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Forest School, Walthamstow

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Forest School
Location
Map
Walthamstow
,
Greater London

England
Information
TypePublic School
MottoIn Pectore Robur
(Strength in the heart)
Established1834
Chairman of the GovernorsJohn W Matthews
HeadmasterA.G. Boggis, MA
GenderCo-educational
Age4 to 18
Enrollment1,200 (approx.)
Houses14
Former pupilsOld Foresters
Websitehttp://www.forest.org.uk

Forest School is a public school on the edge of Epping Forest, in Walthamstow in North East London, in the UK.

History

From its initial twenty-two pupils in 1834, Forest has expanded and now has about twelve hundred boys and girls in equal numbers across the full age range of 4 - 18.

Wardens of Forest School

The headmaster is called the Warden and is currently Andrew Boggis, who is also the current chairman of the HMC. The three Heads of School (Boys, Girls and Prep) are the Deputy Wardens, although they are rarely called so. They are Mr M. Cliff Hodges, Mrs P. A. Goodman and Mrs E. Garner respectively.

Through almost two centuries of existence Forest has had ten Wardens:

  • Dr. Thomas Dry (1834-1844)
  • Mr. John Fredrick Boyes (1844-1848)
  • Mr. John Gilderdale (1848-1857)
  • Dr. Fredrick Barlow Guy (1857-1886)
  • Rev. Thomas Edward Barlow Guy (1886-1894)
  • Mr. Ralph Coutenay Guy (1894-1935)
  • Mr. Gerald Cedar Miller (1935-1960)
  • Mr. Dennis Foxall (1960-1983)
  • Mr. John C. Gough (1983-1993)
  • Mr. Andrew G. Boggis (1993- )

Structure

Beginning at age 11, boys enter the first form and this is the main point of entry to the boy's school, with usually 20 boys entering from Forest's prep school, and being joined by 50 new pupils from a wide range of other schools. Participation in the wider life of the school is expected of all pupils.

The girls' school, also beginning at age 11, focuses on the development of well qualified, socially-confident young women ready to take up the opportunities of university and careers. The school places great emphasis on the development of each girl as an individual. This is promoted by a supportive pastoral system; each girl is a member of a House as well as a form. The House system allows each girl to feel loyalty to a smaller unit as well as providing opportunities for girls to take on roles of responsibility. There is a strong sense of community in the School.

Pupils are taught in single sex classes until the sixth form, where teaching becomes coeducational providing a transition to university or professional life.

The Prep school numbers just over two hundred boys and girls. Its aims are to offer an education of high quality and to encourage and develop each child academically, physically and spiritually. From the ages of 4 to 7 Pre-Prep pupils are taught in mixed classes of sixteen. In the main Prep from 7 to 11 boys and girls are taught in separate classes of twenty. Small classes enable the teachers to give each child a considerable amount of individual attention in the classroom.

Forest's Sixth Form numbers some 250 pupils and is coeducational. The routine is designed to help pupils thrive in an academic environment and to be prepared for university; many lessons are more like seminars and self-motivation becomes increasingly important. Pupils can choose from a very wide range of combinations of AS and A2 courses and these are supplemented by General Studies and a programme of lectures and debates. Sixth Formers remain very much part of their respective schools, continuing to have a Housemaster/mistress as before and having the opportunity to shoulder responsibility in their Houses.

The school maintains its traditional values of academic excellence, and offers scholarships in both academic areas and that of the arts to pupils who show an outstanding talent in any particular subject. It prides itself that it offers a first class education, with renowned facilities in music, drama, art and sports. It also offers school bus schemes to improve accessibility for those pupils who live a long distance from the school. Many school trips take place as well, usually about three a year not including individual department trips. These can be purely recreational, such as skiing, or educational such as the Fun and Philosophy trip, or arts-based trips.

House System

There are eight Boys' School Houses, each with their own House Master. The first houses were created in 1924, and consisted of Doctor's, Poole's and Johnian's. Copeland's was created in the 1950s and five houses were created in the latter part of the 1970s with Bishop's and School serving as boarding houses. Younger boys wear a tie in their House colour. All boys in the third to sixth forms are registered by House, with first and second form boys registered in their forms. With the exception of School House they are all named after previous Masters or Wardens:

  • Bishop's (Light Green - after Bishops Shaw and Bullen)
  • Copeland's (Yellow - after an original founder of the school)
  • Doctor's (Red - after Dr. F.B. Guy)
  • Guy's (Black - after the members of the Guy family)
  • Johnians (Dark Green - after John Gilderdale)
  • Miller's (Dark Blue - after Gerald Cedar Miller)
  • Poole's (Purple - after Master F.J. Poole)
  • School (Light Blue)

In the Girls' School six Houses have recently been formed in 2001 to replace the old four Houses named after areas of the school (Field, Glade, Manor, and Park). They each have a House Mistress. The new Houses are named after famous women:

  • Astell (Turquoise - after feminist writer Mary Astell)
  • Baylis (Yellow - after theatre director Lilian Baylis)
  • Eliot (Green - after writer George Eliot)
  • Franklin (Red - after scientist Rosalind Franklin)
  • Hepworth (Blue - after sculptor Barbara Hepworth)
  • Kingsley (Purple - after explorer Mary Kingsley)

Common pupil appointments include Head of House, Deputy Head of House, Music, Drama and Sports Captains. Competitions between the Houses in both schools include House Music, House Drama, House Football (boys only), House Hockey, House Netball (girls only), Sports Day (House Athletics) etc.

Naming of Years

These follow the traditional names from the senior school:

  • Year 7.......First Year
  • Year 8.......Second Year
  • Year 9.......Third Year
  • Year 10......Fourth Year
  • Year 11......Fifth Year
  • Year 12......Lower Sixth
  • Year 13......Upper Sixth

Prefects and Monitors

Twenty prefects (girls) and twenty monitors (boys) are decided by teachers, housemasters and mistresses at the end of Lower Sixth year. Four more prefects and four more monitors are decided after AS results come out in the summer. Thus all prefects and monitors are in the Upper Sixth. Of these four are chosen to be Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy, Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl. One further girl is chosen to be Games Captain. Prior to the merging of the lower school (Years 7 and 8) and upper school (Years 9 - 13), there were also a set of monitors from Year 8 assigned specifically to the lower school.

Their duties include supervision of queues at lunchtime ("lunch duty"), and supervising their assigned class.

Gowns

Black gowns are worn by Heads of Schools, their Deputies and the Warden in assemblies.

Royal blue gowns are worn by monitors and prefects, which are returned at the end of the academic year. In addition, Prefects have white shield badges with "Prefect" written diagonally across in gold, while Monitors wear special ties striped in silver.

Members of both Chapel Choirs wear crimson gowns at formal events, with surplices worn during chapel services.

Commendations System

Commendations are awarded for good work. They consist of green slips of paper with carbon transfer to white slips, of which the green is kept by the student and the white is posted into a box on House Boards. Certificates are awarded for number of commendations received (bronze 20, silver 40, gold 60, platinum 80). They are very rarely given out in sixth form.

Non-satises (Latin for 'not enough') are given for poor work or bad behaviour. The pink sheet of the non-satis is given to the form-tutor of the pupil by the teacher who has given it out. The yellow carbon transfer is given to the house-mistress/master, again by the teacher who gave out the non-satis. Three non-satises lead to a housemaster's/mistress' detention, three detentions result in a school (Saturday) detention, and three of these result in a one day suspension.

Curriculum and Results

The academic curriculum in the years leading to GCSE reflects the National Curriculum in its breadth and balance. However, there are one or two distinguishing points of difference: Latin, for example, is compulsory in the 1st and 2nd Forms; and the majority take Physics, Chemistry and Biology as separate GCSE subjects. Computer literacy is a major focus in the early years.

Pupils consistently produce good examination results and most proceed to university, many pupils taking up places for highly competitive subjects at top universities. The school achieves good exam results, with pupils largely achieving around 9-10 good GCSE grades, as well as 4 AS levels and 3 A levels.

Forest has a record of doing well in the academic forum. In 2006, 18 A-level students received offers from the Oxbridge universities (Oxford and Cambridge).

School Motto

"In Pectore Robur", meaning Heart of Oak, or more poetically 'Strength in the heart'. This is referred to in the school song.

School Song

[

Eja! Felices! Hodie vacandi
Cantico dulcis celebretur vita!
Laus sit in linguis, animo voluptas,
Pectore robur, pectore robur!
Gaudeant pensis pueri peractis,
Gaudeat cura vacuus magister;
En! Domus gaudet! Sua concinamus
Gaudia quisque, gaudia quisque.
Pectoris robur, puerique custos,
Qui Puer quondam in pueris fuisti,
Fac Tibi semper placeamus omnes
Pectore puro, pectore puro!

] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)

The school song has been set to music and is sung regularly at end of term chapel services, and important occasions.

More recently, a previous Master of Music, Stefan Reid, arranged this for orchestra and choir which premiered at the annual End of Year Concert (now traditionally held in the Dining Hall). It is sung at certain significant assemblies (eg. end of year) and at Commemoration Day.

Faith

The school's traditional faith is Christianity although it accepts pupils from a wide range of religious and non-religious backgrounds. All students attend compulsory Chapel services within the school twice a week.

Sports

Sporting Achievements

In 2005 the school won the Essex Schools Cricket Cup, after beating Saffron Walden in the final by 15 runs. This can be seen on the cricket page of the Forest School website.
In 2004 the U14 football team were runners up in the Essex Schools Cup, losing 1-0 to Highams Park School in the final.
In 1993 Forest School won the inaugural Independent Schools Football Association Cup, beating Charterhouse on penalties.[1]
To this day Forest School remains the only school to have played in the FA Cup, beating Rochester 4-2 in the first round before losing to Clapham Rovers convincingly 10-1.[2]

Sporting Events

Each year during the second half of Lent term there is a 'Steeplechase' in which members of the Boy's School compete in a race through the surrounding forest. Sports Day also takes place in June after the end of year exams. Traditionally, this was held on a Saturday, although it has now been moved to a Friday.

Notable Alumni

There is a larger list of noteworthy Old Foresters on the school's website.

Activities

First and Second Year girls have activities every Friday afternoon and Third to Sixth Form girls and boys have activities on Wednesday afternoons. These are double periods devoted to an activity chosen by the pupil at the end of the previous term. Sports teams have practice during activities. The remainder of the school choose from many options including CCF, video techniques, community service, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, karate, photography, stage lighting, fencing, swimming, football, golf, taekwondo, Ancient Greek, public speaking and debating, early music, and chess club.

References

  1. ^ http://www.isfa.org.uk/boys/news.php?go=fullnews&id=40
  2. ^ http://www.the-english-football-archive.com/domestic_competitions/results/fa_cup/1879.htm
  3. ^ http://thebigretort.blogspot.com/search/label/ZENO%20-%20The%20Cauldron


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