page_title: St George's School, Harpenden
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St George's School, Harpenden / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Aim higher entrance with clock tower and Old Library on right and girls boarding house on the left.
context_page_description: St George's School, Harpenden is a day and boarding school in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England, educating students of both sexes between the ages of eleven and eighteen, with an emphasis on its Christian ethos. It was founded in 1907 as one of Britain's first mixed-sex boarding schools. The school has International School status. The School is one of the United Kingdom's top 100 state-funded institutions, and was named as the Sunday Times' 'Comprehensive School of the Year' in 2019.
context_section_description: The school was founded in 1907 by Reverend Cecil Grant, having relocated his school southwards from Keswick, Cumbria in the Lake District to the site of previous school. 
  In 1898 Grant, who was interested in co-education, was appointed the first headmaster of the newly reopened Keswick School. Along with Bedales School the school was the first co-educational day/boarding school in England. After a number of years, difficulties with the local authority and lack of a chapel prompted a move. The Harpenden site was discovered by one of the masters, a new limited company formed and Grant together with 59 boys and girls and many of the staff moved there. The new school where pupils could live in an atmosphere closely related to family life, based on sound Christian principles was officially opened in 21st June, 1907.
  The Harpenden site had previously been home to a boarding school for 100 boys founded by Rev. Wix in 1887. A chapel was added in 1891 and a swimming pool in 1894. The school experienced a drop in numbers, with several masters and pupils leaving, and closed in 1904. The site was briefly leased to a branch of the United Services College.
  In 1916 Grant founded a separate Montessori unit for pupils from 2 to 8 years of age. The initial location is unclear, but in 1924 moved to Kingston Lodge, adjacent to the school grounds. (Kingston Lodge later became Goddard House is now the music school.) In 1932 the school was renamed to St George's Children's House to attract larger numbers. Its business interests were formally merged with the main school from 1949. In 1955 it broke ties with St George's and moved to Gorselands near Harpenden common.
  Grant retired in 1936 and A. H. Watts took over as headmaster, leading the school through the war years. Houses of the school were named after both men as well as Monk and Goddard, old Georgians who had died in the First World War. Names of the boarding houses: Crosthwaite, Keswick
  and Skiddaw come from locations near the Cumbrian school.
  In 1967 the school became a voluntary aided school under Hertfordshire County Council, initially as a Grammar School and
  then as a Comprehensive School in the mid 1970's. This period saw a large expansion of the school with many new buildings and numbers expanding to 800. On 1 July 2012 St George's became an academy, funded by the new St George's School Harpenden Academy Trust. It continues to be supported by the Cecil Grant Founder's Trust, a charity set up after Grant's death in 1946.
  The St. George's motto Levavi Oculos (Aim Higher) appears on the uniform badges. It derives from their School Hymn, Assurgit, which is sung in Latin. Levavi Oculos means "I have lifted up mine eyes" and alludes to Psalm 121, beginning "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help; my help cometh even from the Lord, who hath made Heaven and Earth." In the sense of "I have raised my sights" this is equivalent to the English motto Aim Higher, which appears over one archway at the front entrance of Keswick House.
caption: Aim higher entrance with clock tower above. Old Library and the chapel on the right. Girls boarding house to the left of clock tower
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