The Latymer School
Encyclopedia
The Latymer School is a selective, mixed
grammar school
in Edmonton
, north London, England.
in Year 12 (aged 16 or 17) per year, mixing with Latymer pupils who have made the transition from Year 11. External applicants to sixth form undergo interviews, sit entrance examinations and generally require 6 A grades at GCSE (or equivalent) level.
Latymer was established in 1624 on Church Street, Edmonton by bequest
of Edward Latymer
, a London City
merchant in Hammersmith
. Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School
), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet
, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woolen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints Day. Students were educated in "God's true religion" and reading English to the age of thirteen at existing petty schools. The boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves and were under a duty to carry out the provisions of his will "unto the end of the world".
The school has formal links with St. John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
(the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those Colleges.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest, including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with Thomas Style's request of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. For more than a century, no further significant bequests were made until in 1811, Ann Wyatt, an eccentric widow from Hackney, left £500 5% Navy
Annuities to build a new school, and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.
The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries, when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to The Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational. The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').
Internally, Latymer history is propagated by school assemblies. It is traditional for headmasters to lecture students on the school's origins, and their personal interpretation of the school's motto during the first assembly of the academic year.
While the Latymer school song was said to have been written in the 1950s by Alice W. Linford, with music by Ronald Cunliffe on the school site and was quoted here, the school song was definitely written before 1935 as pupils in that year learned it and Ronald Cunliffe wrote it within an autograph album in 1935 for a 12 year old pupil. Ronald Cunliffe died in August 1944.
It is sung on Foundation Day and at the annual Awards Ceremony. Guests at the Awards Ceremony have included Robert Winston
, Boris Johnson
, and Margaret Thatcher
.
clerk, was appointed Latymer schoolmaster by the vestry, while the Revd. John Button taught the boys funded by the donation of Thomas Style. In 1737 Zachariah Hare succeeded his father; two years later the various charities were amalgamated and land and a school-house were purchased, Zachariah becoming the first headmaster under the new scheme.
In 1781 John Adams was appointed headmaster. His friend, J. T. Smith, related that plates of Hogarth's Industry and Idleness
hung in the schoolroom; once a month Adams read a lecture on these examples and then rewarded the industrious boys and caned
the idle. He was succeeded in 1802 by his son, John Adams junior, clerk to the vestry and an able and efficient teacher. Adams numbered the 106 boys in the school according to their seniority. Each number was on a leather medal which, together with eight other medals recording school position in particular subjects including Latin
, mathematics, and behaviour, was strung on a cord worn by the pupil. The numbers were registered from time to time and prizes were presented by the trustees to boys who had excelled.
Charles Henry Adams succeeded his father in 1821 but failed to maintain the standards of the school. A vestry inquiry in 1848 found that the system of education was unsatisfactory; Latin was no longer being taught and many of the pupils were not receiving clothing. Nevertheless he was still in charge of the school with his son, as usher, a member of the fourth generation of the family to teach in the school, when it was inspected in 1865. There were 89 boys on the books, of whom 65 were present in the morning but only 29 returned after lunch. Latin teaching was confined to reading aloud from a grammar and the standards in elementary subjects were very low; the income of the Cambridge
scholarship was used for church repairs. In 1868 Adams agreed to retire on a pension.
The Revd. Dr. Charles. V. Dolbé was appointed headmaster, and under a new scheme £210 of foundation income was diverted to elementary schools attached to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill
, Christ Church, Southgate, and St. James, Upper Edmonton
. The residue was to provide two Latymer schools: an upper for foundationers and fee-payers in the existing buildings, and a lower or elementary school.
In 1897 W. A. Shearer, the new headmaster of the upper school, found not only that the buildings were inadequate and defective, but also that R. S. Gregory, Vicar of Edmonton, wanted to close the school and use the funds for the Church of England elementary school, a proposal which aroused much opposition, especially from the Edmonton Urban District
Council. In 1901 the lower school was accommodated in new buildings in Maldon Road, and a site in Haselbury Road was acquired for a new upper school, but in 1908, before building began, Shearer was killed in an accident. The upper school was temporarily closed, but in 1910 it reopened as a co-educational grammar school with 25 pupils and R. Ashworth as headmaster. Numbers increased rapidly and the school was enlarged in 1924 and 1928. Soon after this Ashworth died while still in office, leaving a flourishing school of over 700 pupils. V. S. E. Davis, who became the next headmaster, was a young man and guided the school with great skill through one of its most difficult periods through World War II. The school was granted voluntary aided status in 1951. Davis retired in 1957 and was succeeded by Dr. Trefor Jones. In 1964 there were nearly 1,100 pupils.
Bold names have Houses in their honour.
The Great Hall, science laboratories and South Block were opened in a ceremony in 1928 by the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become by their majesties King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
). Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. The hall has been refurbished twice since it was built, most recently in 1999. It is home to the Davis organ, which was recently repaired and upgraded.
The gymnasia, art studios and technology block were opened in 1966 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
. The 12 science laboratories and 6 technology rooms (including facilities for graphic design, product design, textiles and cookery) were re-equipped and modernised in the late 1990s.
Much of the school was modernised in the time of Dr. Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars would not be so obstructive to the view of the stage and the balustrade removed and replaced with panels of fluted light oak. Dark green tiles adorned the walls below the dado rail in much of the older parts of the school which were removed and the walls refinished. There has been a recent programme of modernisation and refurbishment of the classrooms, including the integration of ICT into each room.
There is a suite of three ICT rooms containing in total approximately 100 computers (networked and accessible to pupils and teaching staff) and another 100 or so in nearly every classroom, music rooms, media department and the technology department, which are used extensively in the teaching of a large number of curriculum
subjects. The school network is accessible to students from the internet via the Latymer Integrated Learning Environment (LILE). Most classrooms have interactive white-boards. There are also 3 laptop trolleys, 2 of which contain 30 laptops, which teachers can book for lessons. Another laptop trolley containing 10 laptops is located at the library for use. All staff are issued with their own laptop computer. The sixth form study area, careers library, learning resources centre and technology block also have computer workstations.
The Ashworth library holds approximately 20,000 volumes and is run by a chartered librarian. A separate Learning Resources Centre (LRC) contains a further 2,000 reference volumes, a vast selection of periodicals, and computing facilities. There is a Connexions
Careers Library with facilities for accessing the latest information on university courses and future career directions.
The sixth form common room was converted in 2000 from the Jones Lecture Theatre, which had itself been converted from a gymnasium to mark the retirement of Dr. Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of Edward Kelly. Upon the conversion of the Jones Lecture Theatre to the common room, the 1984 building was made into a space for the sixth form to study in their free periods and a connecting building was built between the two, housing offices for the Head of the Sixth Form.
The 'Mills Building' (after the vision of Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments. It was funded by donations from former pupils, parents and friends of the school. The complex offers a range of studio-space, larger rooms for music and drama, and air-conditioned individual music practice rooms. This facility and the new Sports and Dining Complex, were envisaged by the then Headteacher Geoffrey Mills and the Governors in 1995.
The school owns a residential outdoor pursuits centre in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The centre, Ysgol Latymer, was established on the site of an old primary school situated in the small village of Cwm Penmachno
(5 miles from Betws-y-Coed
) in 1966, as a 'school away from school'. Since, the school has developed it into a well-equipped residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first and third years. Activities include hill walking, orienteering, mountain biking, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, swimming, rafting and skiing. Students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, GCSE AS and A-level PE also visit the centre. It is the heart of the annual "Fourteen Peaks" challenge when staff and senior students may undertake an extensive programme of hill walks.
The school owns 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of playing fields laid out for football, hockey, rugby union, cricket, rounders and athletics
according to season.
A new Sports and Dining Complex was opened in a ceremony by Anne, Princess Royal
on May 18, 2006. It includes a fitness suite (complete with aerobic and fixed weight equipment), specialist sports science classroom, changing rooms with showers, and a multi-purpose gymnasium, which allowed the broadening of the sports curriculum to badminton, volleyball, table tennis and health and fitness. The facility is a brownfield development, occupying only slightly more area than the previous catering facility from the 1940s. Various environmentally friendly
measures are incorporated into its design, including solar panels providing hot water, sun pipes reducing the need for artificial lighting and wind catchers to provide ventilation. Fresh, hot meals are cooked every weekday in the catering facility which seats 280, and sandwiches are prepared in site. A coffeeshop service is provided for staff and sixth-formers.
In February 2010, a new multi-purpose suite entitled "The Seward Studio" replaced the old boy's gym, boasting a full HD Surround Sound cinema, 180 ranked seats, and the capability of being a space for Music, Drama and Art performances and exhibitions. The studio was officially opened on Tuesday 23 February 2010 by Dame Margaret Seward.
"To provide a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others."
This is in conjunction with nine other aims.
Latymer is strong academically, performing consistently at the top of national league tables, including coming first in national value added tables and achieving the highest proportion of A* grades at GCSE among state schools in 2006. In recent years the school typically produces around 20-40 successful Oxbridge
applicants annually (roughly 10-20% of each year group). Its further strengths include a long-standing tradition in music, including several orchestras and many other voice and instrumental ensembles, as well as a well-supported programme of other varied extracurricular activities.
The school has strong links with other schools across Europe with regular exchanges to Institution de la Sainte-Croix, Tours
, France; Heisenberg Gymnasium, Gladbeck
, Germany; and School 316 in St Petersburg, Russia. In addition, there are trips to Milan
and Verona
in Italy for junior sports teams, senior sports trips to Barbados
, canoe trips to the Ardèche
and ski trips to the French Alps
. There are also geography expeditions to southern Iceland
and classics
trips to Sorrento
, Italy every two years. Art trips go to New York City and Media Studies
to Hollywood. Every summer the chamber musicians tour in Europe, with the 2009 tour taking the orchestra and choir to Tuscany in the North of Italy, where they shall perform in the major cathedrals around Florence and Pisa.
Latymer has a House system
of six houses. Two Houses take their names from local historical figures Charles Lamb and John Keats
, while Richard Ashworth and Charles Dolbé were former headteachers
. Edward Latymer
was the founder of the school and Anne Wyatt was a generous patron
of the school. Staff are allocated to Houses and are form tutors to pupils in their own House. Much of the House activity is run by sixth form pupils, elected by their House, under the supervision of Senior House Staff. Each house has an associated colour, which are typically used by pupils to identify themselves at house competitions (notably the house drama and music competitions, which take place on alternate years) and at sports day. The house colours are as follows: Ashworth: Sky Blue, Dolbé: Royal Blue
, Keats: Red
, Lamb: Purple
, Latymer: Green
, Wyatt: Yellow
. In the school's pastoral
system, from years 7-11, form groups are split according to Houses, each form has a form tutor and each year a Head of Year. Upon reaching sixth form, students retain their House affiliations but join smaller mixed form-groups for registration. Each year, the Houses compete with each other for the Dormer Shield in events such as music, drama, debating, chess, cakes, arts and crafts, and sports. The winning House has their name engraved upon the shield, the runner up receives the Jones Cup. Most recently Latymer won the shield in 2009.
The PE department offers an extensive extracurricular programme in a wide variety of sports, and pupils participate regardless of ability level. 56 clubs run throughout the week and 300 pupils take part in activities in the average daily programme. Various fixtures occur every Saturday and most evenings.
The school is very active in charity
work, with each House choosing one charity
to support every year with various fund-raising events such as cake sales, non-uniform days and sponsored silences. There is also a strong charities committee run by sixth formers which organises many events for various charities such as Medecins sans Frontiers, Terrence Higgins Trust and Children in Need to name a few. One perennial fund raiser is the Dolbé-Keats Bazaar, run by the two Houses in December with stalls and live music (including performing members of staff). The school branch of Amnesty International
has a strong following and runs a "Cage Week" annually, wherein staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money. The Latymer World Community Society is active in supporting fair trade
and the sponsorship of children in less economically developed countries. School policy encourages a large percentage of waste to be recycled
.
Student societies in the school are very active and cover a range of interests including music (such as its jazz band and barbershop
singing groups), politics, debating, psychology, philosophy, chess, animal rights, medicine, cryptography and film criticism. The politics society in particular has played host to a series of prominent guest speakers, including George Galloway
, Joan Ryan
, Stephen Twigg
, David Burrowes
, Andy Love
, Vincent Cable
, Danny Chalkley, and Gerrard Batten. The school has a tolerant view of religious societies, and there are firmly
established student-led Christian
, Islamic and Jewish societies.
Schools league, and a girls' football team also exists and experiences much success. There is a boys' team for each year up to Year 10, although Year 7s do not start until January. Year 11 and Sixth Form combine to make the First and Second XI. There are also rugby
, cricket
, hockey
, netball
and tennis
teams. A lot of practices take place during lunchtimes, with matches predominantly on Saturday mornings for football and rugby, although there are matches during the week in the afternoon. All other sports are played predominantly during the week. Hockey practice is done at the nearby Astro pitches at the Gladys Aylward School
, within walking distance from school.
The sports played during PE
include basketball
, tennis
, rugby
, frisbee
, football, basic gymnastics
, volleyball
, health-related fitness, athletics, and cricket
. The football first XI has participated in the Gothia Cup
, a tournament also involving the youth teams of Major football sides like Wolves
, Swindon
, Crystal Palace
, Colchester
, São Paulo
, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
, F.C. Copenhagen
and OGC Nice
.
grammar school
in Edmonton
, north London, England.
in Year 12 (aged 16 or 17) per year, mixing with Latymer pupils who have made the transition from Year 11. External applicants to sixth form undergo interviews, sit entrance examinations and generally require 6 A grades at GCSE (or equivalent) level.
Latymer was established in 1624 on Church Street, Edmonton by bequest
of Edward Latymer
, a London City
merchant in Hammersmith
. Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School
), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet
, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woolen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints Day. Students were educated in "God's true religion" and reading English to the age of thirteen at existing petty schools. The boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves and were under a duty to carry out the provisions of his will "unto the end of the world".
The school has formal links with St. John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
(the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those Colleges.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest, including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with Thomas Style's request of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. For more than a century, no further significant bequests were made until in 1811, Ann Wyatt, an eccentric widow from Hackney, left £500 5% Navy
Annuities to build a new school, and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.
The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries, when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to The Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational. The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').
Internally, Latymer history is propagated by school assemblies. It is traditional for headmasters to lecture students on the school's origins, and their personal interpretation of the school's motto during the first assembly of the academic year.
While the Latymer school song was said to have been written in the 1950s by Alice W. Linford, with music by Ronald Cunliffe on the school site and was quoted here, the school song was definitely written before 1935 as pupils in that year learned it and Ronald Cunliffe wrote it within an autograph album in 1935 for a 12 year old pupil. Ronald Cunliffe died in August 1944.
It is sung on Foundation Day and at the annual Awards Ceremony. Guests at the Awards Ceremony have included Robert Winston
, Boris Johnson
, and Margaret Thatcher
.
clerk, was appointed Latymer schoolmaster by the vestry, while the Revd. John Button taught the boys funded by the donation of Thomas Style. In 1737 Zachariah Hare succeeded his father; two years later the various charities were amalgamated and land and a school-house were purchased, Zachariah becoming the first headmaster under the new scheme.
In 1781 John Adams was appointed headmaster. His friend, J. T. Smith, related that plates of Hogarth's Industry and Idleness
hung in the schoolroom; once a month Adams read a lecture on these examples and then rewarded the industrious boys and caned
the idle. He was succeeded in 1802 by his son, John Adams junior, clerk to the vestry and an able and efficient teacher. Adams numbered the 106 boys in the school according to their seniority. Each number was on a leather medal which, together with eight other medals recording school position in particular subjects including Latin
, mathematics, and behaviour, was strung on a cord worn by the pupil. The numbers were registered from time to time and prizes were presented by the trustees to boys who had excelled.
Charles Henry Adams succeeded his father in 1821 but failed to maintain the standards of the school. A vestry inquiry in 1848 found that the system of education was unsatisfactory; Latin was no longer being taught and many of the pupils were not receiving clothing. Nevertheless he was still in charge of the school with his son, as usher, a member of the fourth generation of the family to teach in the school, when it was inspected in 1865. There were 89 boys on the books, of whom 65 were present in the morning but only 29 returned after lunch. Latin teaching was confined to reading aloud from a grammar and the standards in elementary subjects were very low; the income of the Cambridge
scholarship was used for church repairs. In 1868 Adams agreed to retire on a pension.
The Revd. Dr. Charles. V. Dolbé was appointed headmaster, and under a new scheme £210 of foundation income was diverted to elementary schools attached to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill
, Christ Church, Southgate, and St. James, Upper Edmonton
. The residue was to provide two Latymer schools: an upper for foundationers and fee-payers in the existing buildings, and a lower or elementary school.
In 1897 W. A. Shearer, the new headmaster of the upper school, found not only that the buildings were inadequate and defective, but also that R. S. Gregory, Vicar of Edmonton, wanted to close the school and use the funds for the Church of England elementary school, a proposal which aroused much opposition, especially from the Edmonton Urban District
Council. In 1901 the lower school was accommodated in new buildings in Maldon Road, and a site in Haselbury Road was acquired for a new upper school, but in 1908, before building began, Shearer was killed in an accident. The upper school was temporarily closed, but in 1910 it reopened as a co-educational grammar school with 25 pupils and R. Ashworth as headmaster. Numbers increased rapidly and the school was enlarged in 1924 and 1928. Soon after this Ashworth died while still in office, leaving a flourishing school of over 700 pupils. V. S. E. Davis, who became the next headmaster, was a young man and guided the school with great skill through one of its most difficult periods through World War II. The school was granted voluntary aided status in 1951. Davis retired in 1957 and was succeeded by Dr. Trefor Jones. In 1964 there were nearly 1,100 pupils.
Bold names have Houses in their honour.
The Great Hall, science laboratories and South Block were opened in a ceremony in 1928 by the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become by their majesties King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
). Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. The hall has been refurbished twice since it was built, most recently in 1999. It is home to the Davis organ, which was recently repaired and upgraded.
The gymnasia, art studios and technology block were opened in 1966 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
. The 12 science laboratories and 6 technology rooms (including facilities for graphic design, product design, textiles and cookery) were re-equipped and modernised in the late 1990s.
Much of the school was modernised in the time of Dr. Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars would not be so obstructive to the view of the stage and the balustrade removed and replaced with panels of fluted light oak. Dark green tiles adorned the walls below the dado rail in much of the older parts of the school which were removed and the walls refinished. There has been a recent programme of modernisation and refurbishment of the classrooms, including the integration of ICT into each room.
There is a suite of three ICT rooms containing in total approximately 100 computers (networked and accessible to pupils and teaching staff) and another 100 or so in nearly every classroom, music rooms, media department and the technology department, which are used extensively in the teaching of a large number of curriculum
subjects. The school network is accessible to students from the internet via the Latymer Integrated Learning Environment (LILE). Most classrooms have interactive white-boards. There are also 3 laptop trolleys, 2 of which contain 30 laptops, which teachers can book for lessons. Another laptop trolley containing 10 laptops is located at the library for use. All staff are issued with their own laptop computer. The sixth form study area, careers library, learning resources centre and technology block also have computer workstations.
The Ashworth library holds approximately 20,000 volumes and is run by a chartered librarian. A separate Learning Resources Centre (LRC) contains a further 2,000 reference volumes, a vast selection of periodicals, and computing facilities. There is a Connexions
Careers Library with facilities for accessing the latest information on university courses and future career directions.
The sixth form common room was converted in 2000 from the Jones Lecture Theatre, which had itself been converted from a gymnasium to mark the retirement of Dr. Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of Edward Kelly. Upon the conversion of the Jones Lecture Theatre to the common room, the 1984 building was made into a space for the sixth form to study in their free periods and a connecting building was built between the two, housing offices for the Head of the Sixth Form.
The 'Mills Building' (after the vision of Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments. It was funded by donations from former pupils, parents and friends of the school. The complex offers a range of studio-space, larger rooms for music and drama, and air-conditioned individual music practice rooms. This facility and the new Sports and Dining Complex, were envisaged by the then Headteacher Geoffrey Mills and the Governors in 1995.
The school owns a residential outdoor pursuits centre in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The centre, Ysgol Latymer, was established on the site of an old primary school situated in the small village of Cwm Penmachno
(5 miles from Betws-y-Coed
) in 1966, as a 'school away from school'. Since, the school has developed it into a well-equipped residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first and third years. Activities include hill walking, orienteering, mountain biking, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, swimming, rafting and skiing. Students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, GCSE AS and A-level PE also visit the centre. It is the heart of the annual "Fourteen Peaks" challenge when staff and senior students may undertake an extensive programme of hill walks.
The school owns 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of playing fields laid out for football, hockey, rugby union, cricket, rounders and athletics
according to season.
A new Sports and Dining Complex was opened in a ceremony by Anne, Princess Royal
on May 18, 2006. It includes a fitness suite (complete with aerobic and fixed weight equipment), specialist sports science classroom, changing rooms with showers, and a multi-purpose gymnasium, which allowed the broadening of the sports curriculum to badminton, volleyball, table tennis and health and fitness. The facility is a brownfield development, occupying only slightly more area than the previous catering facility from the 1940s. Various environmentally friendly
measures are incorporated into its design, including solar panels providing hot water, sun pipes reducing the need for artificial lighting and wind catchers to provide ventilation. Fresh, hot meals are cooked every weekday in the catering facility which seats 280, and sandwiches are prepared in site. A coffeeshop service is provided for staff and sixth-formers.
In February 2010, a new multi-purpose suite entitled "The Seward Studio" replaced the old boy's gym, boasting a full HD Surround Sound cinema, 180 ranked seats, and the capability of being a space for Music, Drama and Art performances and exhibitions. The studio was officially opened on Tuesday 23 February 2010 by Dame Margaret Seward.
"To provide a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others."
This is in conjunction with nine other aims.
Latymer is strong academically, performing consistently at the top of national league tables, including coming first in national value added tables and achieving the highest proportion of A* grades at GCSE among state schools in 2006. In recent years the school typically produces around 20-40 successful Oxbridge
applicants annually (roughly 10-20% of each year group). Its further strengths include a long-standing tradition in music, including several orchestras and many other voice and instrumental ensembles, as well as a well-supported programme of other varied extracurricular activities.
The school has strong links with other schools across Europe with regular exchanges to Institution de la Sainte-Croix, Tours
, France; Heisenberg Gymnasium, Gladbeck
, Germany; and School 316 in St Petersburg, Russia. In addition, there are trips to Milan
and Verona
in Italy for junior sports teams, senior sports trips to Barbados
, canoe trips to the Ardèche
and ski trips to the French Alps
. There are also geography expeditions to southern Iceland
and classics
trips to Sorrento
, Italy every two years. Art trips go to New York City and Media Studies
to Hollywood. Every summer the chamber musicians tour in Europe, with the 2009 tour taking the orchestra and choir to Tuscany in the North of Italy, where they shall perform in the major cathedrals around Florence and Pisa.
Latymer has a House system
of six houses. Two Houses take their names from local historical figures Charles Lamb and John Keats
, while Richard Ashworth and Charles Dolbé were former headteachers
. Edward Latymer
was the founder of the school and Anne Wyatt was a generous patron
of the school. Staff are allocated to Houses and are form tutors to pupils in their own House. Much of the House activity is run by sixth form pupils, elected by their House, under the supervision of Senior House Staff. Each house has an associated colour, which are typically used by pupils to identify themselves at house competitions (notably the house drama and music competitions, which take place on alternate years) and at sports day. The house colours are as follows: Ashworth: Sky Blue, Dolbé: Royal Blue
, Keats: Red
, Lamb: Purple
, Latymer: Green
, Wyatt: Yellow
. In the school's pastoral
system, from years 7-11, form groups are split according to Houses, each form has a form tutor and each year a Head of Year. Upon reaching sixth form, students retain their House affiliations but join smaller mixed form-groups for registration. Each year, the Houses compete with each other for the Dormer Shield in events such as music, drama, debating, chess, cakes, arts and crafts, and sports. The winning House has their name engraved upon the shield, the runner up receives the Jones Cup. Most recently Latymer won the shield in 2009.
The PE department offers an extensive extracurricular programme in a wide variety of sports, and pupils participate regardless of ability level. 56 clubs run throughout the week and 300 pupils take part in activities in the average daily programme. Various fixtures occur every Saturday and most evenings.
The school is very active in charity
work, with each House choosing one charity
to support every year with various fund-raising events such as cake sales, non-uniform days and sponsored silences. There is also a strong charities committee run by sixth formers which organises many events for various charities such as Medecins sans Frontiers, Terrence Higgins Trust and Children in Need to name a few. One perennial fund raiser is the Dolbé-Keats Bazaar, run by the two Houses in December with stalls and live music (including performing members of staff). The school branch of Amnesty International
has a strong following and runs a "Cage Week" annually, wherein staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money. The Latymer World Community Society is active in supporting fair trade
and the sponsorship of children in less economically developed countries. School policy encourages a large percentage of waste to be recycled
.
Student societies in the school are very active and cover a range of interests including music (such as its jazz band and barbershop
singing groups), politics, debating, psychology, philosophy, chess, animal rights, medicine, cryptography and film criticism. The politics society in particular has played host to a series of prominent guest speakers, including George Galloway
, Joan Ryan
, Stephen Twigg
, David Burrowes
, Andy Love
, Vincent Cable
, Danny Chalkley, and Gerrard Batten. The school has a tolerant view of religious societies, and there are firmly
established student-led Christian
, Islamic and Jewish societies.
Schools league, and a girls' football team also exists and experiences much success. There is a boys' team for each year up to Year 10, although Year 7s do not start until January. Year 11 and Sixth Form combine to make the First and Second XI. There are also rugby
, cricket
, hockey
, netball
and tennis
teams. A lot of practices take place during lunchtimes, with matches predominantly on Saturday mornings for football and rugby, although there are matches during the week in the afternoon. All other sports are played predominantly during the week. Hockey practice is done at the nearby Astro pitches at the Gladys Aylward School
, within walking distance from school.
The sports played during PE
include basketball
, tennis
, rugby
, frisbee
, football, basic gymnastics
, volleyball
, health-related fitness, athletics, and cricket
. The football first XI has participated in the Gothia Cup
, a tournament also involving the youth teams of Major football sides like Wolves
, Swindon
, Crystal Palace
, Colchester
, São Paulo
, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
, F.C. Copenhagen
and OGC Nice
.
grammar school
in Edmonton
, north London, England.
in Year 12 (aged 16 or 17) per year, mixing with Latymer pupils who have made the transition from Year 11. External applicants to sixth form undergo interviews, sit entrance examinations and generally require 6 A grades at GCSE (or equivalent) level.
Latymer was established in 1624 on Church Street, Edmonton by bequest
of Edward Latymer
, a London City
merchant in Hammersmith
. Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School
), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet
, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woolen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints Day. Students were educated in "God's true religion" and reading English to the age of thirteen at existing petty schools. The boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves and were under a duty to carry out the provisions of his will "unto the end of the world".
The school has formal links with St. John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
(the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those Colleges.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest, including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with Thomas Style's request of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. For more than a century, no further significant bequests were made until in 1811, Ann Wyatt, an eccentric widow from Hackney, left £500 5% Navy
Annuities to build a new school, and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.
The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries, when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to The Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational. The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').
Internally, Latymer history is propagated by school assemblies. It is traditional for headmasters to lecture students on the school's origins, and their personal interpretation of the school's motto during the first assembly of the academic year.
While the Latymer school song was said to have been written in the 1950s by Alice W. Linford, with music by Ronald Cunliffe on the school site and was quoted here, the school song was definitely written before 1935 as pupils in that year learned it and Ronald Cunliffe wrote it within an autograph album in 1935 for a 12 year old pupil. Ronald Cunliffe died in August 1944.
It is sung on Foundation Day and at the annual Awards Ceremony. Guests at the Awards Ceremony have included Robert Winston
, Boris Johnson
, and Margaret Thatcher
.
clerk, was appointed Latymer schoolmaster by the vestry, while the Revd. John Button taught the boys funded by the donation of Thomas Style. In 1737 Zachariah Hare succeeded his father; two years later the various charities were amalgamated and land and a school-house were purchased, Zachariah becoming the first headmaster under the new scheme.
In 1781 John Adams was appointed headmaster. His friend, J. T. Smith, related that plates of Hogarth's Industry and Idleness
hung in the schoolroom; once a month Adams read a lecture on these examples and then rewarded the industrious boys and caned
the idle. He was succeeded in 1802 by his son, John Adams junior, clerk to the vestry and an able and efficient teacher. Adams numbered the 106 boys in the school according to their seniority. Each number was on a leather medal which, together with eight other medals recording school position in particular subjects including Latin
, mathematics, and behaviour, was strung on a cord worn by the pupil. The numbers were registered from time to time and prizes were presented by the trustees to boys who had excelled.
Charles Henry Adams succeeded his father in 1821 but failed to maintain the standards of the school. A vestry inquiry in 1848 found that the system of education was unsatisfactory; Latin was no longer being taught and many of the pupils were not receiving clothing. Nevertheless he was still in charge of the school with his son, as usher, a member of the fourth generation of the family to teach in the school, when it was inspected in 1865. There were 89 boys on the books, of whom 65 were present in the morning but only 29 returned after lunch. Latin teaching was confined to reading aloud from a grammar and the standards in elementary subjects were very low; the income of the Cambridge
scholarship was used for church repairs. In 1868 Adams agreed to retire on a pension.
The Revd. Dr. Charles. V. Dolbé was appointed headmaster, and under a new scheme £210 of foundation income was diverted to elementary schools attached to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill
, Christ Church, Southgate, and St. James, Upper Edmonton
. The residue was to provide two Latymer schools: an upper for foundationers and fee-payers in the existing buildings, and a lower or elementary school.
In 1897 W. A. Shearer, the new headmaster of the upper school, found not only that the buildings were inadequate and defective, but also that R. S. Gregory, Vicar of Edmonton, wanted to close the school and use the funds for the Church of England elementary school, a proposal which aroused much opposition, especially from the Edmonton Urban District
Council. In 1901 the lower school was accommodated in new buildings in Maldon Road, and a site in Haselbury Road was acquired for a new upper school, but in 1908, before building began, Shearer was killed in an accident. The upper school was temporarily closed, but in 1910 it reopened as a co-educational grammar school with 25 pupils and R. Ashworth as headmaster. Numbers increased rapidly and the school was enlarged in 1924 and 1928. Soon after this Ashworth died while still in office, leaving a flourishing school of over 700 pupils. V. S. E. Davis, who became the next headmaster, was a young man and guided the school with great skill through one of its most difficult periods through World War II. The school was granted voluntary aided status in 1951. Davis retired in 1957 and was succeeded by Dr. Trefor Jones. In 1964 there were nearly 1,100 pupils.
Bold names have Houses in their honour.
The Great Hall, science laboratories and South Block were opened in a ceremony in 1928 by the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become by their majesties King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
). Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. The hall has been refurbished twice since it was built, most recently in 1999. It is home to the Davis organ, which was recently repaired and upgraded.
The gymnasia, art studios and technology block were opened in 1966 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
. The 12 science laboratories and 6 technology rooms (including facilities for graphic design, product design, textiles and cookery) were re-equipped and modernised in the late 1990s.
Much of the school was modernised in the time of Dr. Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars would not be so obstructive to the view of the stage and the balustrade removed and replaced with panels of fluted light oak. Dark green tiles adorned the walls below the dado rail in much of the older parts of the school which were removed and the walls refinished. There has been a recent programme of modernisation and refurbishment of the classrooms, including the integration of ICT into each room.
There is a suite of three ICT rooms containing in total approximately 100 computers (networked and accessible to pupils and teaching staff) and another 100 or so in nearly every classroom, music rooms, media department and the technology department, which are used extensively in the teaching of a large number of curriculum
subjects. The school network is accessible to students from the internet via the Latymer Integrated Learning Environment (LILE). Most classrooms have interactive white-boards. There are also 3 laptop trolleys, 2 of which contain 30 laptops, which teachers can book for lessons. Another laptop trolley containing 10 laptops is located at the library for use. All staff are issued with their own laptop computer. The sixth form study area, careers library, learning resources centre and technology block also have computer workstations.
The Ashworth library holds approximately 20,000 volumes and is run by a chartered librarian. A separate Learning Resources Centre (LRC) contains a further 2,000 reference volumes, a vast selection of periodicals, and computing facilities. There is a Connexions
Careers Library with facilities for accessing the latest information on university courses and future career directions.
The sixth form common room was converted in 2000 from the Jones Lecture Theatre, which had itself been converted from a gymnasium to mark the retirement of Dr. Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of Edward Kelly. Upon the conversion of the Jones Lecture Theatre to the common room, the 1984 building was made into a space for the sixth form to study in their free periods and a connecting building was built between the two, housing offices for the Head of the Sixth Form.
The 'Mills Building' (after the vision of Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments. It was funded by donations from former pupils, parents and friends of the school. The complex offers a range of studio-space, larger rooms for music and drama, and air-conditioned individual music practice rooms. This facility and the new Sports and Dining Complex, were envisaged by the then Headteacher Geoffrey Mills and the Governors in 1995.
The school owns a residential outdoor pursuits centre in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The centre, Ysgol Latymer, was established on the site of an old primary school situated in the small village of Cwm Penmachno
(5 miles from Betws-y-Coed
) in 1966, as a 'school away from school'. Since, the school has developed it into a well-equipped residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first and third years. Activities include hill walking, orienteering, mountain biking, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, swimming, rafting and skiing. Students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, GCSE AS and A-level PE also visit the centre. It is the heart of the annual "Fourteen Peaks" challenge when staff and senior students may undertake an extensive programme of hill walks.
The school owns 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of playing fields laid out for football, hockey, rugby union, cricket, rounders and athletics
according to season.
A new Sports and Dining Complex was opened in a ceremony by Anne, Princess Royal
on May 18, 2006. It includes a fitness suite (complete with aerobic and fixed weight equipment), specialist sports science classroom, changing rooms with showers, and a multi-purpose gymnasium, which allowed the broadening of the sports curriculum to badminton, volleyball, table tennis and health and fitness. The facility is a brownfield development, occupying only slightly more area than the previous catering facility from the 1940s. Various environmentally friendly
measures are incorporated into its design, including solar panels providing hot water, sun pipes reducing the need for artificial lighting and wind catchers to provide ventilation. Fresh, hot meals are cooked every weekday in the catering facility which seats 280, and sandwiches are prepared in site. A coffeeshop service is provided for staff and sixth-formers.
In February 2010, a new multi-purpose suite entitled "The Seward Studio" replaced the old boy's gym, boasting a full HD Surround Sound cinema, 180 ranked seats, and the capability of being a space for Music, Drama and Art performances and exhibitions. The studio was officially opened on Tuesday 23 February 2010 by Dame Margaret Seward.
"To provide a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others."
This is in conjunction with nine other aims.
Latymer is strong academically, performing consistently at the top of national league tables, including coming first in national value added tables and achieving the highest proportion of A* grades at GCSE among state schools in 2006. In recent years the school typically produces around 20-40 successful Oxbridge
applicants annually (roughly 10-20% of each year group). Its further strengths include a long-standing tradition in music, including several orchestras and many other voice and instrumental ensembles, as well as a well-supported programme of other varied extracurricular activities.
The school has strong links with other schools across Europe with regular exchanges to Institution de la Sainte-Croix, Tours
, France; Heisenberg Gymnasium, Gladbeck
, Germany; and School 316 in St Petersburg, Russia. In addition, there are trips to Milan
and Verona
in Italy for junior sports teams, senior sports trips to Barbados
, canoe trips to the Ardèche
and ski trips to the French Alps
. There are also geography expeditions to southern Iceland
and classics
trips to Sorrento
, Italy every two years. Art trips go to New York City and Media Studies
to Hollywood. Every summer the chamber musicians tour in Europe, with the 2009 tour taking the orchestra and choir to Tuscany in the North of Italy, where they shall perform in the major cathedrals around Florence and Pisa.
Latymer has a House system
of six houses. Two Houses take their names from local historical figures Charles Lamb and John Keats
, while Richard Ashworth and Charles Dolbé were former headteachers
. Edward Latymer
was the founder of the school and Anne Wyatt was a generous patron
of the school. Staff are allocated to Houses and are form tutors to pupils in their own House. Much of the House activity is run by sixth form pupils, elected by their House, under the supervision of Senior House Staff. Each house has an associated colour, which are typically used by pupils to identify themselves at house competitions (notably the house drama and music competitions, which take place on alternate years) and at sports day. The house colours are as follows: Ashworth: Sky Blue, Dolbé: Royal Blue
, Keats: Red
, Lamb: Purple
, Latymer: Green
, Wyatt: Yellow
. In the school's pastoral
system, from years 7-11, form groups are split according to Houses, each form has a form tutor and each year a Head of Year. Upon reaching sixth form, students retain their House affiliations but join smaller mixed form-groups for registration. Each year, the Houses compete with each other for the Dormer Shield in events such as music, drama, debating, chess, cakes, arts and crafts, and sports. The winning House has their name engraved upon the shield, the runner up receives the Jones Cup. Most recently Latymer won the shield in 2009.
The PE department offers an extensive extracurricular programme in a wide variety of sports, and pupils participate regardless of ability level. 56 clubs run throughout the week and 300 pupils take part in activities in the average daily programme. Various fixtures occur every Saturday and most evenings.
The school is very active in charity
work, with each House choosing one charity
to support every year with various fund-raising events such as cake sales, non-uniform days and sponsored silences. There is also a strong charities committee run by sixth formers which organises many events for various charities such as Medecins sans Frontiers, Terrence Higgins Trust and Children in Need to name a few. One perennial fund raiser is the Dolbé-Keats Bazaar, run by the two Houses in December with stalls and live music (including performing members of staff). The school branch of Amnesty International
has a strong following and runs a "Cage Week" annually, wherein staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money. The Latymer World Community Society is active in supporting fair trade
and the sponsorship of children in less economically developed countries. School policy encourages a large percentage of waste to be recycled
.
Student societies in the school are very active and cover a range of interests including music (such as its jazz band and barbershop
singing groups), politics, debating, psychology, philosophy, chess, animal rights, medicine, cryptography and film criticism. The politics society in particular has played host to a series of prominent guest speakers, including George Galloway
, Joan Ryan
, Stephen Twigg
, David Burrowes
, Andy Love
, Vincent Cable
, Danny Chalkley, and Gerrard Batten. The school has a tolerant view of religious societies, and there are firmly
established student-led Christian
, Islamic and Jewish societies.
Schools league, and a girls' football team also exists and experiences much success. There is a boys' team for each year up to Year 10, although Year 7s do not start until January. Year 11 and Sixth Form combine to make the First and Second XI. There are also rugby
, cricket
, hockey
, netball
and tennis
teams. A lot of practices take place during lunchtimes, with matches predominantly on Saturday mornings for football and rugby, although there are matches during the week in the afternoon. All other sports are played predominantly during the week. Hockey practice is done at the nearby Astro pitches at the Gladys Aylward School
, within walking distance from school.
The sports played during PE
include basketball
, tennis
, rugby
, frisbee
, football, basic gymnastics
, volleyball
, health-related fitness, athletics, and cricket
. The football first XI has participated in the Gothia Cup
, a tournament also involving the youth teams of Major football sides like Wolves
, Swindon
, Crystal Palace
, Colchester
, São Paulo
, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
, F.C. Copenhagen
and OGC Nice
.
In entertainment
In politics
In academia
In sport
In music
In health
inspection in 2008, receiving inspection grades of 'Outstanding' for both school and sixth form. Inspectors praised the maintenance of "top class academic standards while continually seeking to widen and enrich the curriculum." The Good Schools Guide called the school "A top-notch academic grammar school which produces mature, confident pupils." The school is also a Specialist Arts College
in the UK government's Specialist Schools Programme
for art, media and drama.
newspaper in 2009. In that same year, 91.9% of GCSE examinations achieved grades A and A*, and 76.4% of entries gained A-grades at A-level (more than any other state school), while 93% obtained A or B grades. 30-40 pupils gain places at Oxbridge
each year.
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Edmonton
Edmonton, London
Edmonton is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, England, north-north-east of Charing Cross. It has a long history as a settlement distinct from Enfield.-Location:...
, north London, England.
Examination procedures
Approximately 180 pupils are admitted to Year 7 (aged 11 or 12) annually. Places are awarded on the basis of competitive examination, though 20 are reserved for students with exceptional musical talent. The examinations taken by prospective students cover non-verbal reasoning, numeracy and English. Candidates must live within one hour of the school by public transport. Around 60-70 students join the sixth formSixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
in Year 12 (aged 16 or 17) per year, mixing with Latymer pupils who have made the transition from Year 11. External applicants to sixth form undergo interviews, sit entrance examinations and generally require 6 A grades at GCSE (or equivalent) level.
History and traditions
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
of Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer was a wealthy merchant and official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.-Life:...
, a London City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
merchant in Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
. Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School, founded by Edward Latymer in 1624, is a selective independent school in Hammersmith, West London, England, lying between King Street and the Thames. It is a day school for 1,130 pupils – boys and girls aged 11–18; there is also the Latymer Preparatory School for boys and girls...
), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet
Doublet
Doublet may refer to:*Doublet , a man's snug-fitting buttoned jacket that was worn from the late 14th century to the mid 17th century*Doublet , an assembled gem composed in two sections, such as a garnet overlaying green glass...
, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woolen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints Day. Students were educated in "God's true religion" and reading English to the age of thirteen at existing petty schools. The boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves and were under a duty to carry out the provisions of his will "unto the end of the world".
The school has formal links with St. John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
(the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those Colleges.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest, including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with Thomas Style's request of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. For more than a century, no further significant bequests were made until in 1811, Ann Wyatt, an eccentric widow from Hackney, left £500 5% Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Annuities to build a new school, and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.
The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries, when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to The Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational. The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').
Internally, Latymer history is propagated by school assemblies. It is traditional for headmasters to lecture students on the school's origins, and their personal interpretation of the school's motto during the first assembly of the academic year.
While the Latymer school song was said to have been written in the 1950s by Alice W. Linford, with music by Ronald Cunliffe on the school site and was quoted here, the school song was definitely written before 1935 as pupils in that year learned it and Ronald Cunliffe wrote it within an autograph album in 1935 for a 12 year old pupil. Ronald Cunliffe died in August 1944.
It is sung on Foundation Day and at the annual Awards Ceremony. Guests at the Awards Ceremony have included Robert Winston
Robert Winston
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, and Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
Former headteachers
In 1724 Thomas Hare, the parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
clerk, was appointed Latymer schoolmaster by the vestry, while the Revd. John Button taught the boys funded by the donation of Thomas Style. In 1737 Zachariah Hare succeeded his father; two years later the various charities were amalgamated and land and a school-house were purchased, Zachariah becoming the first headmaster under the new scheme.
In 1781 John Adams was appointed headmaster. His friend, J. T. Smith, related that plates of Hogarth's Industry and Idleness
Industry and Idleness
Industry and Idleness is the title of a series of 12 plot-linked engravings created by William Hogarth in 1747, intending to illustrate to working children the possible rewards of hard work and diligent application and the sure disasters attending a lack of both...
hung in the schoolroom; once a month Adams read a lecture on these examples and then rewarded the industrious boys and caned
Caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...
the idle. He was succeeded in 1802 by his son, John Adams junior, clerk to the vestry and an able and efficient teacher. Adams numbered the 106 boys in the school according to their seniority. Each number was on a leather medal which, together with eight other medals recording school position in particular subjects including Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, mathematics, and behaviour, was strung on a cord worn by the pupil. The numbers were registered from time to time and prizes were presented by the trustees to boys who had excelled.
Charles Henry Adams succeeded his father in 1821 but failed to maintain the standards of the school. A vestry inquiry in 1848 found that the system of education was unsatisfactory; Latin was no longer being taught and many of the pupils were not receiving clothing. Nevertheless he was still in charge of the school with his son, as usher, a member of the fourth generation of the family to teach in the school, when it was inspected in 1865. There were 89 boys on the books, of whom 65 were present in the morning but only 29 returned after lunch. Latin teaching was confined to reading aloud from a grammar and the standards in elementary subjects were very low; the income of the Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
scholarship was used for church repairs. In 1868 Adams agreed to retire on a pension.
The Revd. Dr. Charles. V. Dolbé was appointed headmaster, and under a new scheme £210 of foundation income was diverted to elementary schools attached to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill
St. Paul's School, Winchmore Hill
St. Paul's School, Winchmore Hill, London, United Kingdom is a primary school in the London Borough of Enfield. It is a voluntary-aided Church of England school within the Diocese of London.-Location and catchment area:...
, Christ Church, Southgate, and St. James, Upper Edmonton
Upper Edmonton
Upper Edmonton is a part of Edmonton, which is located in the eastern part of the London Borough of Enfield, England. The main shopping area of Upper Edmonton is often referred to as "The Angel" by locals and is...
. The residue was to provide two Latymer schools: an upper for foundationers and fee-payers in the existing buildings, and a lower or elementary school.
In 1897 W. A. Shearer, the new headmaster of the upper school, found not only that the buildings were inadequate and defective, but also that R. S. Gregory, Vicar of Edmonton, wanted to close the school and use the funds for the Church of England elementary school, a proposal which aroused much opposition, especially from the Edmonton Urban District
Municipal Borough of Edmonton
Edmonton was a local government district in north-east Middlesex, England, from 1850 to 1965.Edmonton local board was formed in 1850 for the parish of Edmonton All Saints. In 1881 Southgate was separated from the Edmonton local board's district, forming its own local board. Edmonton became an urban...
Council. In 1901 the lower school was accommodated in new buildings in Maldon Road, and a site in Haselbury Road was acquired for a new upper school, but in 1908, before building began, Shearer was killed in an accident. The upper school was temporarily closed, but in 1910 it reopened as a co-educational grammar school with 25 pupils and R. Ashworth as headmaster. Numbers increased rapidly and the school was enlarged in 1924 and 1928. Soon after this Ashworth died while still in office, leaving a flourishing school of over 700 pupils. V. S. E. Davis, who became the next headmaster, was a young man and guided the school with great skill through one of its most difficult periods through World War II. The school was granted voluntary aided status in 1951. Davis retired in 1957 and was succeeded by Dr. Trefor Jones. In 1964 there were nearly 1,100 pupils.
| Name | Year began | Year ended | Name | Year began | Year ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revd. John Brooke, M.A | 1634 | Unknown | John Adam II | 1802 | 1828 |
| Thomas Hare, BA | 1662 | 1666 | Charles Henry Adams | 1828 | 1867 |
| Daniel Callis | 1666 | 1667 | Revd. Dr. Charles Vincent Dolbé, MA, LL.D | 1867 | 1897 |
| John Hare, BA | 1667 | 1679 | William A.C. Shearer, BA | 1897 | 1909 |
| Benjamin Hare | 1680 | 1724 | Richard Ashworth, BA | 1910 | 1928 |
| Thomas Hare II | 1724 | 1737 | Victor S.E. Davis, MA | 1929 | 1957 |
| Zachariah Hare | 1737 | 1742 | Trefor Jones, MA, PhD | 1957 | 1970 |
| James Ware | 1742 | 1771 | Edward S. Kelly | 1970 | 1983 |
| James Ware II | 1771 | 1772 | Geoffry T. Mills, MA | 1983 | 1998 |
| James Draper | 1772 | 1773 | Jackie Hardie, B.Sc., M.Ed., F.I.Biol. Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies... |
1998 (Acting Headteacher) | 1999 |
| Samuel Draper | 1773 | 1780 | AbuBakr Z. Amrouche, OBE Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions... , BA, M.I.Biol. Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies... , FRSA |
1999 | 2005 |
| John Adams | 1781 | 1802 | Mark E.Garbett, MA, M.Ed., NPQH | 2005 | Current |
Bold names have Houses in their honour.
School site
Much of the north end of the school (principally the Small Hall and surrounding rooms) was built in 1910 after the Old Latymer Schoolhouse (Built mainly by Anne Wyatt and extended in the time of Charles Dolbé) in Church Street was abandoned. The buildings on the present site were provided by Middlesex County Council at a cost of £6782, and accommodated 150 pupils. Twelve classrooms built in 1924 in the North Block allowed pupil capacity to triple.The Great Hall, science laboratories and South Block were opened in a ceremony in 1928 by the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become by their majesties King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
). Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. The hall has been refurbished twice since it was built, most recently in 1999. It is home to the Davis organ, which was recently repaired and upgraded.
The gymnasia, art studios and technology block were opened in 1966 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. The 12 science laboratories and 6 technology rooms (including facilities for graphic design, product design, textiles and cookery) were re-equipped and modernised in the late 1990s.
Much of the school was modernised in the time of Dr. Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars would not be so obstructive to the view of the stage and the balustrade removed and replaced with panels of fluted light oak. Dark green tiles adorned the walls below the dado rail in much of the older parts of the school which were removed and the walls refinished. There has been a recent programme of modernisation and refurbishment of the classrooms, including the integration of ICT into each room.
There is a suite of three ICT rooms containing in total approximately 100 computers (networked and accessible to pupils and teaching staff) and another 100 or so in nearly every classroom, music rooms, media department and the technology department, which are used extensively in the teaching of a large number of curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
subjects. The school network is accessible to students from the internet via the Latymer Integrated Learning Environment (LILE). Most classrooms have interactive white-boards. There are also 3 laptop trolleys, 2 of which contain 30 laptops, which teachers can book for lessons. Another laptop trolley containing 10 laptops is located at the library for use. All staff are issued with their own laptop computer. The sixth form study area, careers library, learning resources centre and technology block also have computer workstations.
The Ashworth library holds approximately 20,000 volumes and is run by a chartered librarian. A separate Learning Resources Centre (LRC) contains a further 2,000 reference volumes, a vast selection of periodicals, and computing facilities. There is a Connexions
Connexions
Connexions is a global repository of educational content provided by Rice University. The entire collection is available free of charge, and students and learners alike can explore all the content they desire....
Careers Library with facilities for accessing the latest information on university courses and future career directions.
The sixth form common room was converted in 2000 from the Jones Lecture Theatre, which had itself been converted from a gymnasium to mark the retirement of Dr. Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of Edward Kelly. Upon the conversion of the Jones Lecture Theatre to the common room, the 1984 building was made into a space for the sixth form to study in their free periods and a connecting building was built between the two, housing offices for the Head of the Sixth Form.
The 'Mills Building' (after the vision of Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments. It was funded by donations from former pupils, parents and friends of the school. The complex offers a range of studio-space, larger rooms for music and drama, and air-conditioned individual music practice rooms. This facility and the new Sports and Dining Complex, were envisaged by the then Headteacher Geoffrey Mills and the Governors in 1995.
The school owns a residential outdoor pursuits centre in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The centre, Ysgol Latymer, was established on the site of an old primary school situated in the small village of Cwm Penmachno
Cwm Penmachno
Cwm Penmachno is a former quarry settlement at the head of the Penmachno valley in North Wales. The slate quarry was formerly linked by narrow-gauge railway to the Ffestiniog railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog...
(5 miles from Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It has a population of 534. The name Betws or Bettws is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Old English 'bed-hus' - i.e. a bead-house - a house of prayer, or oratory...
) in 1966, as a 'school away from school'. Since, the school has developed it into a well-equipped residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first and third years. Activities include hill walking, orienteering, mountain biking, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, swimming, rafting and skiing. Students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, GCSE AS and A-level PE also visit the centre. It is the heart of the annual "Fourteen Peaks" challenge when staff and senior students may undertake an extensive programme of hill walks.
The school owns 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of playing fields laid out for football, hockey, rugby union, cricket, rounders and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
according to season.
A new Sports and Dining Complex was opened in a ceremony by Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
on May 18, 2006. It includes a fitness suite (complete with aerobic and fixed weight equipment), specialist sports science classroom, changing rooms with showers, and a multi-purpose gymnasium, which allowed the broadening of the sports curriculum to badminton, volleyball, table tennis and health and fitness. The facility is a brownfield development, occupying only slightly more area than the previous catering facility from the 1940s. Various environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
measures are incorporated into its design, including solar panels providing hot water, sun pipes reducing the need for artificial lighting and wind catchers to provide ventilation. Fresh, hot meals are cooked every weekday in the catering facility which seats 280, and sandwiches are prepared in site. A coffeeshop service is provided for staff and sixth-formers.
In February 2010, a new multi-purpose suite entitled "The Seward Studio" replaced the old boy's gym, boasting a full HD Surround Sound cinema, 180 ranked seats, and the capability of being a space for Music, Drama and Art performances and exhibitions. The studio was officially opened on Tuesday 23 February 2010 by Dame Margaret Seward.
Ethos and extracurricular activities
According to official canon, the school aims:"To provide a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others."
This is in conjunction with nine other aims.
Latymer is strong academically, performing consistently at the top of national league tables, including coming first in national value added tables and achieving the highest proportion of A* grades at GCSE among state schools in 2006. In recent years the school typically produces around 20-40 successful Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
applicants annually (roughly 10-20% of each year group). Its further strengths include a long-standing tradition in music, including several orchestras and many other voice and instrumental ensembles, as well as a well-supported programme of other varied extracurricular activities.
The school has strong links with other schools across Europe with regular exchanges to Institution de la Sainte-Croix, Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
, France; Heisenberg Gymnasium, Gladbeck
Gladbeck
Gladbeck is a city in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The name ´Gladbeck´ evolves from Low German, originally spoken in the area around Gladbeck. ´Glad´ means something like gleamy and ´beck´ means about brook. However, the brook Gladbeck flows under the ground...
, Germany; and School 316 in St Petersburg, Russia. In addition, there are trips to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
in Italy for junior sports teams, senior sports trips to Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, canoe trips to the Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
and ski trips to the French Alps
French Alps
The French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions....
. There are also geography expeditions to southern Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
trips to Sorrento
Sorrento
Sorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
, Italy every two years. Art trips go to New York City and Media Studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
to Hollywood. Every summer the chamber musicians tour in Europe, with the 2009 tour taking the orchestra and choir to Tuscany in the North of Italy, where they shall perform in the major cathedrals around Florence and Pisa.
Latymer has a House system
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
of six houses. Two Houses take their names from local historical figures Charles Lamb and John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, while Richard Ashworth and Charles Dolbé were former headteachers
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
. Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer was a wealthy merchant and official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.-Life:...
was the founder of the school and Anne Wyatt was a generous patron
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of the school. Staff are allocated to Houses and are form tutors to pupils in their own House. Much of the House activity is run by sixth form pupils, elected by their House, under the supervision of Senior House Staff. Each house has an associated colour, which are typically used by pupils to identify themselves at house competitions (notably the house drama and music competitions, which take place on alternate years) and at sports day. The house colours are as follows: Ashworth: Sky Blue, Dolbé: Royal Blue
Royal blue
Royal blue describes both a bright shade and a dark shade of azure blue. It is said to have been invented by millers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of which won a competition to make a dress for the British queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz....
, Keats: Red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
, Lamb: Purple
Purple
Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
, Latymer: Green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
, Wyatt: Yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
. In the school's pastoral
Pastoral care
Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to persons of all faiths and none within institutional settings. This can range anywhere from home visitation to formal counseling provided...
system, from years 7-11, form groups are split according to Houses, each form has a form tutor and each year a Head of Year. Upon reaching sixth form, students retain their House affiliations but join smaller mixed form-groups for registration. Each year, the Houses compete with each other for the Dormer Shield in events such as music, drama, debating, chess, cakes, arts and crafts, and sports. The winning House has their name engraved upon the shield, the runner up receives the Jones Cup. Most recently Latymer won the shield in 2009.
The PE department offers an extensive extracurricular programme in a wide variety of sports, and pupils participate regardless of ability level. 56 clubs run throughout the week and 300 pupils take part in activities in the average daily programme. Various fixtures occur every Saturday and most evenings.
The school is very active in charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
work, with each House choosing one charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
to support every year with various fund-raising events such as cake sales, non-uniform days and sponsored silences. There is also a strong charities committee run by sixth formers which organises many events for various charities such as Medecins sans Frontiers, Terrence Higgins Trust and Children in Need to name a few. One perennial fund raiser is the Dolbé-Keats Bazaar, run by the two Houses in December with stalls and live music (including performing members of staff). The school branch of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
has a strong following and runs a "Cage Week" annually, wherein staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money. The Latymer World Community Society is active in supporting fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
and the sponsorship of children in less economically developed countries. School policy encourages a large percentage of waste to be recycled
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
.
Student societies in the school are very active and cover a range of interests including music (such as its jazz band and barbershop
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...
singing groups), politics, debating, psychology, philosophy, chess, animal rights, medicine, cryptography and film criticism. The politics society in particular has played host to a series of prominent guest speakers, including George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan
Joan Marie Ryan is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was member of Parliament for Enfield North between 1997 and 2010, and is a member of the Labour Party. She had previously been deputy leader of Barnet Council....
, Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
, David Burrowes
David Burrowes
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate, Parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and an Officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.-Early life:David Burrowes was born in Cockfosters...
, Andy Love
Andy Love
Andrew McCulloch Love is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Edmonton since 1997, winning in 2010 with 53.7% of the vote.-Early life:...
, Vincent Cable
Vincent Cable
Dr. John Vincent "Vince" Cable is a British Liberal Democrat politician and economist who is currently the Business Secretary in the coalition cabinet of David Cameron. He has been Member of Parliament for Twickenham since 1997....
, Danny Chalkley, and Gerrard Batten. The school has a tolerant view of religious societies, and there are firmly
established student-led Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, Islamic and Jewish societies.
Sports teams
Latymer have prestigious sports teams. The football team do complicated trials to play in the EnfieldLondon Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
Schools league, and a girls' football team also exists and experiences much success. There is a boys' team for each year up to Year 10, although Year 7s do not start until January. Year 11 and Sixth Form combine to make the First and Second XI. There are also rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams. A lot of practices take place during lunchtimes, with matches predominantly on Saturday mornings for football and rugby, although there are matches during the week in the afternoon. All other sports are played predominantly during the week. Hockey practice is done at the nearby Astro pitches at the Gladys Aylward School
The Gladys Aylward School
The Gladys Aylward School was a secondary school situated in Windmill Road, Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. The school achieved an Arts mark Gold accreditation in March 2006, and, in 2005, the Leading Parent Partnership Award. In early 2010, a decision was made to turn...
, within walking distance from school.
The sports played during PE
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
include basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
, football, basic gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, health-related fitness, athletics, and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. The football first XI has participated in the Gothia Cup
Gothia Cup
Gothia Cup is a youth association football tournament held annually in Gothenburg, Sweden, open for both boys and girls of ages 11 to 19 years. With regards to the number of participants, it is the world's largest football tournament: in 2011, a total of 35,200 players from 1567 teams and 72...
, a tournament also involving the youth teams of Major football sides like Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
, Swindon
Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
, Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
, Colchester
Colchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....
, São Paulo
São Paulo Futebol Clube
São Paulo Futebol Clube , commonly known as São Paulo, is a professional football club based in São Paulo, Brazil. They play in the Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Brasileirão, Brazil's national league, and are one of the only five clubs to...
, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube is a Brazilian football team, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, and are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Internacional. Founded on January 2, 1921, they are only one of three clubs to have participated in...
, F.C. Copenhagen
F.C. Copenhagen
F.C. Copenhagen is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is part of the Parken Sport & Entertainment....
and OGC Nice
OGC Nice
Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur is a French association football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top-tier of French football. Nice plays its home matches at the Stade Municipal du Ray located within the city. In 2013, the club is...
.
Notable former pupils
The Latymer School is a selective, mixedCoeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Edmonton
Edmonton, London
Edmonton is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, England, north-north-east of Charing Cross. It has a long history as a settlement distinct from Enfield.-Location:...
, north London, England.
Examination procedures
Approximately 180 pupils are admitted to Year 7 (aged 11 or 12) annually. Places are awarded on the basis of competitive examination, though 20 are reserved for students with exceptional musical talent. The examinations taken by prospective students cover non-verbal reasoning, numeracy and English. Candidates must live within one hour of the school by public transport. Around 60-70 students join the sixth formSixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
in Year 12 (aged 16 or 17) per year, mixing with Latymer pupils who have made the transition from Year 11. External applicants to sixth form undergo interviews, sit entrance examinations and generally require 6 A grades at GCSE (or equivalent) level.
History and traditions
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
of Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer was a wealthy merchant and official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.-Life:...
, a London City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
merchant in Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
. Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School, founded by Edward Latymer in 1624, is a selective independent school in Hammersmith, West London, England, lying between King Street and the Thames. It is a day school for 1,130 pupils – boys and girls aged 11–18; there is also the Latymer Preparatory School for boys and girls...
), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet
Doublet
Doublet may refer to:*Doublet , a man's snug-fitting buttoned jacket that was worn from the late 14th century to the mid 17th century*Doublet , an assembled gem composed in two sections, such as a garnet overlaying green glass...
, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woolen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints Day. Students were educated in "God's true religion" and reading English to the age of thirteen at existing petty schools. The boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves and were under a duty to carry out the provisions of his will "unto the end of the world".
The school has formal links with St. John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
(the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those Colleges.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest, including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with Thomas Style's request of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. For more than a century, no further significant bequests were made until in 1811, Ann Wyatt, an eccentric widow from Hackney, left £500 5% Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Annuities to build a new school, and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.
The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries, when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to The Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational. The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').
Internally, Latymer history is propagated by school assemblies. It is traditional for headmasters to lecture students on the school's origins, and their personal interpretation of the school's motto during the first assembly of the academic year.
While the Latymer school song was said to have been written in the 1950s by Alice W. Linford, with music by Ronald Cunliffe on the school site and was quoted here, the school song was definitely written before 1935 as pupils in that year learned it and Ronald Cunliffe wrote it within an autograph album in 1935 for a 12 year old pupil. Ronald Cunliffe died in August 1944.
It is sung on Foundation Day and at the annual Awards Ceremony. Guests at the Awards Ceremony have included Robert Winston
Robert Winston
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, and Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
Former headteachers
In 1724 Thomas Hare, the parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
clerk, was appointed Latymer schoolmaster by the vestry, while the Revd. John Button taught the boys funded by the donation of Thomas Style. In 1737 Zachariah Hare succeeded his father; two years later the various charities were amalgamated and land and a school-house were purchased, Zachariah becoming the first headmaster under the new scheme.
In 1781 John Adams was appointed headmaster. His friend, J. T. Smith, related that plates of Hogarth's Industry and Idleness
Industry and Idleness
Industry and Idleness is the title of a series of 12 plot-linked engravings created by William Hogarth in 1747, intending to illustrate to working children the possible rewards of hard work and diligent application and the sure disasters attending a lack of both...
hung in the schoolroom; once a month Adams read a lecture on these examples and then rewarded the industrious boys and caned
Caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...
the idle. He was succeeded in 1802 by his son, John Adams junior, clerk to the vestry and an able and efficient teacher. Adams numbered the 106 boys in the school according to their seniority. Each number was on a leather medal which, together with eight other medals recording school position in particular subjects including Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, mathematics, and behaviour, was strung on a cord worn by the pupil. The numbers were registered from time to time and prizes were presented by the trustees to boys who had excelled.
Charles Henry Adams succeeded his father in 1821 but failed to maintain the standards of the school. A vestry inquiry in 1848 found that the system of education was unsatisfactory; Latin was no longer being taught and many of the pupils were not receiving clothing. Nevertheless he was still in charge of the school with his son, as usher, a member of the fourth generation of the family to teach in the school, when it was inspected in 1865. There were 89 boys on the books, of whom 65 were present in the morning but only 29 returned after lunch. Latin teaching was confined to reading aloud from a grammar and the standards in elementary subjects were very low; the income of the Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
scholarship was used for church repairs. In 1868 Adams agreed to retire on a pension.
The Revd. Dr. Charles. V. Dolbé was appointed headmaster, and under a new scheme £210 of foundation income was diverted to elementary schools attached to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill
St. Paul's School, Winchmore Hill
St. Paul's School, Winchmore Hill, London, United Kingdom is a primary school in the London Borough of Enfield. It is a voluntary-aided Church of England school within the Diocese of London.-Location and catchment area:...
, Christ Church, Southgate, and St. James, Upper Edmonton
Upper Edmonton
Upper Edmonton is a part of Edmonton, which is located in the eastern part of the London Borough of Enfield, England. The main shopping area of Upper Edmonton is often referred to as "The Angel" by locals and is...
. The residue was to provide two Latymer schools: an upper for foundationers and fee-payers in the existing buildings, and a lower or elementary school.
In 1897 W. A. Shearer, the new headmaster of the upper school, found not only that the buildings were inadequate and defective, but also that R. S. Gregory, Vicar of Edmonton, wanted to close the school and use the funds for the Church of England elementary school, a proposal which aroused much opposition, especially from the Edmonton Urban District
Municipal Borough of Edmonton
Edmonton was a local government district in north-east Middlesex, England, from 1850 to 1965.Edmonton local board was formed in 1850 for the parish of Edmonton All Saints. In 1881 Southgate was separated from the Edmonton local board's district, forming its own local board. Edmonton became an urban...
Council. In 1901 the lower school was accommodated in new buildings in Maldon Road, and a site in Haselbury Road was acquired for a new upper school, but in 1908, before building began, Shearer was killed in an accident. The upper school was temporarily closed, but in 1910 it reopened as a co-educational grammar school with 25 pupils and R. Ashworth as headmaster. Numbers increased rapidly and the school was enlarged in 1924 and 1928. Soon after this Ashworth died while still in office, leaving a flourishing school of over 700 pupils. V. S. E. Davis, who became the next headmaster, was a young man and guided the school with great skill through one of its most difficult periods through World War II. The school was granted voluntary aided status in 1951. Davis retired in 1957 and was succeeded by Dr. Trefor Jones. In 1964 there were nearly 1,100 pupils.
| Name | Year began | Year ended | Name | Year began | Year ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revd. John Brooke, M.A | 1634 | Unknown | John Adam II | 1802 | 1828 |
| Thomas Hare, BA | 1662 | 1666 | Charles Henry Adams | 1828 | 1867 |
| Daniel Callis | 1666 | 1667 | Revd. Dr. Charles Vincent Dolbé, MA, LL.D | 1867 | 1897 |
| John Hare, BA | 1667 | 1679 | William A.C. Shearer, BA | 1897 | 1909 |
| Benjamin Hare | 1680 | 1724 | Richard Ashworth, BA | 1910 | 1928 |
| Thomas Hare II | 1724 | 1737 | Victor S.E. Davis, MA | 1929 | 1957 |
| Zachariah Hare | 1737 | 1742 | Trefor Jones, MA, PhD | 1957 | 1970 |
| James Ware | 1742 | 1771 | Edward S. Kelly | 1970 | 1983 |
| James Ware II | 1771 | 1772 | Geoffry T. Mills, MA | 1983 | 1998 |
| James Draper | 1772 | 1773 | Jackie Hardie, B.Sc., M.Ed., F.I.Biol. Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies... |
1998 (Acting Headteacher) | 1999 |
| Samuel Draper | 1773 | 1780 | AbuBakr Z. Amrouche, OBE Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions... , BA, M.I.Biol. Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies... , FRSA |
1999 | 2005 |
| John Adams | 1781 | 1802 | Mark E.Garbett, MA, M.Ed., NPQH | 2005 | Current |
Bold names have Houses in their honour.
School site
Much of the north end of the school (principally the Small Hall and surrounding rooms) was built in 1910 after the Old Latymer Schoolhouse (Built mainly by Anne Wyatt and extended in the time of Charles Dolbé) in Church Street was abandoned. The buildings on the present site were provided by Middlesex County Council at a cost of £6782, and accommodated 150 pupils. Twelve classrooms built in 1924 in the North Block allowed pupil capacity to triple.The Great Hall, science laboratories and South Block were opened in a ceremony in 1928 by the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become by their majesties King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
). Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. The hall has been refurbished twice since it was built, most recently in 1999. It is home to the Davis organ, which was recently repaired and upgraded.
The gymnasia, art studios and technology block were opened in 1966 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. The 12 science laboratories and 6 technology rooms (including facilities for graphic design, product design, textiles and cookery) were re-equipped and modernised in the late 1990s.
Much of the school was modernised in the time of Dr. Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars would not be so obstructive to the view of the stage and the balustrade removed and replaced with panels of fluted light oak. Dark green tiles adorned the walls below the dado rail in much of the older parts of the school which were removed and the walls refinished. There has been a recent programme of modernisation and refurbishment of the classrooms, including the integration of ICT into each room.
There is a suite of three ICT rooms containing in total approximately 100 computers (networked and accessible to pupils and teaching staff) and another 100 or so in nearly every classroom, music rooms, media department and the technology department, which are used extensively in the teaching of a large number of curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
subjects. The school network is accessible to students from the internet via the Latymer Integrated Learning Environment (LILE). Most classrooms have interactive white-boards. There are also 3 laptop trolleys, 2 of which contain 30 laptops, which teachers can book for lessons. Another laptop trolley containing 10 laptops is located at the library for use. All staff are issued with their own laptop computer. The sixth form study area, careers library, learning resources centre and technology block also have computer workstations.
The Ashworth library holds approximately 20,000 volumes and is run by a chartered librarian. A separate Learning Resources Centre (LRC) contains a further 2,000 reference volumes, a vast selection of periodicals, and computing facilities. There is a Connexions
Connexions
Connexions is a global repository of educational content provided by Rice University. The entire collection is available free of charge, and students and learners alike can explore all the content they desire....
Careers Library with facilities for accessing the latest information on university courses and future career directions.
The sixth form common room was converted in 2000 from the Jones Lecture Theatre, which had itself been converted from a gymnasium to mark the retirement of Dr. Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of Edward Kelly. Upon the conversion of the Jones Lecture Theatre to the common room, the 1984 building was made into a space for the sixth form to study in their free periods and a connecting building was built between the two, housing offices for the Head of the Sixth Form.
The 'Mills Building' (after the vision of Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments. It was funded by donations from former pupils, parents and friends of the school. The complex offers a range of studio-space, larger rooms for music and drama, and air-conditioned individual music practice rooms. This facility and the new Sports and Dining Complex, were envisaged by the then Headteacher Geoffrey Mills and the Governors in 1995.
The school owns a residential outdoor pursuits centre in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The centre, Ysgol Latymer, was established on the site of an old primary school situated in the small village of Cwm Penmachno
Cwm Penmachno
Cwm Penmachno is a former quarry settlement at the head of the Penmachno valley in North Wales. The slate quarry was formerly linked by narrow-gauge railway to the Ffestiniog railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog...
(5 miles from Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It has a population of 534. The name Betws or Bettws is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Old English 'bed-hus' - i.e. a bead-house - a house of prayer, or oratory...
) in 1966, as a 'school away from school'. Since, the school has developed it into a well-equipped residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first and third years. Activities include hill walking, orienteering, mountain biking, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, swimming, rafting and skiing. Students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, GCSE AS and A-level PE also visit the centre. It is the heart of the annual "Fourteen Peaks" challenge when staff and senior students may undertake an extensive programme of hill walks.
The school owns 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of playing fields laid out for football, hockey, rugby union, cricket, rounders and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
according to season.
A new Sports and Dining Complex was opened in a ceremony by Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
on May 18, 2006. It includes a fitness suite (complete with aerobic and fixed weight equipment), specialist sports science classroom, changing rooms with showers, and a multi-purpose gymnasium, which allowed the broadening of the sports curriculum to badminton, volleyball, table tennis and health and fitness. The facility is a brownfield development, occupying only slightly more area than the previous catering facility from the 1940s. Various environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
measures are incorporated into its design, including solar panels providing hot water, sun pipes reducing the need for artificial lighting and wind catchers to provide ventilation. Fresh, hot meals are cooked every weekday in the catering facility which seats 280, and sandwiches are prepared in site. A coffeeshop service is provided for staff and sixth-formers.
In February 2010, a new multi-purpose suite entitled "The Seward Studio" replaced the old boy's gym, boasting a full HD Surround Sound cinema, 180 ranked seats, and the capability of being a space for Music, Drama and Art performances and exhibitions. The studio was officially opened on Tuesday 23 February 2010 by Dame Margaret Seward.
Ethos and extracurricular activities
According to official canon, the school aims:"To provide a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others."
This is in conjunction with nine other aims.
Latymer is strong academically, performing consistently at the top of national league tables, including coming first in national value added tables and achieving the highest proportion of A* grades at GCSE among state schools in 2006. In recent years the school typically produces around 20-40 successful Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
applicants annually (roughly 10-20% of each year group). Its further strengths include a long-standing tradition in music, including several orchestras and many other voice and instrumental ensembles, as well as a well-supported programme of other varied extracurricular activities.
The school has strong links with other schools across Europe with regular exchanges to Institution de la Sainte-Croix, Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
, France; Heisenberg Gymnasium, Gladbeck
Gladbeck
Gladbeck is a city in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The name ´Gladbeck´ evolves from Low German, originally spoken in the area around Gladbeck. ´Glad´ means something like gleamy and ´beck´ means about brook. However, the brook Gladbeck flows under the ground...
, Germany; and School 316 in St Petersburg, Russia. In addition, there are trips to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
in Italy for junior sports teams, senior sports trips to Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, canoe trips to the Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
and ski trips to the French Alps
French Alps
The French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions....
. There are also geography expeditions to southern Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
trips to Sorrento
Sorrento
Sorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
, Italy every two years. Art trips go to New York City and Media Studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
to Hollywood. Every summer the chamber musicians tour in Europe, with the 2009 tour taking the orchestra and choir to Tuscany in the North of Italy, where they shall perform in the major cathedrals around Florence and Pisa.
Latymer has a House system
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
of six houses. Two Houses take their names from local historical figures Charles Lamb and John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, while Richard Ashworth and Charles Dolbé were former headteachers
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
. Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer was a wealthy merchant and official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.-Life:...
was the founder of the school and Anne Wyatt was a generous patron
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of the school. Staff are allocated to Houses and are form tutors to pupils in their own House. Much of the House activity is run by sixth form pupils, elected by their House, under the supervision of Senior House Staff. Each house has an associated colour, which are typically used by pupils to identify themselves at house competitions (notably the house drama and music competitions, which take place on alternate years) and at sports day. The house colours are as follows: Ashworth: Sky Blue, Dolbé: Royal Blue
Royal blue
Royal blue describes both a bright shade and a dark shade of azure blue. It is said to have been invented by millers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of which won a competition to make a dress for the British queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz....
, Keats: Red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
, Lamb: Purple
Purple
Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
, Latymer: Green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
, Wyatt: Yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
. In the school's pastoral
Pastoral care
Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to persons of all faiths and none within institutional settings. This can range anywhere from home visitation to formal counseling provided...
system, from years 7-11, form groups are split according to Houses, each form has a form tutor and each year a Head of Year. Upon reaching sixth form, students retain their House affiliations but join smaller mixed form-groups for registration. Each year, the Houses compete with each other for the Dormer Shield in events such as music, drama, debating, chess, cakes, arts and crafts, and sports. The winning House has their name engraved upon the shield, the runner up receives the Jones Cup. Most recently Latymer won the shield in 2009.
The PE department offers an extensive extracurricular programme in a wide variety of sports, and pupils participate regardless of ability level. 56 clubs run throughout the week and 300 pupils take part in activities in the average daily programme. Various fixtures occur every Saturday and most evenings.
The school is very active in charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
work, with each House choosing one charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
to support every year with various fund-raising events such as cake sales, non-uniform days and sponsored silences. There is also a strong charities committee run by sixth formers which organises many events for various charities such as Medecins sans Frontiers, Terrence Higgins Trust and Children in Need to name a few. One perennial fund raiser is the Dolbé-Keats Bazaar, run by the two Houses in December with stalls and live music (including performing members of staff). The school branch of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
has a strong following and runs a "Cage Week" annually, wherein staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money. The Latymer World Community Society is active in supporting fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
and the sponsorship of children in less economically developed countries. School policy encourages a large percentage of waste to be recycled
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
.
Student societies in the school are very active and cover a range of interests including music (such as its jazz band and barbershop
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...
singing groups), politics, debating, psychology, philosophy, chess, animal rights, medicine, cryptography and film criticism. The politics society in particular has played host to a series of prominent guest speakers, including George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan
Joan Marie Ryan is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was member of Parliament for Enfield North between 1997 and 2010, and is a member of the Labour Party. She had previously been deputy leader of Barnet Council....
, Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
, David Burrowes
David Burrowes
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate, Parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and an Officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.-Early life:David Burrowes was born in Cockfosters...
, Andy Love
Andy Love
Andrew McCulloch Love is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Edmonton since 1997, winning in 2010 with 53.7% of the vote.-Early life:...
, Vincent Cable
Vincent Cable
Dr. John Vincent "Vince" Cable is a British Liberal Democrat politician and economist who is currently the Business Secretary in the coalition cabinet of David Cameron. He has been Member of Parliament for Twickenham since 1997....
, Danny Chalkley, and Gerrard Batten. The school has a tolerant view of religious societies, and there are firmly
established student-led Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, Islamic and Jewish societies.
Sports teams
Latymer have prestigious sports teams. The football team do complicated trials to play in the EnfieldLondon Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
Schools league, and a girls' football team also exists and experiences much success. There is a boys' team for each year up to Year 10, although Year 7s do not start until January. Year 11 and Sixth Form combine to make the First and Second XI. There are also rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams. A lot of practices take place during lunchtimes, with matches predominantly on Saturday mornings for football and rugby, although there are matches during the week in the afternoon. All other sports are played predominantly during the week. Hockey practice is done at the nearby Astro pitches at the Gladys Aylward School
The Gladys Aylward School
The Gladys Aylward School was a secondary school situated in Windmill Road, Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. The school achieved an Arts mark Gold accreditation in March 2006, and, in 2005, the Leading Parent Partnership Award. In early 2010, a decision was made to turn...
, within walking distance from school.
The sports played during PE
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
include basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
, football, basic gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, health-related fitness, athletics, and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. The football first XI has participated in the Gothia Cup
Gothia Cup
Gothia Cup is a youth association football tournament held annually in Gothenburg, Sweden, open for both boys and girls of ages 11 to 19 years. With regards to the number of participants, it is the world's largest football tournament: in 2011, a total of 35,200 players from 1567 teams and 72...
, a tournament also involving the youth teams of Major football sides like Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
, Swindon
Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
, Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
, Colchester
Colchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....
, São Paulo
São Paulo Futebol Clube
São Paulo Futebol Clube , commonly known as São Paulo, is a professional football club based in São Paulo, Brazil. They play in the Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Brasileirão, Brazil's national league, and are one of the only five clubs to...
, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube is a Brazilian football team, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, and are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Internacional. Founded on January 2, 1921, they are only one of three clubs to have participated in...
, F.C. Copenhagen
F.C. Copenhagen
F.C. Copenhagen is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is part of the Parken Sport & Entertainment....
and OGC Nice
OGC Nice
Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur is a French association football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top-tier of French football. Nice plays its home matches at the Stade Municipal du Ray located within the city. In 2013, the club is...
.
Notable former pupils
The Latymer School is a selective, mixedCoeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Edmonton
Edmonton, London
Edmonton is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, England, north-north-east of Charing Cross. It has a long history as a settlement distinct from Enfield.-Location:...
, north London, England.
Examination procedures
Approximately 180 pupils are admitted to Year 7 (aged 11 or 12) annually. Places are awarded on the basis of competitive examination, though 20 are reserved for students with exceptional musical talent. The examinations taken by prospective students cover non-verbal reasoning, numeracy and English. Candidates must live within one hour of the school by public transport. Around 60-70 students join the sixth formSixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
in Year 12 (aged 16 or 17) per year, mixing with Latymer pupils who have made the transition from Year 11. External applicants to sixth form undergo interviews, sit entrance examinations and generally require 6 A grades at GCSE (or equivalent) level.
History and traditions
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
of Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer was a wealthy merchant and official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.-Life:...
, a London City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
merchant in Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
. Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School, founded by Edward Latymer in 1624, is a selective independent school in Hammersmith, West London, England, lying between King Street and the Thames. It is a day school for 1,130 pupils – boys and girls aged 11–18; there is also the Latymer Preparatory School for boys and girls...
), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet
Doublet
Doublet may refer to:*Doublet , a man's snug-fitting buttoned jacket that was worn from the late 14th century to the mid 17th century*Doublet , an assembled gem composed in two sections, such as a garnet overlaying green glass...
, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woolen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints Day. Students were educated in "God's true religion" and reading English to the age of thirteen at existing petty schools. The boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves and were under a duty to carry out the provisions of his will "unto the end of the world".
The school has formal links with St. John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
(the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those Colleges.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest, including £4 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster and a similar sum to maintain a poor scholar at Cambridge. This was followed in 1679 with Thomas Style's request of Edmonton of £20 per annum for teaching "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. For more than a century, no further significant bequests were made until in 1811, Ann Wyatt, an eccentric widow from Hackney, left £500 5% Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Annuities to build a new school, and £100 in the same securities for its maintenance. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.
The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries, when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to The Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational. The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').
Internally, Latymer history is propagated by school assemblies. It is traditional for headmasters to lecture students on the school's origins, and their personal interpretation of the school's motto during the first assembly of the academic year.
While the Latymer school song was said to have been written in the 1950s by Alice W. Linford, with music by Ronald Cunliffe on the school site and was quoted here, the school song was definitely written before 1935 as pupils in that year learned it and Ronald Cunliffe wrote it within an autograph album in 1935 for a 12 year old pupil. Ronald Cunliffe died in August 1944.
It is sung on Foundation Day and at the annual Awards Ceremony. Guests at the Awards Ceremony have included Robert Winston
Robert Winston
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, and Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
Former headteachers
In 1724 Thomas Hare, the parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
clerk, was appointed Latymer schoolmaster by the vestry, while the Revd. John Button taught the boys funded by the donation of Thomas Style. In 1737 Zachariah Hare succeeded his father; two years later the various charities were amalgamated and land and a school-house were purchased, Zachariah becoming the first headmaster under the new scheme.
In 1781 John Adams was appointed headmaster. His friend, J. T. Smith, related that plates of Hogarth's Industry and Idleness
Industry and Idleness
Industry and Idleness is the title of a series of 12 plot-linked engravings created by William Hogarth in 1747, intending to illustrate to working children the possible rewards of hard work and diligent application and the sure disasters attending a lack of both...
hung in the schoolroom; once a month Adams read a lecture on these examples and then rewarded the industrious boys and caned
Caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...
the idle. He was succeeded in 1802 by his son, John Adams junior, clerk to the vestry and an able and efficient teacher. Adams numbered the 106 boys in the school according to their seniority. Each number was on a leather medal which, together with eight other medals recording school position in particular subjects including Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, mathematics, and behaviour, was strung on a cord worn by the pupil. The numbers were registered from time to time and prizes were presented by the trustees to boys who had excelled.
Charles Henry Adams succeeded his father in 1821 but failed to maintain the standards of the school. A vestry inquiry in 1848 found that the system of education was unsatisfactory; Latin was no longer being taught and many of the pupils were not receiving clothing. Nevertheless he was still in charge of the school with his son, as usher, a member of the fourth generation of the family to teach in the school, when it was inspected in 1865. There were 89 boys on the books, of whom 65 were present in the morning but only 29 returned after lunch. Latin teaching was confined to reading aloud from a grammar and the standards in elementary subjects were very low; the income of the Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
scholarship was used for church repairs. In 1868 Adams agreed to retire on a pension.
The Revd. Dr. Charles. V. Dolbé was appointed headmaster, and under a new scheme £210 of foundation income was diverted to elementary schools attached to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill
St. Paul's School, Winchmore Hill
St. Paul's School, Winchmore Hill, London, United Kingdom is a primary school in the London Borough of Enfield. It is a voluntary-aided Church of England school within the Diocese of London.-Location and catchment area:...
, Christ Church, Southgate, and St. James, Upper Edmonton
Upper Edmonton
Upper Edmonton is a part of Edmonton, which is located in the eastern part of the London Borough of Enfield, England. The main shopping area of Upper Edmonton is often referred to as "The Angel" by locals and is...
. The residue was to provide two Latymer schools: an upper for foundationers and fee-payers in the existing buildings, and a lower or elementary school.
In 1897 W. A. Shearer, the new headmaster of the upper school, found not only that the buildings were inadequate and defective, but also that R. S. Gregory, Vicar of Edmonton, wanted to close the school and use the funds for the Church of England elementary school, a proposal which aroused much opposition, especially from the Edmonton Urban District
Municipal Borough of Edmonton
Edmonton was a local government district in north-east Middlesex, England, from 1850 to 1965.Edmonton local board was formed in 1850 for the parish of Edmonton All Saints. In 1881 Southgate was separated from the Edmonton local board's district, forming its own local board. Edmonton became an urban...
Council. In 1901 the lower school was accommodated in new buildings in Maldon Road, and a site in Haselbury Road was acquired for a new upper school, but in 1908, before building began, Shearer was killed in an accident. The upper school was temporarily closed, but in 1910 it reopened as a co-educational grammar school with 25 pupils and R. Ashworth as headmaster. Numbers increased rapidly and the school was enlarged in 1924 and 1928. Soon after this Ashworth died while still in office, leaving a flourishing school of over 700 pupils. V. S. E. Davis, who became the next headmaster, was a young man and guided the school with great skill through one of its most difficult periods through World War II. The school was granted voluntary aided status in 1951. Davis retired in 1957 and was succeeded by Dr. Trefor Jones. In 1964 there were nearly 1,100 pupils.
| Name | Year began | Year ended | Name | Year began | Year ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revd. John Brooke, M.A | 1634 | Unknown | John Adam II | 1802 | 1828 |
| Thomas Hare, BA | 1662 | 1666 | Charles Henry Adams | 1828 | 1867 |
| Daniel Callis | 1666 | 1667 | Revd. Dr. Charles Vincent Dolbé, MA, LL.D | 1867 | 1897 |
| John Hare, BA | 1667 | 1679 | William A.C. Shearer, BA | 1897 | 1909 |
| Benjamin Hare | 1680 | 1724 | Richard Ashworth, BA | 1910 | 1928 |
| Thomas Hare II | 1724 | 1737 | Victor S.E. Davis, MA | 1929 | 1957 |
| Zachariah Hare | 1737 | 1742 | Trefor Jones, MA, PhD | 1957 | 1970 |
| James Ware | 1742 | 1771 | Edward S. Kelly | 1970 | 1983 |
| James Ware II | 1771 | 1772 | Geoffry T. Mills, MA | 1983 | 1998 |
| James Draper | 1772 | 1773 | Jackie Hardie, B.Sc., M.Ed., F.I.Biol. Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies... |
1998 (Acting Headteacher) | 1999 |
| Samuel Draper | 1773 | 1780 | AbuBakr Z. Amrouche, OBE Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions... , BA, M.I.Biol. Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies... , FRSA |
1999 | 2005 |
| John Adams | 1781 | 1802 | Mark E.Garbett, MA, M.Ed., NPQH | 2005 | Current |
Bold names have Houses in their honour.
School site
Much of the north end of the school (principally the Small Hall and surrounding rooms) was built in 1910 after the Old Latymer Schoolhouse (Built mainly by Anne Wyatt and extended in the time of Charles Dolbé) in Church Street was abandoned. The buildings on the present site were provided by Middlesex County Council at a cost of £6782, and accommodated 150 pupils. Twelve classrooms built in 1924 in the North Block allowed pupil capacity to triple.The Great Hall, science laboratories and South Block were opened in a ceremony in 1928 by the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become by their majesties King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
). Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. The hall has been refurbished twice since it was built, most recently in 1999. It is home to the Davis organ, which was recently repaired and upgraded.
The gymnasia, art studios and technology block were opened in 1966 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. The 12 science laboratories and 6 technology rooms (including facilities for graphic design, product design, textiles and cookery) were re-equipped and modernised in the late 1990s.
Much of the school was modernised in the time of Dr. Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars would not be so obstructive to the view of the stage and the balustrade removed and replaced with panels of fluted light oak. Dark green tiles adorned the walls below the dado rail in much of the older parts of the school which were removed and the walls refinished. There has been a recent programme of modernisation and refurbishment of the classrooms, including the integration of ICT into each room.
There is a suite of three ICT rooms containing in total approximately 100 computers (networked and accessible to pupils and teaching staff) and another 100 or so in nearly every classroom, music rooms, media department and the technology department, which are used extensively in the teaching of a large number of curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
subjects. The school network is accessible to students from the internet via the Latymer Integrated Learning Environment (LILE). Most classrooms have interactive white-boards. There are also 3 laptop trolleys, 2 of which contain 30 laptops, which teachers can book for lessons. Another laptop trolley containing 10 laptops is located at the library for use. All staff are issued with their own laptop computer. The sixth form study area, careers library, learning resources centre and technology block also have computer workstations.
The Ashworth library holds approximately 20,000 volumes and is run by a chartered librarian. A separate Learning Resources Centre (LRC) contains a further 2,000 reference volumes, a vast selection of periodicals, and computing facilities. There is a Connexions
Connexions
Connexions is a global repository of educational content provided by Rice University. The entire collection is available free of charge, and students and learners alike can explore all the content they desire....
Careers Library with facilities for accessing the latest information on university courses and future career directions.
The sixth form common room was converted in 2000 from the Jones Lecture Theatre, which had itself been converted from a gymnasium to mark the retirement of Dr. Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of Edward Kelly. Upon the conversion of the Jones Lecture Theatre to the common room, the 1984 building was made into a space for the sixth form to study in their free periods and a connecting building was built between the two, housing offices for the Head of the Sixth Form.
The 'Mills Building' (after the vision of Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments. It was funded by donations from former pupils, parents and friends of the school. The complex offers a range of studio-space, larger rooms for music and drama, and air-conditioned individual music practice rooms. This facility and the new Sports and Dining Complex, were envisaged by the then Headteacher Geoffrey Mills and the Governors in 1995.
The school owns a residential outdoor pursuits centre in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The centre, Ysgol Latymer, was established on the site of an old primary school situated in the small village of Cwm Penmachno
Cwm Penmachno
Cwm Penmachno is a former quarry settlement at the head of the Penmachno valley in North Wales. The slate quarry was formerly linked by narrow-gauge railway to the Ffestiniog railway at Blaenau Ffestiniog...
(5 miles from Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It has a population of 534. The name Betws or Bettws is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Old English 'bed-hus' - i.e. a bead-house - a house of prayer, or oratory...
) in 1966, as a 'school away from school'. Since, the school has developed it into a well-equipped residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first and third years. Activities include hill walking, orienteering, mountain biking, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, swimming, rafting and skiing. Students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, GCSE AS and A-level PE also visit the centre. It is the heart of the annual "Fourteen Peaks" challenge when staff and senior students may undertake an extensive programme of hill walks.
The school owns 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of playing fields laid out for football, hockey, rugby union, cricket, rounders and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
according to season.
A new Sports and Dining Complex was opened in a ceremony by Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
on May 18, 2006. It includes a fitness suite (complete with aerobic and fixed weight equipment), specialist sports science classroom, changing rooms with showers, and a multi-purpose gymnasium, which allowed the broadening of the sports curriculum to badminton, volleyball, table tennis and health and fitness. The facility is a brownfield development, occupying only slightly more area than the previous catering facility from the 1940s. Various environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
measures are incorporated into its design, including solar panels providing hot water, sun pipes reducing the need for artificial lighting and wind catchers to provide ventilation. Fresh, hot meals are cooked every weekday in the catering facility which seats 280, and sandwiches are prepared in site. A coffeeshop service is provided for staff and sixth-formers.
In February 2010, a new multi-purpose suite entitled "The Seward Studio" replaced the old boy's gym, boasting a full HD Surround Sound cinema, 180 ranked seats, and the capability of being a space for Music, Drama and Art performances and exhibitions. The studio was officially opened on Tuesday 23 February 2010 by Dame Margaret Seward.
Ethos and extracurricular activities
According to official canon, the school aims:"To provide a first class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others."
This is in conjunction with nine other aims.
Latymer is strong academically, performing consistently at the top of national league tables, including coming first in national value added tables and achieving the highest proportion of A* grades at GCSE among state schools in 2006. In recent years the school typically produces around 20-40 successful Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
applicants annually (roughly 10-20% of each year group). Its further strengths include a long-standing tradition in music, including several orchestras and many other voice and instrumental ensembles, as well as a well-supported programme of other varied extracurricular activities.
The school has strong links with other schools across Europe with regular exchanges to Institution de la Sainte-Croix, Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
, France; Heisenberg Gymnasium, Gladbeck
Gladbeck
Gladbeck is a city in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The name ´Gladbeck´ evolves from Low German, originally spoken in the area around Gladbeck. ´Glad´ means something like gleamy and ´beck´ means about brook. However, the brook Gladbeck flows under the ground...
, Germany; and School 316 in St Petersburg, Russia. In addition, there are trips to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
in Italy for junior sports teams, senior sports trips to Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, canoe trips to the Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
and ski trips to the French Alps
French Alps
The French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions....
. There are also geography expeditions to southern Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
trips to Sorrento
Sorrento
Sorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
, Italy every two years. Art trips go to New York City and Media Studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
to Hollywood. Every summer the chamber musicians tour in Europe, with the 2009 tour taking the orchestra and choir to Tuscany in the North of Italy, where they shall perform in the major cathedrals around Florence and Pisa.
Latymer has a House system
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
of six houses. Two Houses take their names from local historical figures Charles Lamb and John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, while Richard Ashworth and Charles Dolbé were former headteachers
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
. Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer
Edward Latymer was a wealthy merchant and official in London. His will established both Latymer Upper School and The Latymer School and is associated with Godolphin and Latymer School.-Life:...
was the founder of the school and Anne Wyatt was a generous patron
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of the school. Staff are allocated to Houses and are form tutors to pupils in their own House. Much of the House activity is run by sixth form pupils, elected by their House, under the supervision of Senior House Staff. Each house has an associated colour, which are typically used by pupils to identify themselves at house competitions (notably the house drama and music competitions, which take place on alternate years) and at sports day. The house colours are as follows: Ashworth: Sky Blue, Dolbé: Royal Blue
Royal blue
Royal blue describes both a bright shade and a dark shade of azure blue. It is said to have been invented by millers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of which won a competition to make a dress for the British queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz....
, Keats: Red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
, Lamb: Purple
Purple
Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
, Latymer: Green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
, Wyatt: Yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
. In the school's pastoral
Pastoral care
Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to persons of all faiths and none within institutional settings. This can range anywhere from home visitation to formal counseling provided...
system, from years 7-11, form groups are split according to Houses, each form has a form tutor and each year a Head of Year. Upon reaching sixth form, students retain their House affiliations but join smaller mixed form-groups for registration. Each year, the Houses compete with each other for the Dormer Shield in events such as music, drama, debating, chess, cakes, arts and crafts, and sports. The winning House has their name engraved upon the shield, the runner up receives the Jones Cup. Most recently Latymer won the shield in 2009.
The PE department offers an extensive extracurricular programme in a wide variety of sports, and pupils participate regardless of ability level. 56 clubs run throughout the week and 300 pupils take part in activities in the average daily programme. Various fixtures occur every Saturday and most evenings.
The school is very active in charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
work, with each House choosing one charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
to support every year with various fund-raising events such as cake sales, non-uniform days and sponsored silences. There is also a strong charities committee run by sixth formers which organises many events for various charities such as Medecins sans Frontiers, Terrence Higgins Trust and Children in Need to name a few. One perennial fund raiser is the Dolbé-Keats Bazaar, run by the two Houses in December with stalls and live music (including performing members of staff). The school branch of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
has a strong following and runs a "Cage Week" annually, wherein staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money. The Latymer World Community Society is active in supporting fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
and the sponsorship of children in less economically developed countries. School policy encourages a large percentage of waste to be recycled
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
.
Student societies in the school are very active and cover a range of interests including music (such as its jazz band and barbershop
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...
singing groups), politics, debating, psychology, philosophy, chess, animal rights, medicine, cryptography and film criticism. The politics society in particular has played host to a series of prominent guest speakers, including George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan
Joan Marie Ryan is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was member of Parliament for Enfield North between 1997 and 2010, and is a member of the Labour Party. She had previously been deputy leader of Barnet Council....
, Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
, David Burrowes
David Burrowes
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate, Parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and an Officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.-Early life:David Burrowes was born in Cockfosters...
, Andy Love
Andy Love
Andrew McCulloch Love is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Edmonton since 1997, winning in 2010 with 53.7% of the vote.-Early life:...
, Vincent Cable
Vincent Cable
Dr. John Vincent "Vince" Cable is a British Liberal Democrat politician and economist who is currently the Business Secretary in the coalition cabinet of David Cameron. He has been Member of Parliament for Twickenham since 1997....
, Danny Chalkley, and Gerrard Batten. The school has a tolerant view of religious societies, and there are firmly
established student-led Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, Islamic and Jewish societies.
Sports teams
Latymer have prestigious sports teams. The football team do complicated trials to play in the EnfieldLondon Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
Schools league, and a girls' football team also exists and experiences much success. There is a boys' team for each year up to Year 10, although Year 7s do not start until January. Year 11 and Sixth Form combine to make the First and Second XI. There are also rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams. A lot of practices take place during lunchtimes, with matches predominantly on Saturday mornings for football and rugby, although there are matches during the week in the afternoon. All other sports are played predominantly during the week. Hockey practice is done at the nearby Astro pitches at the Gladys Aylward School
The Gladys Aylward School
The Gladys Aylward School was a secondary school situated in Windmill Road, Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. The school achieved an Arts mark Gold accreditation in March 2006, and, in 2005, the Leading Parent Partnership Award. In early 2010, a decision was made to turn...
, within walking distance from school.
The sports played during PE
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
include basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
, football, basic gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, health-related fitness, athletics, and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. The football first XI has participated in the Gothia Cup
Gothia Cup
Gothia Cup is a youth association football tournament held annually in Gothenburg, Sweden, open for both boys and girls of ages 11 to 19 years. With regards to the number of participants, it is the world's largest football tournament: in 2011, a total of 35,200 players from 1567 teams and 72...
, a tournament also involving the youth teams of Major football sides like Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
, Swindon
Swindon Town F.C.
Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
, Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
, Colchester
Colchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....
, São Paulo
São Paulo Futebol Clube
São Paulo Futebol Clube , commonly known as São Paulo, is a professional football club based in São Paulo, Brazil. They play in the Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Brasileirão, Brazil's national league, and are one of the only five clubs to...
, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
Cruzeiro Esporte Clube is a Brazilian football team, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, and are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Internacional. Founded on January 2, 1921, they are only one of three clubs to have participated in...
, F.C. Copenhagen
F.C. Copenhagen
F.C. Copenhagen is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is part of the Parken Sport & Entertainment....
and OGC Nice
OGC Nice
Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur is a French association football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top-tier of French football. Nice plays its home matches at the Stade Municipal du Ray located within the city. In 2013, the club is...
.
Notable former pupils
In entertainment
- Claire-Hope AshiteyClaire-Hope AshiteyClare-Hope Naa K. Ashitey is a British actress of Ghanaian descent. She attended the Centre Stage School of Performing Arts, Southgate...
, Actress - Dame Eileen AtkinsEileen AtkinsDame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...
DBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Actress - Sir Bruce ForsythBruce ForsythSir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
, CBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Entertainer - Tim PopeTim PopeTimothy Michael Pope is a film director most famous for his music videos, having directed feature films, and for a brief pop career.-Early life and career:...
, Director - Mike ScottMike Scott (television presenter)Michael John Christopher Scott was a British television producer and presenter. He is best remembered for his TV talk show, The Time, The Place and his work as a reporter on World in Action....
, Television producer and presenter - Joe ShawJoe Shaw (actor)Joe Shaw is an English actor.He is probably most well known for his role as officer Dominic McAllister in the ITV drama series Bad Girls and his minor role in the film Junk. He is the son of actor Martin Shaw....
, Actor - Leslie WelchLeslie WelchLeslie Welch was a British radio and television entertainer known as the Memory Man.- Early life and career :Leslie was born in Edmonton...
, Radio and television personality, the "Memory Man"
In politics
- Syed KamallSyed KamallDr Syed Salah Kamall is a British Conservative Party politician, Member of the European Parliament for London.Kamall was born and brought up in London. He is married with two children. He was educated at The Latymer School, Edmonton...
, Conservative MEPMember of the European ParliamentA Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,... - Albert MeltzerAlbert MeltzerAlbert Meltzer was an anarcho-communist activist and writer.-Early life:Meltzer was born in London, and attracted to anarchism at the age of fifteen as a direct result of taking boxing lessons . The Labour MP for Edmonton, Edith Summerskill was virulently anti-boxing and his school governors at...
, Anarcho-communist writer - David WalderDavid WalderAlan David Walder was a British Conservative Party politician.Born in St Pancras, London, Walder was educated at Latymer School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1948. In 1953 he transferred to the 4th Hussars and was promoted Lieutenant. He was promoted...
, Conservative Party politician
In academia
- Mark Alexander AbramsMark Alexander AbramsMark Alexander Abrams was a social scientist and "founding father of social and market research in Britain"....
, Social scientist - John PrebbleJohn PrebbleJohn Edward Curtis Prebble, FRSL, OBE was an English/Canadian journalist, novelist, documentarian and historian. He is best known for his studies of Scottish history.-Early life:...
, FRSLRoyal Society of LiteratureThe Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
, OBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Historian and novelist - Yorick WilksYorick WilksYorick Wilks FBCS is a British Computer Scientist who is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sheffield, a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, and a Senior Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.__FORCETOC__- Biography :Wilks...
, Artificial intelligence pioneer
In sport
- Ted BlakeTed BlakeTed Blake was an early British trampoline pioneer.Following the development of modern trampolines in the USA by George Nissen, Ted Blake was a major contributor to their nascence in the United Kingdom and in developing International Competition for trampolining.In his early years Ted went to the...
, Trampoline pioneer - Johnny HaynesJohnny HaynesJohn Norman "Johnny" Haynes was an English footballer, best known for his 18 years at Fulham. He played a club-record 658 games and scored 158 goals for the club between 1952 and 1970...
, Former Fulham F.C.Fulham F.C.Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...
and EnglandEngland national football teamThe England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
footballFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
captain - Arthur SandersArthur Sanders (footballer)Arthur Sanders was an English teacher and professional footballer who played for London University, Peterborough & Fletton United, Northfleet United, Tottenham Hotspur and Clapton Orient.- Early life :...
, Footballer - Callum 'Cal' Harney, BarbadosBarbadosBarbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
International Cricketer
In music
- Richard CookRichard CookRichard David Cook was a British jazz writer, magazine editor and former record company executive.Sometimes credited as R. D. Cook, Cook was born in Kew, Surrey and lived in west London as an adult. He was co-author, with Brian Morton, of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings , now in its ninth...
, Music writer, former executive of PolyGramPolyGramPolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
records - Archie Newman, former director of public affairs and sponsorship of the Royal Philharmonic OrchestraRoyal Philharmonic OrchestraThe Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
- B.J. WilsonB.J. WilsonBarrie James "B.J." Wilson was an English rock drummer.-Career:Born in Edmonton, London, England, Wilson was the drummer for Procol Harum. He did not play on their first hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" , but joined the group soon afterwards...
, Original drummer of Procol HarumProcol HarumProcol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"... - James BlakeJames Blake (musician)James Blake is a British electronic music producer and singer-songwriter from London, UK. On 6 January 2011, Blake was announced as runner-up in BBC's Sound of 2011 poll...
, British electronic artist.
In health
- Dame Margaret Seward, DBE, former President of the British Dental Association
- Tony Smith, former Chief Executive of the National Board for Nursing
OFSTED report
The school underwent its most recent OFSTEDOfsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
inspection in 2008, receiving inspection grades of 'Outstanding' for both school and sixth form. Inspectors praised the maintenance of "top class academic standards while continually seeking to widen and enrich the curriculum." The Good Schools Guide called the school "A top-notch academic grammar school which produces mature, confident pupils." The school is also a Specialist Arts College
Arts College
Arts Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, the performing, visual and/or media arts...
in the UK government's Specialist Schools Programme
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
for art, media and drama.
League table results
The school received the accolade of 'State Secondary School of the Year' in 'Parent Power', published by The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
newspaper in 2009. In that same year, 91.9% of GCSE examinations achieved grades A and A*, and 76.4% of entries gained A-grades at A-level (more than any other state school), while 93% obtained A or B grades. 30-40 pupils gain places at Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
each year.