Campus
Caterham's campus is on the edge of its estate which extends to around 200 acres (81 hectares). [2] It is set within Harestone Valley, and a large part of the estate consists of Oldpark Wood. The school owns the large 'Hare stone' that named the valley, which was first recorded in 1605 but is believed to be older. [3]
Old School
E.C. Robins' 1884 building now no longer houses any academic departments except Geography, instead being the administrative centre of Caterham. The foundation stone for the building was laid in 1883 by Samuel Morley. [4] Located off the cloisters is the Wilberforce Hall - Caterham's former formal dining hall - now named after the abolitionist William Wilberforce who was a founding governor of Caterham in 1811. The Wilberforce is notable for its illumination by seven Arts-and-Crafts stained glass windows between both sides. It is now a space for lectures, concerts (choirs, piano recitals or small instrumental groups), fashion shows [5] , museum exhibitions [6] and formal luncheons, teas or dinners.
School photographs for groups such as sports teams are taken in front of the tall door surround for the entrance of the building, a tradition since the late-19th century. Whole school and house photographs are taken on Home Field.
Adjoining the Old School is Headmaster's House which was, traditionally, the residence of the Headmaster of Caterham. In the 1940s it was the home of the historian D.G.E. Hall. To the front of it is the Headmaster's Garden, which was Caterham's formal garden. It is now much reduced.
Caterham's performing arts centre was designed by Miller Bourne, finished in 2015 and opened by Simon Callow CBE.
On the ground floor is a studio for dance and orchestral rehearsals, on the first floor is an open concourse, the Deayton Theatre of 67 seats and the Liu Recording Studio and on the first and second floors the building incorporates the older Humphreys Theatre of 338 seats. [8] It also houses the Department of Drama and connects it with that of Music.
Both the Humphreys and Deayton theatres have retractable seating which enables black-box and theatre-in-the-round arrangements. In 2024, Caterham's production of a dramatisation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' made use of theatre-in-the-round in the Humphreys to reflect the telescreen surveillance by building a Panopticon-style structure. [9]
Outside, at the front of the centre is a small amphitheatre and to the side of it is the Orchard Theatre of 72 seats, located on the site of Caterham's orchard. [8]
The centre opens to the wider community on occasions, such as for the school's History Festival in November, visiting productions or for events for local primary schools. In 2021, Caterham hosted a TED x event which took place in the Humphreys. [10] Poet, broadcaster and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen hosted an event at the centre for pupils from local primary schools in Caterham's East Surrey Learning Partnership on literacy skills. [11]
Davey Building
The Davey Building was opened in 2007 by Lord Carey of Clifton, the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury and named to mark the end of Mr. Rob Davey's tenure as Headmaster. On the ground floor is the Refectory which replaced the school's Victorian dining hall (now the Wilberforce Hall). On the first floor is the Department of Physics, on the second is Chemistry and on the third is Biology. Each department has five laboratories. [12]
Home Field and Leathem Building
Caterham's main sports field for cricket, rugby and lacrosse is Home Field which has been in use since the late-19th century. The Leathem Pavilion overlooks it on the bank, and was built as a second war memorial for Old Caterhamians who died in the Second World War after the Memorial Hall for the First World War. The pavilion housing a bar and balcony terrace was redeveloped by Miller Bourne in 2012 to include a complex of modern classrooms and fine art and dance studios. [13] The complex was opened by HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent in February 2012. [14]
History
See also the Headmasters of Caterham
Caterham today is the product of a co-ed merger between the Congregational School (formally renamed 'Caterham' in the mid-1920s) for boys and Eothen School for girls. [15]
The Congregational School ('Caterham')
Rev. John Townsend, the minister of the Jamaica Row Chapel at Bermondsey, founded the Congregational School in 1811 at 29 West Square, in Newington, London. The year before he had written to "ministers, officers and all other members and friends" of Congregationalist churches in England to share his concerns about the inadequate standard of education available to their sons. [16] The abolitionist politician and philanthropist William Wilberforce was an early governor of the school until his death in 1833. [17]
In 1815, the school moved to a country house in Lewisham, then a rural village on the outskirts of London. Rev. William J. Hope, the Headmaster from 1823 to 1852, was a close lifelong friend of the historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle. Hope met Carlyle when they were at school together at Annan Academy before both going to the University of Edinburgh. Though it is possible that Carlyle visited Hope at the school, it would only have been on an informal basis and so there is no record. Carlyle was greatly upset by Hope's death in 1853, which he described as a "mournful complexity of ill news". [18]
One of the earliest school photographs dates to around 1865 and depicts pupils at Lewisham with cricket bats. [19]
The school was at Lewisham for nearly seventy years, during which time it gained prominence. Samuel Morley, an abolitionist political radical and MP for Bristol was made Treasurer of the school from 1868. William Ewart Gladstone distributed Speech Day prizes to pupils of the school in 1875, the year after his first term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [20]
By 1884, the school had outgrown its premises, and the 114 boys along with their teaching staff moved to the present site in the North Downs in Surrey. In 1890, Caterham School opened its doors to the sons of laymen and to day boys.
E.C. Robins design for Caterham, an original engraving of which is held within the Wellcome Collection.
[21] Headmaster's House is on the far left.
Samuel Morley MP (1809–1886), the political radical and
abolitionist illustrated satirically here in
Vanity Fair, was once the Chair of Caterham. He laid the foundation stone for E.C. Robins' building on 23 October 1883.
[4] Sir James Whitehead, 1st Baronet (1834-1917),
Lord Mayor or London, opened the swimming bath at Caterham in 1889, the same year of this caricature from
Vanity Fair.
[22]
Notably, the British historian D.G.E. Hall was Headmaster of Caterham from 1934 until 1949. [23]
Eothen
In 1995, after 184 years as a boys' day and boarding school, it merged with Eothen School for girls (founded by the Misses Pye in 1892) to become a co-educational school. Girls had been admitted to the sixth form education since 1981, but the merger integrated the schools and enabled co-education to be offered to pupils aged 3 years and upward. Upon merger, the school adopted the motto of Eothen School [24] - prior to this merger, the motto was "Omnia Vinces Perseverando" ("Thou shalt overcome everything through perseverance"). [25]
In February 2012, HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, visited Caterham to meet the Headmaster Julian Thomas and Head Boy and Head Girl. He opened the school's redeveloped Leathem Pavilion and reviewed the CCF. [26]
In 2023, Caterham was awarded 'Best Independent School of the Year' in the United Kingdom by the Times Educational Supplement. [27] In the same year, it was the first and only school in the UK to receive three 'Key Areas of Strength' in its latest ISI inspection. [28] It is also an 'Apple Distinguished School'. [29]
In August 2025, The Times reported that Caterham achieved the highest percentage of GCSE grade 9s across all co-ed private schools in Surrey and Kent, placing it sixth in the UK. [30]
In September 2025, Caterham was shortlisted for the 2026 'Tatler Schools Guide', along with Eton, Brighton, Canford and Gresham's, as one of the five best public schools in the country. [31]
Admissions
Fees
As of 2025, Caterham's fees for day pupils from First Form to Upper Sixth Form are £9,210 per term, with the exception of entry to the Sixth Form, which is £9,610 per term. [32] This places it above the average for HMC schools which £5,299 per term for day pupils. [33] The full boarding fee at Caterham can reach at most £20,145 per term [34] which is similarly above the HMC schools average of £12, 816 per term for boarding pupils. [35]
Scholarships and bursaries
The school may award a scholarship if the applicant performs exceptionally well on the entrance exam tests. The scholarships can be for academics, art, design, innovation, music, sport, performing arts, or all-rounder. The academic scholarships are up to 30% off the school fees. [36] The school also has a bursaries scheme for children of United Reformed Church ministers, for families in the armed forces or those on a low income. [37]
Publications
Caterham produces a number of in-house publications. The earliest of these date back to January 1888 with the 'Magazine of the Congregational School, Caterham Valley' which continues to this day with the annual review named 'The Caterhamian'. [38] 'Omnia' (the first word of the original motto) is the magazine for Old Caterhamians.
There are three longstanding, annual student-led publications. 'Cat Among the Pigeons' is the magazine for the arts and humanities which named after a Speech Day prize established by Geoffrey Pidgeon OC, an MI6 officer and later author. 'Quantum Ultimatum' is Caterham's academic journal for the science and the magazine of its Moncrieff-Jones Society, named after Sir Alan Moncrieff CBE OC, who established the first premature-baby unit in 1947. 'Preview' is Caterham's magazine for politics. The 2010 issue of Preview was launched at the Palace of Westminster with the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow giving a speech. That year, MPs David Laws (Liberal Democrats), Michael Fallon (Conservative) and Nigel Farage (UKIP) contributed articles to the magazine. [39] [40]
Partnerships
Caterham aims to run and develop programmes to contribute its resources to the local community. It founded the 'East Surrey Learning Partnership' (ESLP), providing curriculum support to eight local primary schools. [45] It also runs the 'Saturday Plus' programme each weekend which focuses on providing resources to prepare local primary school children for academically selective independent or grammar schools. [46] Sixth Form pupils also volunteer to regularly host Clifton Hill School, a local primary for children with learning difficulties. [47]
Since 2006, Caterham has supported Lerang' wa School in Tanzania. [48]
LAE
In 2012, Caterham along with Eton, Brighton College and five other independent schools supported the founding of the London Academy of Excellence (LAE) in Stratford. One of LAE's school houses was therefore named 'Caterham'. LAE pupils are supported by Caterham's careers and university mentoring and 'CaterhamConnected' network. [49]
The Caterham Family of Schools
In 2023, Caterham founded the 'Caterham Family of Schools' which encompassed its own prep school, Caterham Prep and Copthorne Prep. In December 2024, The Hawthorns School joined. Copthorne and Hawthorns maintain their own independent management whilst benefitting from an established connection to facilitate the admission process to Caterham. The group also aims to collaborate on developing digital learning in their curriculums. [50]
Shirley Goss House, which now houses Caterham Prep.
The Foxburrow estate, which now houses Caterham Pre-Prep.
The Hawthorns School, a member of the Caterham Family of Schools. It is housed at Pendell Court.
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