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Westminster School
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The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxbridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college. Located in the precincts of Westminster Abbey in central London, and with a history stretching back beyond the 12th century, the school's notable alumni include Ben Jonson, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, and A. A. Milne. The school traditionally encourages independent and individual thinking.
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Encyclopedia
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxbridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college. Located in the precincts of Westminster Abbey in central London, and with a history stretching back beyond the 12th century, the school's notable alumni include Ben Jonson, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, and A. A. Milne. The school traditionally encourages independent and individual thinking. Boys are admitted to the Under School at age seven, and to the main school at age thirteen; girls are admitted only at sixteen. The school has around 750 pupils; around a third are boarders, of whom most go home for the weekends, after Saturday morning school. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.
The Good Schools Guide says of the school: "For the right boy or girl, simply the best," also mentioning that the atmosphere is "famously relaxed and liberal as has been felt appropriate in a school which thrives on the individuality of its members."
History
Although it is likely that schoolboys were taught by the monks well beforehand, by 1179 Westminster School had certainly become a public school (i.e., a school available to members of the public, so long as they could pay their own costs) as a decree of Pope Alexander III required the Benedictine monks of the Abbey at Westminster to provide a charity school to local boys.Parts of the School's buildings date back to the eleventh century, older than the current Abbey.
This arrangement changed in 1540, when Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries 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" financed from the royal purse. Although during Mary I's brief reign the Abbey was reinstated as a Roman Catholic monastery, it was redissolved on 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 re-founded 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 1560 is now generally taken as the date that the school was "founded", although legal separation from the Abbey was only achieved with the Public Schools Act 1868. There followed a scandalous public and parliamentary dispute over a further 25 years, to settle the transfer of the properties from the Canons of the Abbey to the School. Under the Act, the Dean of Westminster Abbey is ex officio the Chairman of the Governors; and school statutes have been made by Order in Council of Queen Elizabeth II.
Camden was the first internationally-famous headmaster, but Dr Busby, himself an Old Westminster, established the reputation of the school for several hundreds of years, as much by his classical learning as for his ruthless discipline of the birch, immortalised in Pope's Dunciad. Busby prayed publicly Up School for the safety of the Crown, on the very day of Charles I's execution, and then locked the boys inside to prevent their going to watch the spectacle a few hundred yards away. Regardless of politics, thrashing Royalist and Puritan boys alike without fear or favour, Busby also took part in Oliver Cromwell's funeral procession, when a Westminster schoolboy succeeded in snatching the "Majesty Scutcheon" from the coffin (it was given to the School by his family two hundred years later). Busby remained in office throughout the Civil War and the Commonwealth, when the school was governed by Parliamentary Commissioners, and well into the Restoration.
In 1679, a group of scholars killed a bailiff, ostensibly in defence of the Abbey's traditional right of sanctuary, but possibly because the man was trying to arrest a consort of the boys. Dr Busby obtained a royal pardon for his scholars from Charles II, and added the cost to the school bills. The King's picture in the sealed pardon keeps an eye on the Master of the Queen's Scholars in her sitting room.
During the sixteenth century the school educated writers including Ben Jonson and Richard Hakluyt; in the seventeenth, the poet John Dryden, philosopher John Locke, scientist Robert Hooke, composer Henry Purcell and architect Christopher Wren were pupils; and in the eighteenth philosopher Jeremy Bentham and several Whig Prime Ministers and other statesmen; recent Old Westminsters include prominent politicians of all parties, and many members of the arts and media.
Until the nineteenth century, the curriculum was made up of Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew, all taught Up School. The Westminster boys were uncontrolled outside school hours and notoriously unruly about town, but the proximity of the School to the Palace of Westminster meant that politicians were well aware of the boys' exploits. After the Public Schools Act 1868, in response to the Clarendon Report on the financial and other malpractices at nine pre-eminent public schools, the School began to approach its modern form. Unusually among the leading public schools however, Westminster did not adopt most of the broader changes associated with the Victorian ethos of Thomas Arnold, such as the emphasis on team over individual spirit, and the school retained much of its distinctive character. Despite many pressures, including evacuation and destruction of the School roof during the Blitz, the school also refused to move out of central London along with other prominent schools such as Charterhouse and St. Paul's, and remains in its original location close by the centres of church and state.
Westminster Under School was formed in 1943 at the evacuated school, as a distinct preparatory school for day pupils between the ages of 8 to 13 (now 7 to 13). Only the separation is new: for example, in the eighteenth century, Edward Gibbon attended Westminster from the age of 11. The Under School has since moved to Vincent Square, overlooking the School's playing fields. Its current headmaster is Mr. Jeremy Edwards.
In 1967, the first female pupil was admitted to the Upper School, with girls becoming full members in all houses from 1973 onwards. In 1981, a single-sex boarding house, Purcell's, was created again, for girls. In 1997 the school expanded further with the creation of a new day house, Milne's at 6a, Dean's Yard.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty leading private schools guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school agreed to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.
In 2007, the school launched an attempt to be the sponsor of Pimlico School, which was due to be rebuilt as a City Academy. Westminster City Council however chose John Nash, a businessman who owns the for-profit Alpha Plus schools group.
Location
The School is located primarily in the walled precincts of the former mediæval 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 Church of England, is situated, along with some of the Houses, the Common Room, the new humanities building Weston's, and College Hall.
Immediately outside the Abbey precincts on Great College Street is Sutcliff's (named after the tuck shop in the building in the 19th century), where Geography, Art, Theology, Philosophy and Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek) are taught. The Robert Hooke Science Centre is further away, just off Smith Square. As part of an expansion programme funded by donations and a legacy from A. A. Milne, the school has acquired the nearby Millicent Fawcett Hall for Drama and Theatre Studies lessons and performances; the Manoukian Centre for Music lessons (both timetabled and private) and recitals; and the Weston Building at 3 Dean's Yard. It also often uses St John's, Smith Square as a venue for major musical concerts.
College Garden, to the East of Little Dean's Yard, is believed to be the oldest garden in England, under continuous cultivation for around a millennium. 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 out of the open Tothill Fields. The boathouse is now some way from the school at Putney, where it is also used for the Oxford and Cambridge boat race; but the school's First Eight still returns annually to exercise its traditional right to land at Black Rod Steps of the Palace of Westminster.
Notable buildings
Westminster, situated in the middle of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret’s, and the Palace of Westminster, has several buildings notable through unique qualities, age, and history.
'College Hall', the 14th century Abbot's state dining hall, is one of the oldest and finest examples of mediæval refectory in existence, and in use for its original purpose every day in term-time; outside of term it reverts to the Dean, as the Abbot's successor. Queen 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, 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 still the property of the Collegiate Church of Westminster Abbey. College dates from 1729, and was designed by the Earl of Burlington based on earlier designs from Sir Christopher Wren (himself an Old Westminster).
'School', originally built in the 1090s as the monks' dormitory, is the School's main hall, used for Latin Prayers (a weekly assembly with prayers in the Westminster-dialect of Latin), exams, and large concerts, plays and the like. From 1599 it was used to teach all the pupils, the Upper and Lower Schools being separated by a curtain hung from a 16th century pig iron bar, 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 original 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, Elizabeth I's motto. The classroom door to the right of the Shell was recovered from the notorious Star Chamber at its demolition.
The building lies directly on top of the Westminster Abbey museum, and ends at the start or the Pyx Chamber.
Both School and College had their roofs destroyed during the Blitz by incendiary bombs in 1941. The buildings were re-opened by George VI in 1950.
Ashburnham House, which today houses the library the IT department 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 who became the Earls of Ashburnham. It incorporates remains of the mediaeval Prior's House, and its garden (which was once the monk rarefectory, 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 a scandalous 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 but failed to save the neighbouring mediaeval buildings. During the Second World War, the library was used for very senior military purposes, and the ground floor as an American officers' club.
Customs
The 'Greaze' has been held "up School" (in the School Hall) on Shrove Tuesdays since 1753: the head cook ceremoniously tosses a horsehair-reinforced pancake over a high bar, which was used in the sixteenth century to curtain off the Lower School. Members of the school fight for the pancake for one minute, watched over by the Dean of Westminster Abbey (as Chairman of the Governors), the Head Master, the whole School and distinguished or even occasionally Royal visitors. The pupil who gets the largest weight is awarded a gold sovereign (promptly redeemed for use next year), and the Dean begs a half-holiday for the whole School. A cook who failed to get the 'pancake' over the bar would formerly have been "booked", or stoned with Latin primers, although that tradition has long lapsed.
The privilege of being the first commoners to acclaim each new sovereign at their coronation in Westminster Abbey is reserved for the Queen's (or King's) Scholars. Their shouts of "Vivat Regina" ("Long Live the Queen") are nowadays incorporated into the Coronation Anthem.
Despite the formal separation from the Abbey, the school remains Anglican, with services in the Abbey attended by the entire school at least twice a week, and many other voluntary-attendance services of worship. The school was expressly exempted by the Act of Uniformity to allow it to continue saying Latin prayers despite the Reformation. Every Wednesday there is an assembly Up School known as Latin Prayers, which opens with the Headmaster leading all members of the school in chanting prayers in Latin, followed by notices in English. The School's unique pronunciation of formal Latin is known as 'Westminster Latin', and descends from medieval English scholastic pronunciation: Queen Elizabeth I, who spoke fluent Latin, commanded that Latin was not to be said "in the monkish fashion", a significant warning upon loyalties between Church and State. A service called 'Little Commem' is given in Latin each year, in which the Queen's Scholars commemorate the School's benefactors, laying pink roses on the tomb of Elizabeth I in Westminster Abbey. Every three years a much larger service called 'Big Commem' is given in its place, where the Praefectus (the Head Boy/Captain of the Queen's Scholars) lays a wreath of pink roses on the tomb of Elizabeth I. Prospective donors are particularly invited to note the School's gratitude to benefactors. From 2010 "Big Commem" will occur in every other year.
Since the monastic Christmas revels of mediæval times, Latin Plays have been presented by the Scholars, with a prologue and witty epilogue on contemporary events. Annual plays, "either tragedy or comedy", were required by the school statutes in 1560, and some early plays were acted in College Hall before Elizabeth I and her whole Council. However, in a more prudish age Queen Victoria did not accompany Prince Albert and The Prince of Wales to the Play, and recorded in her diary that it was "very Improper"! Today, the play is put on less frequently, any members of the school may take part, and the Master of the Queen's Scholars (currently a female historian) gives the Latin prologue.
The Queen's Scholars have privileged access to the House of Commons gallery, said to be a compromise recorded in the Standing Orders of the House
in the nineteenth century, to stop the boys from climbing into the Palace over the roofs.
Entry
There are 4 main points of entry for pupils:
- For the Under School, at ages 7, 8, 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 only a handful of boys join at this point each year.
As well as the Queen's Scholarships which pay one half of boarding fees, and of which there are normally eight in each year, there are Honorary Scholarships for boys who pass the Challenge and could have been scholars but do not want to board. Stephen Hawking was entered for the Challenge in 1952, but fell ill on the day of the Challenge examination.
Those entering the Lower School also have the opportunity to win scholarships based on musical talent, and bursaries for those whose parents are not able to fund their tuition. Ignoring scholarships and bursaries, annual fees are as follows:
| Pupil type | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
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| Per term | Per year | Per term | Per year | Per term | Per year | Per term | Per year |
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| Boarding | £7,682 | £23,046 | £8,105 | £24,315 | £8,652 | £25,956 | £9,172 | £27,516 | | Day | £5,321 | £15,963 | £5,614 | £16,842 | £5,992 | £17,976 | £6,352 | £19,056 | | Day (VIth entrants) | £5,771 | £17,313 | £6,088 | £18,264 | £6,499 | £19,497 | £6,888 | £20,664 | | Under School | £3,697 | £11,091 | £3,900 | £11,700 | £4,163 | £12,489 | £4,412 | £13,236 | | Annual increase | ? | 5.5% | 6.7% | 6.0% |
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University applications
According to a report by the Sutton Trust, Westminster School has the highest Oxbridge acceptance rate of any school at 49.9% (5 year average) with 76 pupils achieving Oxbridge places in 2005. Furthermore, it also has an 85.6% (5 year average) acceptance rate into the Sutton 13 elite list of the top 13 universities for research in the UK. The report claimed that, in general, independent schools achieve 16.3% more places at Sutton 13 universities than would be expected on merely from A-level grades.
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.
- Year 9: Vth Form
- Year 10: Lower Shell
- Year 11: Upper Shell (GCSE)
- Year 12: VIth Form (AS)
- Year 13: Remove (A2)
The Lower and Upper Shell years are named for the shell-shaped alcove up School where they were originally taught; the name has been adopted by several other schools such as with a Westminster connection.
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 by celebrities or in recognition of notable events in the life of the School.
The Challenge
- The exam sat by boys applying for scholarships. It was wholly oral until 1855, its name deriving from the practice of a candidate interrupting, or 'challenging' one already speaking.
Chit
- A note from a housemaster or house tutor, which allows a pupil to buy something (usually uniform) from the school shop and add the cost to the school fees. Another use is to be shown to teachers so that pupils may leave the lesson for something such as a music lesson or dentist's appointment.
Digniora
- An award given to a pupil for an outstanding piece of work. Previously issued to pupils from all years (Vth form - Remove), it is now only given to boys in the lower school (Vth, Lower Shell and Upper Shell). An award of a digniora was once an extremely rare event, normally unwitnessed over the course of a Westminster career. The teacher awarding one would write digniora on the work to be honoured with instructions for the pupil to proceed to his housemaster; his housemaster would then escort the pupil to the Headmaster's study where a beaming head would fish out from a cache of surplus Maundy money a piece of silver coinage. More recently the custom has evolved where pupils who receive one go to the Under Master to be given a silver threepenny piece, generally from the early 20th century, and once 3 dignioras have been earned they can go and see the Head Master to be given a £10 book token.
Election
- A year of scholars. The first election are the year 9 scholars, the second election are the year 10 scholars etc. There are usually eight scholars in each of 5 Elections.
Election Term
- The third term of the academic year, from April to July. The term in which new scholars are elected, formerly in place of those examined and elected to the universities.
EMC (early morning call)
- A more recent formalisation of having to present oneself to one's housemaster at 0830. The duration of this form of punishment is left up to the Housemaster's discretion. EMC is meted out usually for more menial 'crimes' such failing to do a prep (see below).
Exeat
- A word used mainly by staff to refer to the half term holiday, which lasts two weeks in the Play Term and one in the Lent and Election Terms. It is the Latin for "he may go out".
Exeat Weekend
- Similar to Exeat, except it lasts one weekend only. Pupils are excused from Saturday school and even boarders must return home.
Expedition
- A school trip for members of the lower school, which usually involves some sort of outdoor pursuit.
Fields
- Vincent Square. One is always "up Fields". See "Up".
Gating
- Pupils are gated as the worst form of punishment before expulsion or suspension. A pupil who has been gated must attend detention every day (including SAP), and register at 8.15 usually for a week. This is most often given for smoking, drinking or skipping lessons.
The Greaze
- Annual pancake fight. See the section on customs.
Green
- Dean's Yard; The lawn in the middle of Dean's Yard; "The school has a legal right to play football on Green" (always without an article).
Lent Term
- The second term of the academic year, from January to Easter.
LO
- Excused from Station (owing to illness, for example). LO stands for "leave off" the normal station lists. The letters now also stand for "Library Order" as upon receiving an LO pupils often must report to the library for private study.
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 pink book (the source of the name) 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. A recent extraordinary play was the "Pooh Play" in recognition of the School's selling the rights to Winnie the Pooh to the Walt Disney Corporation. The day on which a play is given is usually a Saturday. qv 'Begging a play'.
Play Term
- The first term of the academic year, from September to December. The term in which the Latin Play used to take place (see Customs), although that may now be given in summer.
Praebendum (plural Praebenda)
- Essentially same as a Digniora, but issued to those boys and girls in the Upper School (VIth and Remove) who submit outstanding pieces of work, or attain well-above average test results. This was introduced by Dr Stephen Spurr at the beginning of 2006.
Prep
- One of two meanings:
- Short for 'preparation', the exact equivalent of 'homework' in other schools; "Hand in your prep tomorrow".
- Period in which boarders are to do their homework or meaning 1. of Prep. This lasts from 7:15pm (after dinner) until 9:00pm, with a five minute break at 8:00pm. During this period, pupils must be "up house" (see "Up"), in the Library, or in the Computer Room; "You may not leave the school during prep".
SAP (formerly SEP)
- Saturday afternoon punishment; detention on a Saturday afternoon. It is usually given for bad behaviour, consistently not doing Prep (see above) (for the Upper School (VI and Remove), missing Abbey, station, Latin prayers, rude or unacceptable behaviour, or being caught smoking. Formerly SEP (Saturday Evening Punishment) which consisted of running around green.
School
- The main hall. Used for assemblies, concerts, plays etc. Always referred to as "up School". See "Up".
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." Compare mufti day. As a verb, it was widely used to mean "play truant", but fell into disuse due to the more widely known but unfortunate meaning.
Station
- Sports which are compulsory and held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from 2:00pm onwards; "He missed Station as he was sick". Originally it meant any compulsory engagement.
Up (house, School, etc.)
- "In" or "to". "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".
Water
- Rowing Station (the Westminster School boat club is based in Putney)
Yard
- Little Dean's Yard; "He was in Yard" (always without an article). This is also often used to refer to the period after Prep from 9pm to 10pm when boarders are free to entertain themselves in Yard.
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. Other than College, 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 girls; only Busby's and Purcell's provide boarding accommodation for girls - the remainder admit day girls only.
Each House has associated colours, which are worn on ties awarded for various (usually sporting) achievement while representing the House. There are also pink-striped ties awarded for achievement while representing the whole school, with the amount of pink denoting the level of achievement.
| House | Abbr. | Founded | Named after | Colours | Pupils |
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| Boarding | Non-boarding |
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| College | CC | 1560 | n/a | | Dark green | Boys | Girls | | Grant's | GG | 1750 | The "mothers" Grant - landladies who owned the property and put up boys in the days before boarding existed, when the School only accommodated Scholars; the old house among the Public Schools. | ¦ | Maroon on light blue | Boys | Mixed | | Rigaud's | RR | pre-1896 (rebuilt) | Stephen Jordan Rigaud | ¦ | Black on orange-yellow | Boys | Mixed | | Busby's | BB | 1925 | Richard Busby | ¦ | Dark blue on maroon | Mixed | Mixed | | Liddell's | LL | 1956 | Henry Liddell | ¦ | Blue on yellow | Boys | Mixed | | Purcell's | PP | 1981 | Henry Purcell | | Pink | Girls | Girls | | Ashburnham | AHH | 1881 | The Earls of Ashburnham whose London house is now part of the School | ¦ | Light blue on dark blue | None | Mixed | | Wren's | WW | | Christopher Wren | ¦ | Purple on black | | Dryden's | DD | 1976 | John Dryden | ¦ | Silver on red | | Hakluyt's | HH | 1987 | Richard Hakluyt | ¦ | Yellow on blue | | Milne's | MM | 1997 | A. A. Milne | ¦ | Black on orange |
College, the House of the Queen's Scholars (all of whom board), has assigned to it some of the non-boarding girls who enter the School in the VIth form.
Sport ("Station")
The School has three Eton Fives courts, located behind Ashburnham House. The school frequently fields pupils as national entries in international competitions in rowing, or "Water", and fencing at which they do very well.
The Oxford University Boat Club use Westminster's boat house at Putney as their HQ for the annual Oxford and Cambridge boat race on the Thames. The boathouse was remodelled in 1996, and won a Wandsworth design award in 1999. The school's colour is pink and one rumour for this colour is that it was derived from washed-out red shirts worn by rowers. Another rumour is that Westminster rowers raced Eton College for the right to wear pink. The story goes that on one running of the annual Eton-Westminster rowing race both crews arrived wearing the same colour pink, which was fashionable at the time. The Eton crew bought some light-blue ribbon (which later became the standard Eton colours) to differentiate themselves, but the Westminster crew won the race and the right to wear pink in perpetuity. The premier Leander Club at Henley, which was founded in London by a number of Old Westminster rowers, later adopted it although they call the colour cerise. This unusual colour for sportsmen has occasionally provoked violent incidents in recent times - such as stones being thrown at rowers from the bank - but usually removes any need for away kit; the only problems arise when racing against Abingdon School, which also wears pink.
The School's main sports ground is nearby at Vincent Square, but it is limited to football and cricket on the main area and tennis and netball on the courts; it also hosts a playground for Westminster Under School. It is not large enough for all the pupils doing these sports to use simultaneously (the football pitches are made into cricket pitches for the summer). Therefore the school hires and owns other sporting facilities near the school. These include the oldest boating club in the world, an astroturf ground in Battersea, and a fencing centre. 'Green' (Dean's Yard) is also used, as are the 2 school gyms (one in the Abbey Cloisters and one in the Weston's school building) and the three Fives courts, as well as informal "yard cricket", "yard football" and "Scuba Football" played in Little Dean's Yard.
Westminster has an historic joint claim to a major role in the development of Association Football, which remains the school's largest sport. During the 1840s at both Westminster and Charterhouse, pupils' surroundings meant they were confined to playing their football in the cloisters, making the rough and tumble of the handling game that was developing at other schools such as Rugby impossible, and necessitating a new code of rules. During the formulation of the rules of Association Football in the 1860s representatives of Westminster School and Charterhouse also pushed for a passing game, in particular rules that allowed forward passing ("passing on"). Other schools (in particular Eton College and Harrow) favoured a dribbling game with a tight off-side rule. By 1867 the Football Association had chosen in favour of the Westminster and Charterhouse game and adopted an off-side rule that permitted forward passing. The modern forward-passing game was a direct consequence of Westminster and Charterhouse Football.
Former pupils
- See also: List of former pupils of Westminster
The following people were educated at Westminster, amongst about 900 others listed in the ODNB:
- Richard Hakluyt (1553 – 1616), writer
- Ben Jonson (1573 – 1637), poet and dramatist
- Arthur Dee (1579-1651), alchemist and royal physician
- 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 (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
- Thomas Pinckney (1750 – 1828), American soldier, politician, and diplomat.
- Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775-1818), dramatist
- A. A. Milne (QS) (1882 – 1956), author and journalist
- Robert Southey (1774 – 1843), poet, historian and biographer
- Sir Adrian Boult (1889 – 1983), conductor
- Sir John Gielgud (GG) (1904 – 2000), actor and director
- Sir Andrew Huxley (b. 1917), Nobel prizewinning physiologist
- Sir Peter Ustinov (1921 – 2004), actor, writer, director and raconteur
- Tony Benn (born 1925), politician
- Peter Brook (born 1925, LL 1937-1938), theatre director
- Nigel Lawson (born 1932, WW 1945-1950), former Chancellor of the Exchequer, father of Nigella Lawson
- Simon Gray (born 1936, WW 1949-1954), playwright and diarist
- Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948, QS 1960-1965), composer and producer
- Martin Amis (born 1949), novelist
- Tristram Jones-Parry (born ????, house????), mathematics teacher and headmaster of Westminster School
- Stephen Poliakoff (born 1952, WW 1966-1970), director, playwright and television dramatist
- Timothy Winter (born 1960), Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University
- James Robbins (GG 1968-1972), broadcaster
- Shane MacGowan (born 1957, AHH 1972-1973), musician
- Matt Frei (born 1963, RR 1978-1981), broadcaster
- Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966, LL 1982-84), actress
- Noreena Hertz (born 1967, CC 1983-85), economist and campaigner
- Nick Clegg (born 1967), Liberal Democrat leader
- Ruth Kelly (born 1968, DD 1984-86), Cabinet minister
- Marcel Theroux (born 1968), novelist and broadcaster
- Louis Theroux (born 1970), broadcaster
- Jonathan Yeo (born 1970), artist
- Dido Armstrong (born 1971, WW, 1987-89), British musician under the name "Dido"
- Martha Lane Fox (born 1973), internet entrepreneur
- James Reynolds (born 1974), BBC Beijing Correspondent
- Conrad Shawcross (born 1977), artist
- Pinny Grylls (born 1978, HH 1994-96), documentary film-maker
- Benjamin Yeoh (born 1978), playwright
- Mica Penniman (born 1983, DD 1996-2001) musician under the name 'Mika'
- Max Vergara Poeti (born 1983), novelist
Victoria Cross holders
Six former pupils of Westminster have won the Victoria Cross:
Further reading
- Westminster School Almanack (http://intranet.westminster.org.uk/almanack/index.asp)
See also
External links
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