The Perse School
 The school crest | |
| Motto |
Latin: Qui facit per alium facit per se He who does things for others does them for himself |
|---|---|
| Established | 1615 |
| Type | Independent day school |
| Religion | Nondenominational Christian |
| Head | Mr Edward Elliott |
| Senior Deputy Head | Mr Daniel Cross |
| Chairman of the Governing Body | Sir David Wright |
| Founder | Dr Stephen Perse |
| Location |
Hills Road Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB2 8QF England  Coordinates: 52°10′51″N 0°08′19″E / 52.180833°N 00.138611°E |
| DfE number | 873/6010 |
| DfE URN | 110923 Tables |
| Staff | 138 teaching, 117 support staff, 26 peripatetics[1] |
| Students | 1061 (771 boys, 350 girls)[2] |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | 8 |
| Colours | Purple and Black |
| Publication | OP News Magazine |
| Alumni | Old Perseans |
| Rival | The Leys School |
| Website |
www |
The Perse Upper School is an independent secondary co-educational day school in Cambridge, England.
History
The school was founded in 1615 by Stephen Perse, a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and has been housed on several different sites in the city before its present site on Hills Road. In 1881 a girls' school (Perse Girls) was founded and this is now part of the Stephen Perse Foundation. Although they have the same name, The Perse and The Stephen Perse Foundation are unrelated, and both are now mixed gender.
The Perse Foundation
There are also preparatory and pre-preparatory schools related to The Perse School. Boys and girls aged 3 to 7 attend 'The Pelican' pre-preparatory school, located on Glebe Road, Cambridge. The Perse Preparatory School is located on Trumpington Road, Cambridge, and is for boys and girls aged 7 – 11.
Motto
The school motto is Qui facit per alium facit per se, usually taken to mean "He who does things for others does them for himself". This is an example of a rebus motto, the Latin sentence ending in a word play on the founder's name "per se" and his benefaction. A blue plaque dedicated to the school's founder, Dr Stephen Perse, can be found in Free School Lane, Cambridge.[3]
Competitions, Olympiads and Scholarships
Pupils regularly compete and score highly in academic competitions and Olympiads, in addition to winning awards including Arkwright Engineering Scholarships[4][5] and Nuffield Research Placements (previously Nuffield Science Bursaries).[6][7] Students have won scholarships for summer placements at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel[8][9] and research institutes in Heidelberg, Germany.[10][11]
British competition results include:
- First place in the Schools' Challenge general knowledge competition
- First place (winning the Trinity College prize) in the National Cipher Challenge[12]
- First place in the Bank of England Target Two Point Zero interest rate challenge[13]
- Invitation to the British Physics Olympiad presentation afternoon (top 4 in the country in the AS Challenge)[14][15]
- Qualifying for the UKMT Team Maths Challenge final (winning the poster competition)[16]
- Qualifying for the British Informatics Olympiad final (top 15 in the country)[17][18]
- Qualifying for Round 2 (top 20 to 25 in the country) of the UK Chemistry Olympiad[19][20]
- Scoring Gold in Round 1 of United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad[21]
Students have also competed in international competitions including the International Mathematical Olympiad,[22] the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad,[23] the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad,[23] the International Biology Olympiad,[24][25] the International Rocketry Challenge,[26][27] the European Union Contest for Young Scientists[28] and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.[29]
Sport
In 2005, the Perse under-14 hockey team became National Champions, beating Millfield. In 2006 the Perse under-16 indoor hockey team reached the National Indoor Finals, and the following year the same age group won the competition.
The Perse school U16s then won the National Indoor hockey competition again the year after that, making the U16s back to back National Indoor Champions. Two members of that Hockey Team, Adam Miller and Michael Franklin, then went on to achieve national selection and subsequently represented England in several tournaments across Europe.
In the Michaelmas Term 2005 the rugby First XV became the most successful team in 14 years.
Music
The Perse has a senior orchestra, string orchestra, full choir, chorale group, 3 wind bands, swing band and jazz band. There are also about 35 smaller groups meeting weekly for rehearsal. In 2006, the String Orchestra toured to Paris and the Senior Wind Band toured to Iceland. Each year concerts take place at the West Road Concert Hall, Emmanuel United Reformed Church and Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church.
Fees
An old prospectus lists the fees as £3 per term in 1890.[30]
| 2007 - 2008[31] | 2008 - 2009[32] | 2009 - 2010[33] | 2010 - 2011[34] | 2011 - 2012[35][36] | 2012 - 2013[37] | 2013 - 2014[38][39] | 2014 - 2015[2][40] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per term (£) | 3,908 | 4,123 | 4,286 | 4,421 | 4,549 | 4,883 | 4,817 | 4,970 |
| Per year (£) | 11,724 | 12,369 | 12,858 | 13,263 | 13,647 | 14,649 | 14,451 | 14,910 |
| Yearly Increase (%) |
N/A | 5.50 | 3.95 | 3.15 | 2.90 | 7.34 | -1.35 | 3.18 |
Developments
The Perse School began accepting girls at 11+ and 13+ in September 2010 and became fully co-educational in September 2012.
Media attention
As a high-profile fee-paying school, the Perse has found itself in the media spotlight on a number of occasions.
Auschwitz theft
In 2015, two 17-year-old Perse students were caught attempting to steal items from Auschwitz. After spending a night in jail, the pair were fined and released on probation by the Polish authorities.[41] In December 2015, Polish prosecutors announced that the boys had withdrawn their admissions of guilt, and that they now will likely face a trial.[42]
Headmaster's blog
On his blog the headmaster, Ed Elliott, described his 'ten second challenge' in which he would give students who "commit occasional minor misdemeanours (such as forgetting a book) the opportunity to talk their way out of a punishment."[43] The story was quickly picked up by the mainstream media[44] who reported that pupils were "let off punishment for clever excuses".[45]
Staff controversies
An unnamed teacher was fired for kissing two pupils, believed to be 18-year-old girls, in a Cambridge nightclub. The incident was referred to the General Teaching Council for England and Independent Safeguarding Authority.[46]
The year before beginning work at the Perse, the school's chaplain Rev Bruce Kinsey was accused of blasphemy by local clergy and Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe after using the e-mail address god[at]dow.cam.ac.uk whilst working at the University of Cambridge. In response he stated, "As a college chaplain, it's important that people are able to contact me easily. This new email address has certainly proved to be memorable to both students and staff in the college."[47]
Alumni
Academia
- Maurice Bloch, anthropologist[48]
- Harold James, professor of history and international relations
- Michael Loewe, sinologist
- Edward Henry Palmer, orientalist
- G.L.S. Shackle, economist
- E. H. Warmington, classicist
Art
- Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Business
- Sir David Tang, Hong Kong-based entrepreneur
Engineering
- Sir Arthur Marshall, aviation engineer
- Anthony Michell, hydraulic engineer
Film and Theatre
- Ranjit Bolt, translator and playwright
- Marius Goring, actor
- Sir Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company
- Humphrey Jennings, film director
- Matthew Lloyd, theatre director, Royal Exchange, Manchester
- Colin McFarlane, actor
- Jeremy Silberston, film director
Law
- Sir Mark Potter, Appeal Court judge and President of the Family Division
Media
- Mel Calman, cartoonist
- Rodney Dale, writer and publisher
- John Gross, critic and editor
- F. R. Leavis, literary critic
- Mark Saggers, BBC sports broadcaster
Military
- Group Captain William Neil McKechnie, George Cross recipient
- Sir Ralph Lilley Turner MC, 2nd/3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles
Music
- Pete Atkin, singer/songwriter
- David Gilmour, singer and guitarist of Pink Floyd
- Spike Hughes, jazz musician and journalist
- Mistabishi, dubstep genre song writer
- Ronnie Ross, jazz musician
Politics
- Rajani Palme Dutt, leading figure in the Communist Party of Great Britain
- Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge
- David Steiner, New York State Commissioner of Education
- Sir Donald Tebbit, diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia[49]
- Sir Quentin Thomas, civil servant, head of the British Board of Film Classification
Religion
- Revd Dr John Polkinghorne, physicist and theologian
- Bishop Jeremy Taylor, an influence on the foundation of Methodism
Science
- Associate Professor Anthony Lowe, mathematical physicist and actuary
- Brian G. Marsden, astronomer
- Ronald G. W. Norrish, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967
- Gustav Victor Rudolf Born, pharmacologist
- Sir George Paget Thomson, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937
Sport
- Owen Giles, Northampton Saints rugby player[50][51][52]
Staff
Headmasters
- George Griffith, MA - died 1686
- Frederick Heppenstall, MA - 1864 to 1874
- Dr W. H. D. Rouse, MA, LittD (Cantab) - 1902 to 1928. Formerly a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.
- H. A. Wootton - 1928 to 1945
- Stanley Stubbs, MA - 1945 to 1969. Formerly a housemaster at Gresham's School.
- Anthony E. Melville - 1969 to 1987.[53] Formerly senior history master at Haileybury.[54]
- Dr Martin Stephen - 1987 to 1994. Subsequently High Master of Manchester Grammar School from 1994 to 2004 and then St Paul's School from 2004 to 2011. Director of Education for GEMS Education UK.[55][56] Non-Executive Chairman of the Clarendon Academies Group.[57][58][59]
- Dr Nigel P. V. Richardson - 1994 to 2008. Headmaster of The Dragon School from 1989 to 1992. Chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in 2007. Governor of Magdalen College School[60] and Haileybury.[61] AGBIS board member.[62] Author of the biography Thring of Uppingham: Victorian Educator.[63][64]
- Mr Edward C. Elliott, MA - 2008 onwards. Joined the school in 1997 as head of sixth form and was senior deputy head before being appointed headmaster.[65]
Notable staff
- Frederick Crossfield Happold DSO (Cantab.)
- Glenn Kirkham, captain of the England national field hockey team, served as a sports coach at the Perse from 2005 to 2014, including as assistant director of sport and head of hockey from 2012 to 2014. Kirkham participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi
References
- ↑ "Teaching". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- 1 2 "The Perse School - Public School Fees, Results & Alumni - 2015 Guide - Tatler". www.tatler.com. Tatler. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Stephen Perse blue plaque in Cambridge". openplaques.org. Open Plaques. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ↑ "Webtec awards first Roy Cuthbert Arkwright Engineering Scholarship to Theo Ashcroft, from the Perse School, Cambridge - Webtec Products Limited - Webtec Products Limited". www.webtechydraulicvalveflowmetertester.co.uk. Webtec Products Limited. November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "School takes the technological pole position". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 24 November 2003. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Scientists of the future: sixth formers showcase summer science projects at the Babraham R... - Cambridge Network". www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk. Cambridge Network. 27 October 2009. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ Margarita Kolchagova (3 December 2014). "Hamza Wahid presented his DNAdigest research project - DNAdigest.org". dnadigest.org. DNA digest. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ Julian L. Huppert. "Julian L. Huppert CV". jcsu.jesus.cam.ac.uk. Jesus College Student Union. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Weizmann Institute of Science Scholarships". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School Cambridge. July 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "International Summer Science School Heidelberg: Research Institutes". ish.diplixhost3.de. Heidelberg. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "288-Newsletter-4-July-2014-Final.pdf" (PDF). www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School Cambridge. 4 July 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Leader Board". www.maths.soton.ac.uk. University of Southampton. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ↑ Philip Aldrick (21 March 2015). "Perse School triumphs with ‘daring’ rate rise". www.thetimes.co.uk. The Times. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ↑ Terry Chambers (29 April 2010). "Photo Gallery". www.physics.ox.ac.uk. British Physics Olympiad. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "British Physics Olympiad Awards". www.thomas-hardye.net. The Thomas Hardye School. May 2010. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Newsletter 43.pdf" (PDF). www.ukmt.org.uk. UKMT. September 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Cambridge pupil Thomas Read makes it to final of British Informatics Olympiad at Trinity College". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 11 March 2015. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ↑ "The 2004 British Informatics Olympiad 2004-09-18". www.olympiad.org.uk. British Informatics Olympiad. 18 September 2004. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ↑ "ROUND 2 PARTICIPANTS" (PDF). www.rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry. 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Microsoft Word - Document3 - Round 2 Participants_tcm18-216372.pdf" (PDF). www.rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry. 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "The Perse School on Twitter: "Congratulations to students for Linguistics Olympiad success: 7 Bronze, 2 Silver & our 1st ever Gold medal @PerseMFL"". twitter.com. Twitter. 24 February 2015. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "16th International Mathematical Olympiad, German Democratic Republic, 1974, Report by David Monk (UK Deputy Leader) (Science Teacher volume 18 number 1 pages 4, 5 and 9)". www.imo-register.org.uk. UK IMO Register. 14 February 2015. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- 1 2 "BMOS/BMOC: Past News and Events". www.bmoc.maths.org. UKMT. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Use perse in a sentence". yourdictionary.com. Your Dictionary. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "ranking final de IBO.xls - results-2006.pdf" (PDF). www.ibo-info.org. 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "PERSE SCHOOL WINNERS OF UK NATIONAL ROCKETRY CHALLENGE BLAST OFF TO NASA". www.adsgroup.org.uk. ADS. 17 May 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ Freddo (2 June 2012). "Rocket boys off to NASA". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "The National Science and Engineering Competition 2012 Winners". www.thebigbangfair.co.uk. The Big Bang Fair. 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Nuffield Research Placement student Kirtana Vallabhaneni named Young Scientist of the Year". www.nuffieldfoundation.org. Nuffield Foundation. 19 March 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ↑ "Old prospectus from 1890 for the Perse School in Cambridge found in loft". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 1 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ↑ "The Perse Schools - Upper - Fees". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 22 March 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
- ↑ "The Perse Schools - Upper - Fees". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 14 March 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
- ↑ "The Perse Schools - Upper - Fees". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
- ↑ "The Perse School - Tatler". www.tatler.com. Tatler. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "The Perse School - Tatler". www.tatler.com. Tatler. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Fees". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ↑ "The Perse School - Tatler". www.tatler.com. Tatler. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "The Perse School - Fees, Results & Alumni - Tatler - Tatler". www.tatler.com. Tatler. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Fees". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
- ↑ "Fees". www.perse.co.uk. The Perse School. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ Halliday, Josh; Grierson, Jamie (23 June 2015). "UK teenagers held over theft of artefacts from Auschwitz museum". theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ↑ "British teenagers face trial over 'Auschwitz theft'". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
- ↑ Ed Elliott (20 November 2012). "The ten second challenge goes viral". theperseschool.wordpress.com. The Perse School. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ↑ John-Paul Ford Rojas (16 November 2012). "Silver-tongued pupils given ten seconds to talk their way out of trouble". www.telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ↑ "Perse School pupils let off punishment for clever excuses". www.bbc.com. BBC. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ↑ "Teacher from The Perse School sacked for kissing two students in Cambridge nightclub". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ↑ Sarah Hall (12 May 1999). "God's email address lands chaplain in row". www.theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ↑ Muhammad Aurang Zeb Mughal (2013) "Bloch, Maurice". Reece Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms (eds), Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 77-88.
- ↑ "Sir Donald Tebbit - Telegraph". www.telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. 10 October 2010. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ↑ "Class of his Owen". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ↑ "Owen Giles Photos - Northampton Saints Photocall - Zimbio". www.zimbio.com. Zimbio. 7 August 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ↑ "Northampton Saints : Squad 1st XV 2008-09". www.northamptonsaints.co.uk. Northampton Saints. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
- ↑ Tom Roper (25 March 2009). "Tom Roper's Weblog: Most highly flavoured gravy". www.roper.org.uk. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ↑ James, Patricia (2006). Population Malthus : His Life and Times. London: Routledge. p. xiv. ISBN 0415381134. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ↑ "Martin Stephen". www.gemsedsolutions.com. GEMS Education Solutions. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Martin Stephen – Telegraph Blogs". blogs.telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "The Gold Standard Charitable Trust Website". www.goldstandardcharitabletrust.co.uk. The Gold Standard Charitable Trust. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ David Marley (16 March 2012). "Financiers want to run 2,000 state schools - with bonuses - News - TES". www.tes.co.uk. TES. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Martin-Stephen.pdf" (PDF). www.schoolproprietors.co.uk. School Proprietors' Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Governing Body". mcsoxford.org. Magdalen College School. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ↑ "Governors & Council". haileybury.com. Haileybury. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ↑ "About Us". www.agbis.org.uk. AGBIS. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Thring of Uppingham: Victorian Educator". www.uppingham.co.uk. 2 May 2014. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ↑ "Thring of Uppingham: Victorian Educator". ubpl.buckingham.ac.uk. The University of Buckingham Press. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ↑ "Deputy to take head role at Perse School". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 8 June 2007. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.