Latymer Upper School

Latymer Upper School is a private school in Hammersmith, London, England, on King Street. It derives from a charity school, and is part of the same 1624 bequest by the English legal official Edward Latymer that founded The Latymer School. There is a preparatory school on site, but most students are admitted to the Upper School through examination and interview at the age of eleven. The school's academic results place it among the top schools nationally. Having opened on its King Street site in 1895, the school spent a period of time in the mid-20th century as a direct grant grammar school, before becoming private with the system's abolition in the 1970s. Remaining single-sex until 1996, when Sixth Form admissions were opened to girls, the school transitioned to full mixed-sex education in the first decade of the 21st century. Latymer's alumni include members of both Houses of Parliament, winners of Olympic medals, actors, musicians, and many figures in the arts and sciences. History Foundation Latymer Upper School has its origins in the will of Edward Latymer, who left a bequest to educate "eight poore boyes" of Hammersmith. This was intended "to keep them from idle and vagrant courses, and also to instruct them in some part of God's true religion". He owned Butterwick Manor and the land round about in Hammersmith. Most of Butterwick Manor House was demolished in 1836, except for one wing of the building, Bradmore House. This had been converted into a separate house in 1736; it survives in rebuilt form on Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith. In 1627 Latymer split his Butterwick Manor estate three ways, allocating 6 acres of land to provide charity for the poor of St Dunstan-in-the-West in the City of London; 8½ acres for what became The Latymer School in Edmonton; and 28½ acres for the Latymer Foundation at Hammersmith. From Fulham to Hammersmith In 1628, a school, partially funded by the estate of Dr. Thomas Edwards, who had died in around 1618, was built for the Latymer boys in the churchyard in Fulham. In 1648, the school moved to a new building, paid for by a Mr. Bull and a Mr. Palmer, in Hammersmith. This served until around 1657, when a charity school for the parish was founded in the churchyard of St Paul's, Hammersmith. At around the same time, and certainly before 1689, a girls' school was created, perhaps in the same building. The charity school was replaced in 1755 with a new building. It accommodated 25 girls and 20 boys. The school was expanded in 1819 to 50 girls and 80 boys. The girls' school was later closed, and the boys' school increased to 100 pupils. In 1863, the boys' school moved to a new building between King Street East (now Hammersmith Road) and Great Church Lane, a little to the east of Hammersmith Broadway. Latymer Upper School, King Street In 1878 it was agreed to build a new school in Hammersmith, with three of the governors to be appointed by the local borough council, and two by the London School Board. The bishop of London, Frederick Temple, opened Latymer Upper School on its new site on King Street in 1895. The old buildings were used for Latymer Lower School, an "elementary" or primary school The school taught boys aged up to 16; the fees were £5, and boys from local schools could apply for scholarships. The range of subjects taught included practical mechanics and experimental chemistry. The school quickly grew to 300 pupils by 1880. The school was extended in 1901, allowing the total number of pupils to rise to 450. Latymer was further enlarged in 1930 by extending the main building to the south. The buildings at the Weltje Road and King Street corner were purchased and adapted, with the addition of a biology laboratory and the arrangement of a top floor room as a chapel; this was consecrated in 1938. The school grew substantially in 1951 to over 1000 boys with the acquisition of Rivercourt House, beside the River Thames, extending the Latymer site southwards. In 1957, the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Science in Schools provided a grant which enabled the school to add new physics laboratories, completed in 1961; the school had grown to 1,150 by 1964. In 1945, Latymer became a direct grant grammar school, meaning that it took both state-funded and fee-paying pupils. Its head joined the Headmasters' Conference. The Direct Grant system was abolished in 1976, removing government funding, Latymer became a public school, meaning that students normally paid fees. and the school switched to the Assisted Places Scheme, retaining a mix of partly or wholly funded places and fee-paying pupils. Latymer Prep School is a junior school for pupils from age 7 upwards on the same site, in Rivercourt House, by the River Thames. It was founded in 1951 to prepare pupils for Latymer Upper School. In 1996, the Sixth Form became co-educational. In 2004, the main school started on the same path, with the introduction of girls into Year 7; as those pupils moved up the school, it became fully co-educational by 2008. In 2018, the school won three Times Educational Supplement awards, for "Independent School of the Year", "Independent-State School Partnerships", and "Senior School of the Year". Each year, the school gathers in the nearby church of St Paul's, Hammersmith to celebrate "Founder's Day" in honour of Edward Latymer. School Fees Tuition for 2024 was £8,633 per term, plus other mandatory and optional fees. Latymer offers a bursary programme, with assistance ranging between a quarter and the whole of the fees, according to need. One pupil in five received a bursary in 2022. The school states that it intends to increase this to one in four and make the school "needs-blind", meaning that no applicant who passed the entrance exam would be prevented from joining the school through inability to pay fees. Activities The school provides many clubs and societies, including in 2024 a variety of sports, literature, dance, singing, debating, various technologies, philosophy, and photography. The school participates in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. The school runs day trips during the school year, and it offers all students a trip from a choice of some 30 trips run every year in 'Activities Week'. These include outdoor activities such as camping and trekking, and cultural activities and sports. The Latymer Upper School Boat Club taught Andy Holmes, Olympic gold medal rower (1984 Games and 1988 Games), and the cox Henry Fieldman, Olympic bronze medal rower (2020 Games). The Boat Club has gone on to win Henley Royal Regatta, most recently with the win of the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup in 2019. Facilities The Latymer Theatre and Arts Centre, opened in 2000, includes a 300-seat galleried box theatre named the Edward Latymer Theatre and an art gallery. The Latymer Performing Arts Centre contains a drama studio, rehearsal rooms, and a 100-seat recital hall. A new Science and Library building was completed in 2010. The Sports Centre was opened in March 2016; it has a six-lane swimming pool, basketball hoops, badminton markings, cricket nets, a fitness suite, and a bouldering wall, and serves as an area for pupils to take their examinations. The school's playing fields are about a mile and a half away, on Wood Lane. The playing fields were used for training by the England Rugby Team in 2020. Coat of arms The armorial bearings of the founder, Edward Latymer, included his Latin motto, Paulatim ergo certe ('Slowly therefore surely'). The motto puns on his surname, using an "i" in "(pau)latim er(go)", as Latin lacks the letter "y". In 2004 the school badge was simplified, dropping the motto, and retaining only the chevron on a blue field, with a single crosslet symbol. The crest was changed again to a form more like the original one in September 2020. Academic performance Latymer Upper School was rated in 2012 by the Tatler Schools Guide as one of the highest academically performing schools in the UK. Pupils sit an examination in English and mathematics to enter the school. There were 29 Oxbridge places in 2021, and several pupils went to US universities such as Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Cornell. GCSE and A-Level results over five years are summarised in the table. Notable alumni and former staff Politics John Beckett (1894–1964), fascist politician Peter Hendy, Minister of State for Rail Alan Hunt, diplomat John Killick (1919–2004), ambassador Ian Percival (1921–1998), Solicitor General Joshua Rozenberg, legal affairs correspondent for the Daily Telegraph Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East Peter Walker (1932–2010), Cabinet Minister Larry Whitty, General Secretary of the Labour Party George Walden, Education Minister John Crace, journalist Film and theatre Natalie Abrahami, theatre director Lily Cole, actress and model Hugh Grant, actor Martyn Green (1899–1975), actor, singer, comedian Christopher Guard, actor Ophelia Lovibond, actress Calam Lynch, actor Imogen Poots, actress Augustus Prew, actor Toby Regbo, actor Alan Rickman (1946–2016), actor Mel Smith (1952–2013), actor and film director Sean Teale, actor Rufus Jones, actor Gordon McDougall, theatre director Music Walter Legge (1906–1979), record producer, founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra Charlie Morgan, musician Jamie Quinn, known as Matrix Arlo Parks, singer Jay Sean, singer John Tilbury, pianist Cliff Townshend (1916-1986), jazz musician Raphael Wallfisch, cellist Sport Andy Holmes (1959–2010), Olympic gold medal rower Antony Hooper, cricketer Simon Hughes, cricketer Hugh Jones, athlete Dan Luger, rugby player Dominic Waldouck, rugby player Other fields Heston Blumenthal, TV chef and owner of The Fat Duck Ajahn Brahm, Buddhist monk Gordon Brook-Shepherd (1918–2004), author Thomas Haller Cooper (1919–1987?), member of the Waffen SS's British Free Corps Peter Farquhar (1946–2015), teacher Richard Jackson, Bishop of Hereford Harold Spencer Jones (1890–1960), Astronomer Royal Philip I. Murray, professor of ophthalmology John D. Ray, Egyptologist Jerry Roberts (1920–2014), wartime codebreaker at Bletchley Park David Shoenberg (1911–2004), physicist Jim Smith, biologist Allegra Stratton, journalist Terence Tiller (1916-1987), poet and radio producer David Tress, painter Fred Vine (1939-2024), geologist and co-discoverer of plate tectonics Arthur Earnest Watkins (1898-1967), botanist Geoff Whitty (1946–2018), sociologist Former staff Peter Jacobs, piano Max Kenworthy, music Robert King (conductor), music See also 1620s in England Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums (twinned school) Godolphin and Latymer School Notes References Bibliography Davis, Sian; Gregg, Christine Letter, eds. (2024). Latymer 400: The Latymer Foundation at Hammersmith 1624–2024. Profile Editions. ISBN 978-1-7881-6811-3. Watson, Nigel (1995). Latymer Upper School: A History of the School and its Foundation. James & James. ISBN 978-0-907383-62-8. External links Latymer Upper's official website Latymer Prep School's official website Official Old Latymerian website Archived 16 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine Latymer Upper at the UK Schools Guide A summary of Latymer Upper's academic performance A detailed history of the Latymer schools at British History Online