Orley Farm School

Orley Farm School
Motto Haec Cogitate
(Think on these things)
Established 1850
Type Preparatory school
Headmaster Mr T Calvey
Chairman of the Governors Mr C Hayfield
Founder Edward R Hastings
Location South Hill Avenue
Harrow
Middlesex
HA1 3NU
England
Coordinates: 51°33′45″N 0°20′37″W / 51.56255°N 0.34368°W / 51.56255; -0.34368
Local authority Harrow
DfE number 310/6003
DfE URN 102248 Tables
Students 496
Gender Coeducational
Ages 4–13
Houses 4
Website www.orleyfarm.harrow.sch.uk

Orley Farm School is a coeducational preparatory day school in the London borough of Harrow, at the foot of Harrow Hill on South Hill Avenue. It was founded as the preparatory school for the nearby Harrow School but is now a fully independent school in its own right and leavers continue to other independent schools. The school grounds cover over 36 acres (150,000 m2).

History

As "Hastings School", it was founded in 1850 by the first headmaster, Edward Ridley Hastings, who was head for 47 years. The last was the name of a property purchased by the school which happened to have been owned by the family of Anthony Trollope. Trollope described the house in his novel Orley Farm and Hastings, recognising the description, gained permission to rename the school "Orley Farm". Each of the houses has a house colour; Hastings - maroon, Hopkins - blue, Broadrick - yellow and Julians - green. However, the recent headmaster has removed the house ties and the tie has been standardised to a maroon colour. The only exceptions are the people with 'school colours' for exceptional contributions to music or to the school. These students have the crest embossed onto the centre of the tie (music) or have acorns in rows over the whole tie (school).

Orley Farm was originally a traditional boarding prep school similar to the likes of Ludgrove and Heatherdown Preparatory Schools. During the 1980s, boarding was phased out after over 130 years and the dormitories were converted into classrooms. In 1994, the school administration made the landmark decision of admitting girls for the first time. The pre-prep department opened the following year.[1]

Indecent assault

Teacher David Gutteridge was found guilty of indecent assault on a male pupil aged under 16.[2] Gutteridge would invite the victim to his flat at weekends and ply him with cigarettes and alcohol before abusing them. Gutteridge was jailed for 18 months.[3]

Controversy

In October 2012, the then Headmaster, Mark Dunning, was forced to step down after hiding an offensive coded message in the form of an acrostic in the school news letter. The target of this insult was a retiring teacher, and the hidden message was in the text announcing his forthcoming retirement.[4] The Deputy Headmaster, Tim Calvey, took on the role of acting Headmaster (later made permanent).

Houses

Each pupil is randomly assigned to one of the four houses upon entry. The houses are named after former headmasters and activities are overseen by house teachers.[5]

Former Pupils

References

  1. ↑ About Us - School History
  2. ↑ http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/former-teacher-has-been-found-32299/
  3. ↑ http://www.chichester.co.uk/news/local/former-chichester-school-worker-jailed-for-indecent-assault-on-teenage-boy-1-6632847
  4. ↑ Ward, Victoria (28 Feb 2013). "Headmaster’s hidden insult gives teacher the last laugh". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 Mar 2013.
  5. ↑ House System
  6. ↑ "Me and my school photo: Anthony Horowitz remembers the brutal experiences that sparked his passion for escapism". Daily Mail. 2 December 2011.
  7. ↑ Winton, Dale (2003). Dale Winton: My Story. Random House. p. 37. ISBN 9780099443155.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, October 11, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.