow has an enrollment of approximately 800 pupils^[5] spread across eleven houses,^[6] all of whom board full time at a cost of £28,005 per year as of 2008.^[7] The majority of boarding houses were constructed in Victorian times, when the number of boys increased dramatically.^[8]

Harrow is the traditional rival of Eton College and the two schools have a tradition of annual sporting fixtures, some of which have occurred for centuries. Most notable of these is the annual cricket match (dating back to 1805), which is held at Lord's Cricket Ground.

Harrow has been responsible for the creation of the game of squash which was first played at the school in the early 19th century, as well as several other sports.

The School Governors recently introduced Harrow to the international community by opening two new schools, one in Beijing, China, and Harrow International School in Bangkok, Thailand.^[9] A twelfth school house is in the early stages of development.

History

Harrow School was founded in February 1572 under the Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I to John Lyon, a local farmer.^[10] His new School House was completed in 1615 and the School settled into its gradual growth towards fame.^[11] Lyon died in 1592, leaving his assets to two causes, the lesser being the school, and by far the greater beneficiary being the maintenance of a road to London, 10 miles (16 km) away. It was only after the death of his wife in 1608 that the construction of the first school building began. It was completed in 1615 and remains to this day, however it is now much larger.

The original Old Schools, as they were in 1615

At its foundation, the primary subject taught was Latin, and the only sport was archery. Although most boys were taught for free, their tuition paid for by Lyon's endowment, there were a number of fee-paying "foreigners" (boys from outside the parish). It was their presence that amplified the need for boarding facilities. By 1700 for every local there were two foreign pupils; this was used as a way to generate funds for the school. By 1876, the ratio was so high that John Lyon Lower School was brought under the authority of the governors of the Upper School so that the school remained within its charge of providing education for the boys of the parish. It is now known as The John Lyon School and is a prominent independent school in England. It maintains close links with Harrow.^[10]

The 20th century saw the innovation of a central dining hall, the demolition of small houses and further modernisation of the curriculum. Presently there are approximately 800 boys boarding at Harrow.^[5] Harrow has recently expanded into the global community, with educational institutions being introduced in Beijing and Bangkok, respectively.^[9][12]

In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents.^[13] Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling £3,000,000 into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.^[14]

Notable alumni

See full article: List of Old Harrovians

Harrow has many notable alumni, who are known as Old Harrovians, including seven former British Prime Ministers (including Winston Churchill and Robert Peel), and the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. In addition, nineteen Old Harrovians have been awarded the Victoria Cross.^[11]

The school has produced two national Kings: King Hussein of Jordan and his cousin, Faisal II, the last King of Iraq. A number of members of the British Royal Family have attended the school, though the only two British heirs to the throne to have attended secondary school in the traditional sense, Prince Charles and Prince William, attended Gordonstoun and Eton respectively.

Other notable alumni include writers (including Lord Byron and Sir Terence Rattigan), aristocrats (including the current richest British citizen, the current Duke of Westminster and the prominent reformist Lord Shaftesbury) and business people (including DeBeers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer and Pret a Manger founder Julian Metcalfe).

Prominent 21st Century celebrities who attended Harrow include eccentric horse-racing pundit John McCririck and singer James Blunt while fictional Old Harrovians include Withnail from the film Withnail and I.

School traditions

A modern view from the library to the Old Schools, one of the sets of the Harry Potter films

Uniform

Weekday dress at Harrow consists of a white shirt, black tie, grey trousers, blue jumper and a bluer (the dark blue uniform jacket), and notably a boater style straw hat with a dark blue band.^[15] Sunday dress consists of a black tailcoat, pinstriped trousers, a black waistcoat, black tie and a white shirt. Variations include a grey waistcoat for those in the top sports teams, a hat with black speckles for boys in the top cricket team, and various society ties worn to meetings of the respective societies.

Songs

Songs have been an important part of Harrow life ever since John Farmer, a former head of music, wrote the first song in 1864. The school considers them to be a unifying force as they are sung by the boys in their houses every term. Songs are sung by the whole school to audiences of parents, former pupils of the school, and guests of honour that have, in the past, included members of the royal family and representatives from previous governments. The song Forty years on has become known as the school song, although in reality it is one of many.^[16]

Harrow football

Harrow has its own unique style of soccer called Harrow Football.The purpose of the game is to score a 'base', which is achieved by kicking the ball between a pair of vertical posts, located at each end of the ground, similar to rugby posts but without a cross-bar. This may be done either from open play or from 'yards' and the kick may be of any height. An important feature is the offside rule whereby a player must be behind the ball before he can play it. Handling is allowed from a kick on the volley: the ball may be caught and a call of "yards" allows the catcher a space of three running yards unmolested and a free kick out of the hands.^[17]

The Harrovian

The Harrovian is the school newspaper that is published weekly during term time. Its articles are written anonymously and the school stresses that the opinions expressed in the newspaper do not reflect school policy. The newspaper is published as both an organ of record and a forum for comment, debate and the expression of individual opinions in the school. The Harrovian is also published online by the Harrow Association.^[18]

Harrow terminology

Harrow is famous for its unusually large amount of jargon specific to the school that pupils use. The following words and phrases are used during everyday life at Harrow. The origins of many of the terms have been lost through the passage of time.^[15]

Harrow curriculum

During their first year boys take English, French, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, Latin or Classical Civilisation, Religious Studies, Art, Music, Design Technology and Information Technology. Greek, German or Spanish is offered to boys with good linguistic ability.^[20]

During their second and third years, boys work towards their GCSE examinations. By the end of the third year all boys will have taken English Language, English Literature, French, Mathematics, Religious Studies and a Science. In addition to these core subjects pupils choose, in a wide variety of combinations, four other subjects from History, Geography, Latin, Classical Civilisation, Greek, German, Spanish, Italian, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Music, Art and Design Technology.^[20]

In the Sixth Forms all pupils are expected to take AS-level in at least four main subjects, going on to A-level in at least three. There are many to choose from including English Literature, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, History, Geography, Economics, Business Studies, Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Political Studies, Religious Studies, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Design Technology, Physical Education, Music, Music Technology, Art, History of Art, Theatre Studies, Statistics and Photography.^[20]

School grounds

Old Schools

Harrow School has 17 tennis courts which include acrylic, hard and lawn which belong to Harrow Lawn Tennis Club (HLTC)

Harrow is not built on a campus: it is fully integrated into the surrounding area; there are private houses and shops on the hill, and the main road through the hill is a normal public highway and indeed a bus route. The school is made up of some 300 acres (120 ha) of playing fields, tennis courts, golf course, woodland, gardens and its own working farm.

School houses

Harrow School divides its boarders into eleven houses, each of about seventy boys, with one further house, Gayton, used as an overflow. Each house has its own facilities and customs, and each competes in sporting events against the others.

Until the 1950s there existed what were known as 'small houses' where only 5-10 boys stayed at one time while they waited for a space in a 'large house' to become available (hence the use of the term large house in this article). A twelfth house is in the planning stages and is not aimed to increase the population of the school. Instead each of the present eleven houses will reduce its population in each year thus reducing their individual numbers and filling the twelfth house. The opening date is set for September 2011. It has not yet received a name.^[6]

House Masters and their families live in the boarding houses and are assisted by House Tutors appointed from the teaching staff. Every House has a residential House Tutor. The House Master oversees the welfare of every boy in his care; for parents he is the main point of contact with the School.^[6]

Each House has a resident Matron and sick room. The Matrons are supported by the School's Medical Centre where trained nursing staff offer round the clock care. The Medical Centre is under the direct supervision of the School Doctor who is available on the Hill every day for consultation.^[6]

There are no dormitories: a boy shares his room with a boy of the same age for the first three to six terms and thereafter has a room to himself. It is very much his own place, his home for the term, where he keeps his belongings, puts up his pictures, does his work and leads much of his social life. Each House has a Common Room with newspapers, television and video. All have their own gardens and sports facilities.^[6]

See also

• Harrow History Prize
• List of Old Harrovians
• List of Victoria Crosses by School

References

Literature

• Rimmer, Rambles round Eton and Harrow, (London, 1882)
• Thornton, Harrow School and its Surroundings, (London, 1885)
• Harrow School Register, 1801-93, (London, 1894)
• Minchin, Old Harrow Days, (London, 1898)
• Williams, Harrow, (London, 1901)
• Archibald Fox, Harrow, (London, 1911)
• G. T. Warner, Harrow in Prose and Verse (London, 1913)
• Christopher Tyerman, 'A History of Harrow School 1324-1991 (Oxford, 2000)

External links

• Harrow School website
• Harrow Association website
• Harrow Development Trust website
• Harrow School Enterprises
• Hills and Saunders Photo archive- This site, run by the Harrow School Archive, contains an index and scans of photos of Harrow boys. The negatives date from as early as the 1800s and were taken on glass plates
• Profile at the Good Schools Guide
• Harrow International School, Bangkok website
• Harrow International School, Beijing website