WHITGIFT SCHOOL

'Whitgift School' is an independent day school educating approximately 1,200 boys aged 10 to 18 in South Croydon, London in a 45-acre parkland site.

Contents

History and Grounds

Education

Co-curricular activities

Senior Staff

Notable Alumni

Southern Railway School's Class

References

External links

History and Grounds

It was founded in 1596 by the Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift and is part of the Whitgift Foundation along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School. In 1931 the school moved to its current site, Haling Park, which was once home to Lord Howard of Effingham, the Lord High Admiral of the Fleet sent against the Spanish Armada^[1]. The ship (a model of HMS ''Ark Royal'') that features prominently on the top of 'Big School' (the school hall) is a reminder of the history of the site. Additions since the 400th anniversary of the school have been a maze in the founder's garden, an aviary, an enclosure for red squirrels, lakes and a multi-million pound sports complex.
Whitgift is famed in the local area for its wide variety of animals, most notably the peacocks which have graced the grounds since the 1930s. In 2005 Sir David Attenborough visited the school to open the lakes, the enclosure of which also houses two albino wallabies (a gift from the Queen), and various waterfowl ^[2]. The school plans to continue to increase its collection in the future, although it already holds the world record for the largest number of domesticated animals at an educational institution . The most recent addition is a small flock of flamingos in the lake area.
In recent years the school has played host to several first-class ^[3] and one-day games ^[4] played by Surrey County Cricket Club. The cricket ground can cope with up to 5,000 spectators. Former Surrey cricketer, David Ward is now cricket coach at the school.

Education

In 2005, Whitgift has also begun to offer International Baccalaureate^[5] to the sixth form as an optional alternative to A-Levels; joining a growing list of exclusive schools to offer the assessment.

Co-curricular activities

While Whitgift School has one the finest academic results in the country^[6], it also pays substantial importance to co-curricular activities within the school life. This is reflected in the outstanding sporting facilities as well as an array of musical activities. The school also has highly developed Design Technology and Art suites, more than 6 computer rooms, as well as two libraries.
The houses at Whitgift play an important role in the co-curricular activities of the students. The eight houses and their colours are Andrews' (Purple), Brodies' (Pink, although they maintain the colour is Salmon), Crosses' (Red), Dodds' (Grey, although they maintain the colour is silver), Ellis' (light blue), Masons' (Royal Blue), Smiths' (Yellow, although they maintain the colour is Gold) and Tates' (Green). The Houses are named after former headmasters, headboys and the founding Housemasters. Each House has a Housemaster or Housemistress, house captain and vice-captain as well as House Prefects. Some of the Houses have form representatives. All the House representatives have a special House-tie with the house colour shown on it.

Senior Staff

'Headmaster' Christopher A. Barnett D.Phil.
'Second Master' Mr J Pitt
'Deputy Headmaster' Mr P Yeo
'Proctor' Mr D Elvin
'Senior Master' Mr S Cook
'Senior Housemaster' Mr R Martin

Notable Alumni

Former pupils are known as Old Whitgiftians. The following are a selection of Notable Alumni.

★ Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, GCB, Deputy Supreme Commander of D-Day

★ John 'Cats Eyes' Cunningham, RAF ace pilot

★ Lord Diplock, Judge and Law Lord

★ Lt Col Colin "Mad Mitch" Mitchell MP, Commanding Officer 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, politician, founder of the Halo Trust

★ Lord Trend, Cabinet Secretary

★ Lord Prentice, politician

★ Lord Tope, politician

★ Harold Davidson, "The Prostitute's Padre", killed by a lion

★ Martin Jarvis, actor

★ Peter Ling,^[7] creator of TV soap ''Crossroads''

★ Neil Gaiman, author

★ Steve Punt, British writer, comedian and actor

★ Andy Duncan, Chief Executive, Channel 4

★ Tim Gudgin, BBC presenter of the football results on Grandstand

★ Derren Brown, illusionist (whose father was a swimming teacher at the school)

★ Conrad Leonard, composer and pianist

★ Gary Taphouse, Football commentator, Sky Sports

★ Leonard Barden, chess columnist

★ Stafford Beer, cybernetics expert, businessman and author

★ Peter Bourne, physician, anthropologist, biographer, author and international civil servant

★ Sir Robert Boyd, space research scientist

★ Raman Subba Row, England cricketer

★ Robert Dougall, BBC newsreader & President of the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB)

★ Tarik O'Regan, composer

★ Guy Woolfenden, conductor and composer with around 150 scores for the ''Royal Shakespeare Company''

Southern Railway School's Class

The School lent its name to the seventeenth steam locomotive (Engine 916) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40.This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Whitgift', as it was called, was built in 1934.The locomotive bearing the School's name was withdrawn in 1962

References

1. Whitgift History
2. Learning with albino wallabies
3. First-class matches played at Whitgift School
4. List A cricket matches played at Whitgift School
5. Whitgift School IB page
6. School results including comparison with rest of England
7. Peter Ling's obituary

External links

★ Whitgift School website

★ A rendition of the school song, Carmen

★ Old Whitgiftian Association

★ Old Whitgiftian Rugby Football Club

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