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Haberdashers' Boys' School

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The School Crest

The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School is a British independent school in Elstree, near Borehamwood, in Hertfordshire. It owes its name to its foundation by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers (one of the livery companies) through the agency of Robert Aske. The school adopted the motto of the company, "Serve and Obey".

History

The school was established in 1690 at Hoxton, near the City of London. In the 19th century it was divided into two, one part moving to Hatcham in South London, where a boys' and a girls' school were set up. Usually referred to as Aske's, they were formally known as the Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Schools until 1991, when the two were combined as Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College.

The other part moved to a site in Hampstead, north London, becoming a direct grant school after the passing of the Education Act 1944. Its formal name was the Haberdashers' Aske's Hampstead School, generally known as Haberdashers'. In 1961 this school moved to its present site at Elstree, initially taking the name Haberdashers' Aske's School Elstree. When the Labour government of 1964-70 withdrew the direct grant arrangements, it became fully fee-paying.

Recently, a number of buildings on the Elstree campus have been opened, including the new Aske Building (2004), a multi-million pound science and geography complex, and the Bourne Building, a series of classics, information technology and history classrooms. The Bourne Building also features at its focus a large assembly hall, inherited from the building that stood there previously. This hall is home to a fine pipe organ, built in 1897 by the famous London firm of Henry Willis & Sons for Hove Town Hall and brought to Elstree in 1962: the instrument retains its original specification of thirty-six stops on four manuals and pedals and is currently maintained by the Willis firm[1]. A full development scheme has been initiated and over a period of time, the school will be re-built in order to keep up with the changing world. As part of this, the school will be based around two main Quadrangles.

For a fuller account of the School's history, see the relevant section in Cockburn et al (1969), referred to below.

Present day

Entry to the school is via a competitive examination set by the school (Not the Common Entrance Paper) at either 11+ or 13+ (With entry into the Preparatory school at 5+ or 7+). As in the past, it has achieved consistently high levels of academic achievement, last year almost 57% of GCSE papers were marked at A* and 90% were marked A* or A. At A-Level over 92% of papers were graded A or B, and the pupils have been continuously successful in obtaining places at Oxbridge, 43 in 2005 and 38 in 2006 (Over 25% of the year group). The school has been under-represented in national League Tables however, due to the fact that students take IGCSE papers which are uncounted in Government League Tables and due to the fact that the school usually limits pupils to taking only three A-Level subjects. Haberdashers' Aske's received a glowing Inspection report in the autumn of 2005, praised for both its academic achievement and for its Extra-curricular opportunities and Pastoral Care.

Despite extensive redevelopment however, the school retains strong links with the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers', members of which sit on the School's governing body. Every year a deputation from this ancient Livery company inspect the school and hand out St. John's bibles to every boy in the first year. There are also many visits to the new Haberdashers' Hall.

The school itself contains a vibrant and involved community. Many societies are run within the school by pupils with the support of the teachers. These include school magazines ("Skylark","Scribe", "Scope" and "The Economics News") and religious groups ("J-soc" (Jewish Society), "Islamic Society" and "Christian Union") but other non-literary societies also flourish within the such as an Amnesty International group, the school Politics, Science and Economics Societies which invite outside speakers, Food Society, Film society, Debating Society, Model United Nations Society, Chess Club, Magic Society, Bridge Club, Russian Club, Philosophy Club, RomeSoc, J-Soc, Christian Union and Radical Society (A society that invites and debates with speakers with a background in the far-left of politics) and many others, although the societies list change term to term as boys create new clubs and others are abandoned.

The School also nominates a School Charity annually (and multiple House Charities) to which money raised is to be sent. Recent School Charities have included WaterAid (2004) and Otjikondo School (2005) and charitable events have ranged from cake sales to 'Battle of the Bands' to 'Team Russells' House Iron Man III' to 'Staff Charity Blind Date'.

Music is also a very popular activity within the school (Over half of Boys play at least one instrument), with three orchestras, numerous bands and many more smaller groups. Sport is also a major activity at the school, with a plethora of different teams and a wide array of sports, ranging from Cricket to Rugby Fives and Squash.

Haberdashers' has been successful in the past few years in both National and International competitions. Sports teams have triumphed in football competitions and proceeded very far into the Daily-Mail rugby Cup. HABS teams have won debating competitions, bridge tournaments and triumphed at Model United Nations conferences. A Habs team also came runners up in the Bank of England Base Rate Competition, Target 2.0.

Media references

  • The recent hit Alan Bennett stage-play and film The History Boys mentions Haberdashers' in its script as a school of academic excellence. The production notes were supplied by acclaimed historian Simon Schama, an Old Boy of the School who had a major influence over the play and film.
  • Old Boy novelist William Sutcliffe set his largely autobiographical début novel New Boy at an unnamed school, that is easily identifiable as Haberdashers', including references to the school's location, layout and, most tellingly, motto.
  • Another ex-Habs novel referencing the school is A Matter of Life and Sex by Oscar Moore.

Other Haberdashers' Schools

  • The Haberdashers' Company was also involved in the foundation of other schools, for example Monmouth School, but these were not associated with Robert Aske.

Pastoral

The school is based around a House structure; several shields are awarded by the Headmaster at the end of the academic year for competition between the Houses (Junior Work and Conduct, Senior Work and Conduct, The Crossman Shield, awarded for success in inter-house sporting competitions, and the Dunton Shield, awarded to the house with the highest number of points in all three categories combined). The six houses are named after the original housemasters: Calverts, Hendersons, Joblings, Meadows, Russells and Strouts. In the first two years of schooling, boys are placed in forms according to their House and all lessons are with members of the formgroup; later in the school, the Houses are mixed as classes follow ability streams. The formgroups, however, are dependent upon House throughout the school.

Throughout the Year there are numerous Inter-House events including both sporting and non-sporting competitions (Such as Inter-House Debating, Chess or Inter-House Bridge). It is hoped that every boy will be able to represent their house in at least one activity.

Charity

The school holds various charity events and selects two school charities per annum. End of year totals end up in the thousands of pounds. In addition, each of the six houses selects a house charity that can last for longer than a year.

Every year, the school holds a "MENCAP Funday" which involves the school being transformed into a fun park for disabled children and their siblings. The students from the fourth Year upwards pair up or form groups to take around visiting children to events set up by teachers/other students. Students from both the boys' school and the girls' school next door volunteer for this event. Events include computer games, a candyfloss machine, bouncy castles, football, swimming, petting zoo, ice cream and other things.

Supported charities

Recent report

A recent ISI report of Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School praised the school for its teaching, facilities and extra curricular activities. The inspection lasted 1 school week (5 days) and viewed all aspects of school life. The report can be found at ISI Online Report.

League Tables

The school was ranked at 24 by The Sunday Times in their 2006 Parent Power feature [1] on the best independent schools, down from 18 in the previous year. According to the Times rankings, Habs came 20th (out of 1150 schools) in GCSE rankings [2] and 72nd (out of 939) at A level [3], though this is largely due to the fact that most boys at Habs only took three A-levels, and so received a lower total score than other comparable schools. In the same year The Telegraph placed Habs in 44th place based on A and AS level results [4], and 24th (out of 2703) in their full list ranked by average score per A-level entry [5].

Notable Old Haberdashers

Old boys of the school, called Old Haberdashers, include:

Trivia

  • The school grounds and buildings were used as settings for many scenes in the early 1960s TV series The Avengers
  • Scenes from Michelle Fowler's graduation were filmed for an episode of EastEnders in the school's Bourne Hall.
  • Big Brother contestant Zac Lichman claims to have lost his virginity in headmaster's garden while in Year 11 at the school.

References

  1. ^ "The National Pipe Organ Register - Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School".

J.S. Cockburn, H.P.F. King, K.G.T. McDonnell (1969) A History of the County of Middlesex. Volume 1: Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century. Boydell & Brewer (ISBN-13 9780197227138)

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