Aldenham School

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Aldenham School
AldenhamSchool Crest.JPG
Location
Aldenham School
, ,
WD6 3AJ

Coordinates 51°39′48″N00°19′40″W / 51.66333°N 0.32778°W / 51.66333; -0.32778
Information
Type Public School
Private day and boarding
MottoIn God Is All Our Trust
Religious affiliation(s) Church of England
Established1597;428 years ago (1597)
Founder Richard Platt
Department for Education URN 117602 Tables
Chair of GovernorsSarah Altman
Head of FoundationAlex Hems
Gender Coeducational
Age3to 18
Enrolment700
Houses 7 houses McGill's, Paull's, Leeman's, Riding's, Kennedy's, Beevor's, Martineau's, Woodrow's
Colour(s) Black and Gold   
Former pupils Old Aldenhamians
Website http://www.aldenham.com

Aldenham School is a co-educational private boarding and day school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ages of five to eleven. It was founded in the late sixteenth century by Richard Platt.

Contents

History

Richard Platt in 1600 Richard Platt (detail).jpeg
Richard Platt in 1600

The school was founded in 1597 by Richard Platt, owner of a City of London brewery and Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers in 1576 and 1581. In 1596, Queen Elizabeth I granted him letters patent to build "the Free Grammar School and Almshouses" at Aldenham; the foundation stone was laid in 1597. Before Platt died in 1600 he obtained an endowment for the School by a covenant between himself and the Brewers' Company. It became a free village grammar school for young boys, also taking in private pupils. [1]

In the early 19th century an investigation by the Education Charities Commission of the Poor led to the Tudor Grammar School being demolished and replaced by two new schools: a lower school providing an elementary education for the local population, and a grammar school for fee paying boarders. [2]

In the late 1860s, the Platt estate in St Pancras, which provided the endowment of the school, was compulsorily purchased for the construction of the St Pancras railway station, and the Midland Railway had to pay compensation of £91,000, equivalent to £10,617,759in 2023. In a measure described by the headmaster of the time as "a violent act of confiscation", the Endowed Schools Commissioners, acting under the Endowed Schools Act 1869, diverted more than half of this money to other schools. In their scheme approved in 1875, £20,000 went to the North London Collegiate School and Camden School for Girls, £13,333 6s 8d to support secondary education in Watford (see § History), £10,000 to Russell Lane School, Southgate, and £8,000 to two elementary schools, Medburn School, Radlett, and Delrow School, Aldenham. [2]

The school expanded during the 20th century, and in the 1970s girls were admitted, thus paving the way for the school to become fully co-educational.

A new Sixth Form Centre was opened in 2012 providing study and recreation facilities for Sixth Formers under one roof.

In the summer of 2016, restorations were carried out on Beevor's and McGill's House, improving and updating the boarding facilities. Owing to the increasing number of girls in the school, in September 2017 Riding's House became a girls' day house.

Academic results

The 2024 Department for Education figures, which refer to pupils who completed key stage 4, show that the percentage of pupils who achieved "attainment 8" was 42.1%. The percentage for the local authority average was 50.2% and the England average (including state as well as fee-paying schools) was 45.9% [3]

Houses

Beevor's House c.1910 Aldenham School Elstree - Mr Beevor house c.1910.jpg
Beevor's House c.1910
McGill's House McGill's House - Aldenham School.jpg
McGill's House

Aldenham has six senior houses and two junior houses. [4]

Aldenham School operates a house system, with students divided into six senior houses and two junior houses.[ citation needed ]

Arts and culture

A Stanley Spencer painting of The Crucifixion was commissioned by the Master of the Brewers Company, for the Aldenham School Chapel in 1958. [5] The painting was sold at Sotheby's in 1993 for £1.3 million and is now in private hands. [6] Aldenham was used to film additional interior scenes in the 1968 classic British film If.... , directed by Lindsay Anderson.[ citation needed ] The most frequently used room was the main school Dining Room containing the portrait of Aldenham's founder Richard Platt. Aldenham was used for scenes in Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005 film).[ citation needed ] It was used for some scenes in the British satire Greed (2019 film) .[ citation needed ]

Quatercentenary

In 1997, Aldenham celebrated its 400th anniversary. The school was visited during the year by The Princess Royal, who came to open the new artificial turf pitch that had been built as a result of money raised by the appeal. [7]

Aldenham and its influence on football

Football has been a major sport at Aldenham since the dawn of the game. In 1825 Aldenham became the second place, after Eton College, to write down rules for its code of football. [8] [9] [10] The Football Annual of 1873, edited by Charles W. Alcock, secretary of the Football Association and of Surrey County Cricket Club, states that Aldenham School Football Club was founded in 1825. Consequently Aldenham School arguably had the earliest organised football club in the history of the game (a distinction often awarded to Sheffield which began 29 years later in 1854). JR Witty, a long-standing member of staff at the Football Association wrote, "It was at such schools as Eton, Harrow, Westminster, Shrewsbury, Winchester and Aldenham and the like that Association Football, governed by the Laws of the Game which now operate, had its real formation." [11]

Masters

Before the school was rebuilt and enlarged in 1824, the head of the school was known as the Master. The founder, Richard Platt, arranged that when there was a vacancy, St John's College, Cambridge, was to nominate three Masters of Arts, from whom the Brewers' Company would appoint one. [12]

Heads of Aldenham School (Later, The Aldenham Foundation)

Notable Old Aldenhamians

References

  1. William Page, ed. (1908). "Aldenham". A History of the County of Hertford: volume 2. Victoria County History. pp. 149–161. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  2. 1 2 R.J. Evans; J.K. Waddell (1969). The History and Register of Aldenham School (10th ed.). Aylesbury: Hazel Watson & Viney. p. 102.
  3. "The Aldenham Foundation - Compare school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK". Compare school and college performance in England. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  4. "The House System". Aldenham School. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  5. "Sir Stanley Spencer, R.A. (1891-1959)". Christie's. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  6. "Art review: Stanley Spencer Gallery". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  7. "Royal visit marks school's 400 years". Watford Observer. 7 November 1998. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  8. Richard William Cox; Dave Russell; Wray Vamplew (2002). Encyclopedia of British Football. Routledge. p. 243. ISBN   978-0-7146-5249-8.
  9. Adrian Harvey (2005). Football: The First Hundred Years, The Untold Story. Routledge. p. 197. ISBN   0-415-35019-0.
  10. Martin Westby (2020). England's Oldest Football Clubs 1815-1889. p. 109. ISBN   978-0-9556378-4-1.
  11. R. J Evans; J. K. Waddell (1969). The History and Register of Aldenham School (10th ed.). Aylesbury: Hazel Watson & Viney. p. 137,138.
  12. "Richard Platt, Alderman" in Alfred Freer Torry, Founders and benefactors of St. John's college, Cambridge (Cambridge: W. Metcalfe & Son, 1888), p. 14
  13. Aldenham Blog, "New Head for Aldenham Foundation", Aldenham.com, 25 November 2021, accessed 2 June 2022
  14. Staff writer (1907). "Cowper, Frank, M.A Ox." Who’s Who (UK). A & C Black, London. p. 399
  15. "Obituary: John Debenham Taylor, intelligence officer". The Scotsman. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  16. Blackhurst, Chris (5 December 2007). "Playing to his strengths, the Beverly Hills Brit who's a self-help god". London Evening Standard . Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.