The Perse School
The Perse School is a co-educational independent day school in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1615 by Stephen Perse, its motto is Qui facit per alium facit per se, taken to mean 'He who does things for others does them for himself'. The School began accepting girls at 11 and 13+ in September 2010 and was fully co-educational by September 2012. 'Perse' is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an association of the leading UK independent schools.
The Perse School | |
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The school's coat of arms | |
Address | |
, , CB2 8QF England | |
Coordinates | 52°10′51″N 00°08′19″E |
Information | |
Type | Public school Independent day school |
Motto | Latin: Qui facit per alium facit per se (He who does things for others does them for himself) |
Religious affiliation(s) | Nondenominational Christian |
Established | 1615 |
Founder | Stephen Perse |
Department for Education URN | 110923 Tables |
Chairman of the Governing Body | Sir David Wright |
Head | Edward Elliott |
Staff | 138 teaching, 117 support staff, 26 peripatetics[1] |
Gender | Co-educational |
Age | 11 to 18 |
Enrolment | 1,564 (2016) [2] |
Houses | 8 |
Colour(s) | Purple and black |
Publication | OP News Magazine |
Alumni | Old Perseans |
Website | http://www.perse.co.uk/ |
The organisation now comprises three schools, which together provide for children aged 3 through to 18. The Pelican is the Perse's nursery and pre-preparatory school, and accommodates pupils from 3–7. It is situated on Glebe Road, close to the main school site. Preparatory education is provided by the Perse Prep, also close to the Upper School, just north of the junction of Long Road and Trumpington Road. In Year 7 pupils usually progress to the Upper School, where they sit GCSE or IGCSE examinations and A-Levels.
History
The school was founded in 1615 at its original site in Free School Lane, Cambridge. Its former buildings now house the Whipple Museum of the History of Science.[3] In 1960, the school moved to the site it now occupies as its 'Upper' school on Hills Road. There have been multiple phases of school expansion, particularly in the 21st Century where the school doubled in pupil number. Among notable developments is the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre, a 400-seat theatre, exhibition and rehearsal space designed by architects Haworth Tompkins,[4] which opened in 2018.
An old prospectus lists the fees as £3 per term in 1890.[5]
From 1945 to 1976 it was a direct grant grammar school, offering free places to 40% of pupils.[6] Following the abolition of the Assisted Places Scheme, The Perse no longer received any state funding and became independent.
The school was ranked 13th in the Sunday Times Parent Power league table in 2019[7] and 6th in the Daily Telegraph national table[8] of A Level, Pre-U and IB results with 83% A* and A grades from 175 candidates.
Motto
The school motto is Qui facit per alium facit per se, usually taken to mean "He who does things for others does them for himself". This is an example of a rebus motto, the Latin sentence ending in a word play on the founder's name "per se" and his benefaction. A blue plaque dedicated to the school's founder, Dr Stephen Perse, was installed in Free School Lane, Cambridge.[9]
Competitions, Olympiads and scholarships
Pupils have competed and scored highly in academic competitions and Olympiads, in addition to winning awards including Arkwright Engineering Scholarships[10][11] and Nuffield Research Placements (previously Nuffield Science Bursaries).[12][13] Students have won scholarships for summer placements at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel[14][15] and research institutes in Heidelberg, Germany.[16][17]
British competition results include:
- First place in the Pi Wars robot competition
- First place in the Schools' Challenge general knowledge competition
- First place (winning the Trinity College prize) in the National Cipher Challenge[18]
- First place in the Bank of England Target Two Point Zero interest rate challenge[19]
- Invitation to the British Physics Olympiad presentation afternoon (top 4 in the country in the AS Challenge)[20][21]
- Qualifying for the UKMT Team Maths Challenge final (winning the poster competition)[22]
- Qualifying for the British Informatics Olympiad final (top 15 in the country)[23][24]
- Qualifying for Round 2 (top 20 to 25 in the country) of the UK Chemistry Olympiad[25][26]
- Scoring Gold in Round 1 of United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad[27]
Students have also competed in international competitions including the International Mathematical Olympiad,[28] the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad,[29] the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad,[29] the International Biology Olympiad,[30] the International Rocketry Challenge,[31][32] the European Union Contest for Young Scientists[33] and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.[34]
Innovation
In 2018, The Perse School partnered with a Cambridge-based education technology entrepreneur, Rob Percival, to support the creation of an online artificial intelligence maths teaching platform. Blutick in association with The Perse School, exhibited at the BETT Show in London, 2019[35] to launch a free beta version.
Developments
The Perse School began accepting girls at 11+ and 13+ in September 2010 and became fully co-educational in September 2012 .
Headmaster's blog
On his blog the headmaster, Ed Elliott, described his 'ten second challenge' in which he would give students who "commit occasional minor misdemeanours (such as forgetting a book) the opportunity to talk their way out of a punishment".[36] The story was quickly picked up by the mainstream media[37] who reported that pupils were "let off punishment for clever excuses".[38]
Notable Perseans
Academia
- Maurice Bloch, anthropologist
- Harold James, professor of history and international relations
- F. R. Leavis, literary critic
- Michael Loewe, sinologist
- Edward Henry Palmer, orientalist
- G. L. S. Shackle, economist
- E. H. Warmington, classicist
- W. E. Johnson, logician[39]
Art
- Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Business
- David Tang, Hong Kong-based entrepreneur
Engineering
- Arthur Marshall, aviation engineer
- Anthony Michell, hydraulic engineer
Film and theatre
- Ranjit Bolt, translator and playwright
- Marius Goring, actor
- Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company
- Humphrey Jennings, film director
- Matthew Lloyd, theatre director, Royal Exchange, Manchester
- Colin McFarlane, actor
- Jeremy Silberston, film director
Law
- Mark Potter, Appeal Court judge and President of the Family Division
Media
- Mel Calman, cartoonist
- Rodney Dale, writer and publisher
- John Gross, critic and editor
- Tom Harwood, journalist and political commentator
- Tom Rosenthal (publisher) (1935–2014), publisher and art critic
- Mark Saggers, BBC sports broadcaster
Military
- Group Captain William Neil McKechnie, George Cross recipient
- Ralph Lilley Turner MC, 2nd/3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles
Music
- Pete Atkin, singer/songwriter
- David Gilmour, singer/songwriter and guitarist of Pink Floyd
- Spike Hughes, jazz musician and journalist
- Ronnie Ross, jazz musician
Politics
- Anthony Browne, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire
- Rajani Palme Dutt, leading figure in the Communist Party of Great Britain
- Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge 2010-2015
- David Steiner, New York State Commissioner of Education
- Donald Tebbit, diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia[40]
- Quentin Thomas, civil servant, head of the British Board of Film Classification
Religion
- John Polkinghorne, physicist and theologian
- Bishop Jeremy Taylor, an influence on the foundation of Methodism
Science
- Associate Professor Anthony Lowe, mathematical physicist and actuary
- Brian G. Marsden, astronomer
- Ronald G. W. Norrish, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967
- Gustav Victor Rudolf Born, pharmacologist
- George Paget Thomson, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937
- Sarah Martins da Silva, gynaecologist and scientist
Sport
- Zaman Akhter, cricketer
- Charles Clayton, cricketer
- Owen Giles, Northampton Saints rugby union player[41][42][43]
- Horace Gray, cricketer
- Richard Hesketh, cricketer
- Tess Howard, field hockey player
- Reimell Ragnauth, cricketer
Staff
Headmasters
- George Griffith, MA - died 1686
- Frederick Heppenstall, MA - 1864 to 1874
- Dr W. H. D. Rouse, MA, LittD (Cantab) - 1902 to 1928. Formerly a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge
- H. A. Wootton - 1928 to 1945
- Stanley Stubbs, MA - 1945 to 1969. Formerly a housemaster at Gresham's School
- Anthony E. Melville - 1969 to 1987.[44] Formerly senior history master at Haileybury[45]
- Dr Martin Stephen - 1987 to 1994. Subsequently, High Master of Manchester Grammar School from 1994 to 2004 and then St Paul's School from 2004 to 2011. Director of Education for GEMS Education UK.[46][47] Non-Executive Chairman of the Clarendon Academies Group[48][49][50]
- Dr Nigel P. V. Richardson - 1994 to 2008. Headmaster of The Dragon School from 1989 to 1992. Chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in 2007. Governor of Magdalen College School[51] and Haileybury.[52] AGBIS board member.[53] Author of the biography Thring of Uppingham: Victorian Educator[54][55]
- Mr Edward C. Elliott, MA - 2008 onwards. Joined the school in 1997 as head of sixth form and was senior deputy head before being appointed headmaster[56]
Notable staff
- Henry Caldwell Cook, (1886–1939) educationalist
- Frederick Crossfield Happold DSO (Cantab.)
- Glenn Kirkham, captain of the England national field hockey team, served as a sports coach at the Perse from 2005 to 2014, including as assistant director of sport and head of hockey from 2012 to 2014. After three years away from The Perse School, Kirkham returned to the new post of Upper School Director of Sport in September 2017. Kirkham participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi
- Helen Richardson Walsh, hockey gold medalist[57]
References
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- "Independent Schools Inspectorate The Perse School". www.isi.net. ISI. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
- The original Perse School (now the Whipple Museum)
- Tompkins, Haworth (13 March 2018). "Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre". Haworth Tompkins. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
- "Old prospectus from 1890 for the Perse School in Cambridge found in loft". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 1 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- "History | The Perse School Cambridge". www.perse.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
- Times, The Sunday. "Parent Power 2019: Best UK Schools Guide". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
- Kirk, Ashley (25 August 2018). "Best independent schools in the UK: Compare league table results for A-levels". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
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- "Cambridge pupil Thomas Read makes it to final of British Informatics Olympiad at Trinity College". www.cambridge-news.co.uk. Cambridge News. 11 March 2015. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
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