# The Latymer School

The Latymer School is a selective, mixed grammar school in Edmonton, London, England, established in 1624 by Edward Latymer.

## History and traditions

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 woollen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints' Day. Pupils wore the red Latymer cross on their sleeves.
In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest for the annual maintenance of a schoolmaster and a poor scholar at Cambridge. In 1697, Thomas Style extended the bequest to fund the education of "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. In 1811, Ann Wyatt, a widow from Hackney, willed her Navy Annuities for the construction and maintenance of a new school. 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').
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 1967 the school switched to a comprehensive intake as a result of Circular 10/65, a request from the Labour government to local education authorities to plan for conversion to a fully comprehensive education system. However, a certain amount of informal selection still took place in liaison with local primary schools.
In 1988, Latymer took advantage of the Education Reform Act 1988 to become a Grant-Maintained school with selective entrance exams once more. Grant-maintained status was abolished by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and Latymer reverted to voluntary aided status.
In 2024, Latymer turned 400 years old, celebrating its anniversary with multiple events including a concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

## 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 Ann 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 £6,782, 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. Fully equipped with stage and seating for over 1,000 people, the hall is used for school assemblies, concerts, drama productions and other major events. It is home to the Davis organ, which was repaired and upgraded in 2005.
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 Trefor Jones. The balconies were altered in the Great Hall so that the pillars were not 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.
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 Jones as Headmaster in 1970. The sixth form study area was built as the common room in 1984 to mark the retirement of headteacher 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 and a servery for sixth form students.
The 'Mills Building' (named after the former head Geoffrey Mills), a performing arts complex, was opened in the spring of 2000 to service the Music, Drama and Media Studies departments.
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 residential centre, accommodating up to forty staff and pupils. It acts as a base of operations for week-long trips in the first year.
The Seward Studio was opened in February 2010 as a multi-purpose performance facility replacing the boys gym. Designed by former BBC engineer Don McQuistan, the studio serves as an auditorium, theatre, art gallery, and media studio. The installation was carried out by Robert Bruce of Fox Visual Systems. The space features a naturally "dry" acoustic, making it well-suited for lectures and drama performances. To enhance its versatility for musical performances, an advanced reverb system was integrated, allowing the room’s acoustic characteristics to be adjusted. A Crestron control system provides a simplified interface for managing the studio’s settings.
The school owns 12 acres (49,000 m$^2$) 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 Princess Anne on 18 May 2006. 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.
In September 2022 a new 3G all-weather football pitch was opened on the playing field, built with funding from the Football Foundation.

## Ofsted judgement and school ranking

The school underwent its most recent Ofsted inspection on 24 March 2022, when it received an overall grade of 'Good', after having previously been graded 'Outstanding' on 25 January 2008. Its 6th form facilities remain graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. In the 2023 'Parent Power' rankings, published by The Times newspaper, the school was ranked 21st in the UK and seventh-best in London. In that same year, 86.5% of GCSE examinations achieved A-grades (15th nationwide), and 61.7% of entries gained A-grades at A-level, while 83% obtained A or B grades (36th nationwide).

## Notable former pupils

In entertainment
* Evelyn Ankers, actress, known as "the Queen of the B movies"
* Clare-Hope Ashitey, actress
* Eileen Atkins, actress
* Bruce Forsyth, entertainer
* Tim Pope, director
* Leslie Welch, radio and television personality, the Memory Man
* Aubrey Woods, actor, best known for performing "The Candy Man" in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
* Vivian Oparah, actress
In politics
* Syed Kamall, Conservative MEP
* Albert Meltzer, anarcho-communist writer
* Ash Sarkar, British journalist and left-wing political activist
* David Walder, Conservative Party politician
In academia
* Mark Abrams, social scientist
* John Horlock, vice-chancellor, Open University, 1981–90
* Liz Jolly, Chief Librarian, The British Library (from 2018)
* John Prebble, historian and novelist
* Stephen Wheatcroft, economist and civil aviation expert influential in founding of British Airways
* Yorick Wilks, artificial intelligence pioneer
In sport
* Ted Blake, trampoline pioneer
* Johnny Haynes, former Fulham F.C. and England football captain
* Leslie Medley, former Spurs and England footballer.
* Arthur Sanders, footballer
* Mark Warburton, formerly manager of Queens Park Rangers
In music
* James Blake, British electronic artist
* Grace Chatto, cellist in British electronic music band Clean Bandit
* Richard Cook, music writer, former executive of PolyGram records
* B.J. Wilson, original drummer of Procol Harum
Other
* Nick Holtam, 78th bishop of Salisbury
* Philip North, bishop of Blackburn