Westminster School

Motto:
Dat Deus Incrementum

The Royal College of St. Peter at Westminster, but almost always known as Westminster School, is an ancient English public school, located by Westminster Abbey in Westminster, central London, with a history stretching back to the 12th century. Its A-level results in 2004 and 2005 were the highest in the country. The school traditionally aims in particular to foster independent and individual thinking. The Head Master since 2005 is Dr. Stephen Spurr.

History

The School originally became a Public School (and so available to all members of the public, provided that they could pay for tuition costs) in 1179, as the educational part of the Roman Catholic Abbey at Westminster, the Benedictine monks being required to provide a small charity school by decree of Pope Alexander III. Parts of the School's buildings date back to the eleventh century, and it is quite likely that the first schoolboys were taught by the monks even before then.

However, this arrangement changed in 1540, when King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the Monasteries of the Catholic Church in England, but personally ensured the School's survival by his royal charter. The College of St. Peter carried on with forty "King's Scholars" funded from the royal purse. Although during Queen Mary I's brief reign the Abbey was reinstated as a Roman Catholic monastery, it was redissolved on Queen Elizabeth I's accession, and neither of these events had a major impact on the School. The School occupies a number of the buildings vacated by the monks.

Elizabeth I refounded the School in 1560, with new statutes to select 40 Queen's Scholars from boys who had already attended the school for a year. Queen Elizabeth frequently visited her scholars, although she never signed the statutes nor endowed her scholarships, and this date is now generally taken as the date that the school was "founded", although effective separation from the Abbey was only achieved with the Public Schools Act.

In 1679, a group of scholars killed a bailiff; the exact details are unclear, but it may have been purely over the requisition, or because of a harassment of a mistress of one of the scholars. The school petitioned Charles II to grant a pardon, the cost of which was added to the school bill by Dr. Busby.

The Public Schools Act 1868, in response to the Clarendon Report, was the time when the School started to approach its modern form. Prior to this, the curriculum was made up of Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew, nearly all taught Up School. The report was in response to many unpleasant practices at Public Schools, including regular abuse of younger pupils by older pupils and teachers. Westminsters in particular were known to regularly frequent prostitutes, and the proximity of the School to the Palace of Westminster meant that politicians were well aware of the problems. Unusually amongst the major public schools, however, Westminster did not succumb to any of wider public school reforms associated with the Victorian ethic of Thomas Arnold, with their emphasis on the promotion of muscular christianity and gentlemanly conduct ahead of scholarship.

Westminster Under School was formed in 1943, as a semi-separate entity for the teaching of day pupils from the ages of 8 to 13 (now 7 to 13). Only the separation is new: in previous generations, for instance, Gibbon attended Westminster from the age of 11. Originally situated in Little Dean's Yard (the main square of the School, off Dean's Yard), it later took residence in Vincent Square, overlooking the School's playing fields. The current headmaster of the Under School is Mr. Jeremy Edwards.

In 1967, the first female pupil was admitted to the School, with girls becoming full members of the Upper School from 1973 onwards.

In 1979, the school was the subject of "Public School", a then unprecedented BBC documentary by Mary Rose-Richards, Edward Mirzoeff, and Jonathan Gili, still unmatched in its wholly unrestricted access to a public school.

During the Winter of Discontent, some of the Queens Scholars were chastised by policemen for singing the Gilbert and Sullivan song Bow, Bow Ye Lower-Middle Classes (or Loudly let the trumpet bray) from the anti-establishment satire Iolanthe during one of the demonstrations outside Parliament.

Location

The School is located primarily in the former grounds of the long-defunct monastery at Westminster Abbey, its main buildings surrounding its private square Little Dean's Yard (known as 'Yard'), off Dean's Yard, where Church House, the headquarters of the Anglican Church, is sited, along with some of the Houses, the Common Room, the new humanities building Weston's, and College Hall.

The humanities are also taught in Sutcliff's (named after the sweet shop that used to occupy the ground floor of the building in the 19th century) on the neighbouring Great College Street, and the Robert Hooke Science Centre is just off Smith Square. As part of a recent expansion programme funded by a legacy from A A Milne, the school has added the nearby Millicent Fawcett Hall for dramatic performances and the Manoukian Centre for music.

College Garden, to the East of Little Dean's Yard, is believed to be the oldest garden in England, under continuous cultivation for at least the last thousand years. Just beyond rises the Victoria Tower of the Houses of Parliament; the Queen's Scholars have special rights of access to the House of Commons. To the North, the Dark Cloister leads straight to the Abbey, which serves as the School Chapel.

The playing fields are half a mile away at Vincent Square, which Dean Vincent created for the School by hiring a horse and plough to carve ten acres out of the open Tothill Fields. The boathouse is now at Putney, although the school's First Eight still annually returns to exercise its traditional right to land at Black Rod Steps of the Palace of Westminster.

Notable buildings

The 14th century Abbot's state dining hall, now named 'College Hall', may be one of the oldest and finest examples of medieval refectory in existence. The School uses it for its original purpose every day in term-time, whilst during the holidays it reverts to the Dean, as the Abbot's successor. Elizabeth Woodville took sanctuary here in 1483 with 5 daughters and her son Richard, but failed to save him from his fate as one of the Princes in the Tower. In the 1560s Queen Elizabeth I several times came to see her scholars act their Latin Plays on a stage in front of the attractive Elizabethan gallery, which may have been first erected especially for the purpose.

'College' (now shared between the three Houses of College, Dryden's and Wren's) is a dressed stone building overlooking College Garden, the former monastery's Infirmary garden which is now the property of Westminster Abbey. It dates from 1729, and was designed by the Earl of Burlington based on earlier designs from Sir Christopher Wren (himself an Old Westminster).

'School', the School's main hall and former monks' Dormitory, is used for Latin Prayers (a weekly assembly with prayers spoken in the Westminster-dialect of Latin), exams, and large concerts, plays and the like. From 1599 onwards it was used to teach all the pupils, the Upper and Lower Schools being split by a curtain hung from a 16th century bar made of pig iron, which remains the largest piece of pig iron in the world. The stone steps and entranceway to School have been attributed as the work of Inigo Jones, and are engraved with the names of many pupils who used to hire a stonemason for the purpose. The panelling "up School" is similarly, but officially, painted with the coats of arms of many former pupils. The shell-shaped apse at the North end of School gave its name to the Shell forms taught there and the corresponding classes at many other public schools. The current shell displays a Latin epigram on the rebuilding of School, with the acrostic Semper Eadem, Queen Elizabeth's motto. The classroom door to the right, as you face the Shell, was recovered from the notorious Star Chamber at its demolition.

The roofs of both School and College were destroyed in The Blitz by an incendiary bomb in 1941, the buildings being re-opened by George VI in 1950.

Ashburnham House, which today houses the library and the Mathematics Department, was built by Inigo Jones or his pupil John Webb around the time of the Restoration, as a London seat for the family which became the Earls of Ashburnham. It incorporates remains of the mediaeval Prior's House, and its garden is the site of some of the earliest sittings of the House of Commons. In 1721 when Ashburnham housed the King's and Cottonian libraries, which form the basis of the British Library, there was a disastrous fire and many of the books and manuscripts still show the marks. After the Public Schools Act 1868 there was an outrageous parliamentary and legal battle between the Abbey and the School, until the School eventually obtained Ashburnham under the Act for £4000. In 1881 William Morris conducted a public campaign which succeeded in preventing its demolition along with the neighbouring ruinous mediaeval buildings. During the Second World War, the library was used as a communications station for the Royal Air Force, and the ground floor as an American officers' club. In 1969, it was used as one of the locations for the film The Magic Christian.

Customs

On Shrove Tuesdays since 1753 the 'Greaze' takes place "up School", in which the head cook is required to throw a horsehair pancake over the bar that used to separate the parts of the schoolroom, for which elected members of the school fight for one minute whilst being watched over by the Dean of Westminster Abbey and the Head Master; the pupil with the largest piece after the minute is up being the winner, and awarded a sovereign. Were the cook to fail to get the 'pancake' over the bar within 3 tries, he or she would have been booked, or pelted with (rather heavy) Latin primers; it is rumoured that this has taken place on (at least) one occasion. The Greaze is still an extremely popular tradition with some members of the school, although the tradition of booking the cook no longer exists.

The privilege of being the first commoners to acclaim each new sovereign at their coronation in Westminster Abbey is reserved for the current Queen's (or King's) Scholars. Their shouts of "Vivat Regina" (Long live the Queen!) are now incorporated into the Coronation Anthem.

A service is given in Latin each year in Westminster Abbey, called 'Little Commem.', in which the School commemorates its benefactors, most notably Elizabeth I. Every third year a much larger service is given in its place, and called 'Big Commem'.

The Latin Play, acted by members of College, is presented annually in College, with a prologue and humorous epilogue on contemporary events given in Latin by the head of the House (known as the Master of the Queen's Scholars, regardless of their sex). Elizabeth I, who spoke fluent Latin, inaugurated the plays by her school statutes in 1560, and the early plays were acted in College Hall before Queen Elizabeth and her whole Council. However, in a more prudish age Queen Victoria recorded in her diary that the Play was "very Improper"! No other school in the world can claim to have carried on this ancient yuletide custom, almost without interruption to the present day.

Entry

There are 4 main points of entry for prospective pupils:

For the Under School, at ages 7 and 11, judged by a combination of internal exam and interview.
For the Lower School, at age 13, judged by either Common Entrance, a standardised, national set of exams for entrance to independent schools, for standard entry, or the Challenge, an internal set of exams, for scholarship entry, as well as interview.
For the Upper School, at age 16, judged by subject-specific exams and interviews and conditional upon GCSE results. This is the only point of entry for girls, and a handful of boys.

As well as the Queen's Scholarships, which pay from endowment one half of boarding fees, and of which there are (almost always) 8 in each year, pupils applying for entry under the Challenge have available a small number, usually 2, of (non-boarding) Honorary Scholarships. Stephen Hawking was entered for the scholarship in 1952, but fell ill on the day of the Challenge examination.

Those entering the Lower School also have the opportunity to obtain scholarships based on musical talent, and bursaries for those whose parents are not able to fund their tuition. Ignoring scholarships and bursaries, annual fees before incidentals range from £10,500 (approx. $20,000 US) for pupils at the Under School to £23,000 (approx. $42,000 US) for boarding pupils.

The proportion of boarders is around a third, and this is part of the reason that unlike most schools there is saturday school. Most boarders only stay in residence from Monday to Saturday.

Westminster jargon

Year names

Westminster has an unusual system for naming the school years, which can cause confusion to those not familiar with the system. For this reason the Under School changed to the nationally standard year names in September 1997.

Under School (no longer in use)

Year 3: Year not in existence until after names were dropped
Year 4: Petty B
Year 5: Petty A
Year 6: Form 1
Year 7: Form 2
Year 8: Remove

Great School (still in use)

Year 9: Vth Form
Year 10: Lower Shell
Year 11: Upper Shell
Year 12: VIth Form
Year 13: Remove

When the above names were phased out, entrance to the Under School was at 'about' 8 (though in practice, many entrants were 7); now the cut-off is precise (pupils must be 7 on the first day of the school year to join Year 3), which means that while direct comparison is not possible, it has been speculated that Year 3 would have been called 'Petty C'.

The Lower and Upper Shell years are named for the shell-like alcove up School where they were originally taught.

Other jargon and Slang

Abbey: When used without an article refers to the compulsory morning service in the Abbey on Mondays and Fridays; "It's time for Abbey".
Begging a Play: Making a request for a Play (qv). The Dean annually begs a play at the Greaze, but other plays may also be begged especially in recognition of notable events in the life of the School.
The Challenge: The exam sat by pupils applying for scholarships. Wholly oral until 1855.
Chit: A note from a housemaster, which allows a pupil to buy something (Usually uniform or stationary) from the school shop. The cost is added to the school fees.
Dignissima: Latin for "most worthy". An award given to a pupil for an outstanding piece of work, only the very cleverest pupils earn them and they are usually only given to younger boys. This is now called a Digniora, and the award given is a silver three-penny piece. Once three have been earned they are exchanged for a book voucher.
Expedition: A school trip for members of the lower school, which usually involves some sort of outdoor pursuits.
Gating: Pupils are 'gated' as the worst form of punishment next to expulsion or suspension. A pupil who has been gated must attend detention every day, and register at 8.15 usually for a week. This is most often given for smoking, drinking or cutting lessons.
The Greaze: Annual pancake fight. See customs.
Green: Dean's Yard; The lawn in the middle of greater Dean's yard; "They played football on Green" (always without an article).
House Singing Competition: The Highlight of the Westminster social calender, which resembles drunken Karaoke.
LO: Excused from Station (owing to illness, for example). It is speculated that LO stands for "leave off" from the normal station lists. The letters actually stand for 'Library Order,' as upon recieving an LO pupils often must report to the library for private study.
Muck-up day: The last day of school for the remove, before study leave. Pupils try to do something memorable that will go down in the lore of the school. Famous examples are the cementing of a toilet to the toilets roof, the painting of TJP "ite domum" in six foot letters on the roof of most of the buildings in yard, the dropping of several thousand bouncy balls into Little Dean's yard.
Occupat: During the annual Anglican confirmation service, non-church goers are confined to their houses. This is referred to as occupat.
The Pink List: The list of pupils and members of the Common Room of the school. This exists both as a small notebook and as a computer database.
Play: A day's holiday, especially in conjunction with a notable event. Annual plays are the Queen's Play and the Dean's Play. The most recent extraordinary play was the Pooh Play in recognition of the School's selling the rights of Winnie the Pooh to the Walt Disney Corporation. The day on which a play occurs is usually a Saturday.
SAP: Saturday afternoon punishment; detention on a Saturday afternoon. It is usually given for missing Abbey, station, Latin prayers, or not giving homework in. Until recently this consited of running around green.
Shag (Day): Pupils may attend school wearing clothes not specified by the uniform code, but are expected to give to charity if they do so. This is only permitted on certain days; "It's Shag Day on Friday."
Station: Sports which are compulsory and held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from 2:00pm onwards; "He missed Station as he was sick".
The Tree: The famous old Oak Tree in Little Dean's Yard. More recently the abbreviated name of the Westminster Tree website.
Up (house, School, etc.): In. "You should be up house if you don't have a lesson", "Latin prayers take place up School", "Sir John Gielgud was up Grants from 1917 to 1921". Events in Vincent Square are said to be "up Fields", particularly among the Common Room. An exception to the rule is that one is never "up College", only "in College".
Yard: Little Dean's Yard; "He was in Yard" (always without an article).

Houses

The School is split into 11 Houses, some of which are 'day Houses' (and only admit day-pupils; those who go home after school), the others having a mix of day-pupils and boarders. The Houses are named after people connected to the house or school in various ways - mainly prominent Old Westminsters but also former Head Masters and House Masters. Grant's is the oldest house, not only of Westminster but of any public school.

Houses are a focus for pastoral care and social and sporting activities, as well as accommodation for boarders. All the day houses are mixed-sex, and all houses admit day girls, however only Busby's and Purcell's provide boarding accommodation for girls.

Day houses:

Wren's
Dryden's
Hakluyt's
Milne's (in Dean's Yard)
Ashburnham (in Dean's Yard)

Boarding houses:

Grant's
Rigaud's
Liddell's
Busby's (mixed)
Purcell's (girl boarders only: formerly Barton Street and originally a part of Dryden's)

There is also 'College', the House for the Queen's Scholars (all of whom board), but which has assigned to it some of the (non-boarding) girls who enter the School in the VIth form.

Sport ("Station")

The School has three of only a few Eton Fives courts in the world, which are located behind Ashburnam House. The school frequently fields pupils as national entries in international competitions in rowing, or "Water", and fencing. The schools colours is pink, which generally removes the need to purchase away kits, and looks particularly fetching on the rowers in their full body lycra suits. Sport facilities at the school itself are however fairly limited due to its location in the centre of London, which cannot provide space for the wide range of sports available. The School's main sports ground is nearby at Vincent Square, but it is limited to football, cricket and tennis and is not even big enough for all the pupils doing these sports to use. Westminster has a historic claim to having founded Association Football, which remains the main sport at the school. Rugby is no longer played at the school. Westminster's main rival would probably be Eton, although this rivalry is fairly one sided, as Eton is three times the size and has a much stronger rivalry with Harrow.

Former pupils

Fuller list: List of former pupils of Westminster

The following people were educated at Westminster, and can be recorded with OW (Old Westminster) after their name (collectively, OWW):

Ben Jonson (1573 – 1637), poet and dramatist
George Herbert (1593 – 1633), public orator and poet
John Dryden (1631 – 1700), poet and playwright
John Locke (1632 – 1704), philosopher
Sir Christopher Wren (1632 – 1723), architect and scientist, co-founder of the Royal Society
Robert Hooke FRS SRS (1635 – 1703), British scientist
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695), composer
Charles Wesley (1707 – 1788), Methodist preacher and writer of over 6,000 hymns
Edward Gibbon FRS (1737 – 1794), historian
Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832), lawyer, eccentric, and philosopher
A. A. Milne (1882 – 1956), author and journalist
Sir Adrian Boult (1889 – 1983), conductor
Sir John Gielgud (1904 – 2000), actor and director
Sir Peter Ustinov (1921 – 2004), actor, writer and director
Rudolf von Ribbentrop (born 1921), son of the German ambassador and later German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Tony Benn (born 1925), politician
Peter Brook (born 1925), theatre director
Nigel Lawson (born 1932), former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Simon Gray (born 1936), playwright and diarist
Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), composer and producer
Martin Amis (born 1949) , novelist
Stephen Poliakoff (born 1952), director, playwright and television dramatist
Shane MacGowan (born 1957), musician
Matt Frei (born 1963), foreign correspondent for BBC News
Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966), actress
Noreena Hertz (born 1967), economist and campaigner
Ruth Kelly (born 1968), Cabinet minister
Dido Armstrong (born 1971), British musician under the name "Dido"

External links