Dr Challoner's Grammar School
Encyclopedia
Dr Challoner's Grammar School, often abbreviated to DCGS, is an Academy Grammar School
of approximately 1,300 boys located in Amersham
, Buckinghamshire
, England.
It was founded in 1624 in accordance with the last will and testament of Dr Robert Chaloner (spelt with only one ‘l’). Chaloner was Rector of Amersham
from 1576 to 1584, when he took up office as a Canon of Windsor
, Berkshire
, a post he held until his death in 1621.
By 1937, Challoner's was incorporated into the state system of education and by the early 1950s the school had about 350 boys and girls on roll. However, plans for expansion to 550 pupils were overtaken by rapid population growth in the area and the decision was made to establish a separate school for girls in Little Chalfont
: Dr Challoner's High School
, which opened in 1962. The two schools continue to maintain very close links, collaborating especially in music and drama productions, whilst the Dr. Challoner's Debating Society has staged numerous collaborative events.
The continued expansion of the Grammar School to its present size of over 1,200 boys saw major building projects in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s, followed by the construction of a large astroturf pitch and improvements to the sports fields.
In 2002, Challoner's became one of the first Science College
s in the United Kingdom. The school started a second specialism as a Language College
in April 2007.
In 2005, the school celebrated the 100th anniversary of the move to the current (Chesham Road) site, also building the Centenary Sports Pitch. The current headmaster is Dr. Mark Fenton, who attended Peterhouse, Cambridge University as an undergraduate and Anglia Ruskin University
(formerly known as Anglia Polytechnic) as a graduate student.
In that same year, a house system
was founded, with each of the six houses named after a previous headmaster: Foxell, Holman, Newman, Pearson, Rayner and Thorne. At the end of each year, a sports day has been run; winning in 2005 was Rayner, in 2006 Pearson and in 2007, 2008, 2009 Holman, 2010 Thorne and in 2011 Holman. An earlier house system with four houses named for those listed in the original school song as "Buckinghamshire's four mighty men"- Challoner, Hampden, Milton and Penn - was abandoned in 1976. The chorus of that song appears below.
England of shires has a good two score
Each of them brags of her mighty men
Bucks she can boast of her famous four
Challoner, Hampden, Milton and Penn
The school was inspected by Ofsted
on 12 November 2007. The report graded the school as "Outstanding" in every category.
The school also has a high number of students securing Oxbridge
places, with 27 (14%) in 2010.
On 1 September 2008, the school officially changed its status from a Voluntary Controlled school to a Foundation school
, on the basis that "the additional autonomy which foundation status offers will enabled the school to provide an even better standard of education in the future". In January 2011 the school became an Academy.
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
of approximately 1,300 boys located in Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England.
It was founded in 1624 in accordance with the last will and testament of Dr Robert Chaloner (spelt with only one ‘l’). Chaloner was Rector of Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
from 1576 to 1584, when he took up office as a Canon of Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, a post he held until his death in 1621.
History
In his will, Robert Chaloner left money to establish a grammar school in Amersham. The school was situated in Old Amersham for almost three centuries before moving, with the support of Buckinghamshire County Council, to its present buildings in Amersham-on-the Hill in 1905. At this time, the school embraced the principle of co-education for the first time which, according to the school’s first prospectus in 1906, was "practically universal in America". Each year the boys at Challoner's celebrate Founder's Day where they attend St Mary's church in Old Amersham where Robert Chaloner was rector.By 1937, Challoner's was incorporated into the state system of education and by the early 1950s the school had about 350 boys and girls on roll. However, plans for expansion to 550 pupils were overtaken by rapid population growth in the area and the decision was made to establish a separate school for girls in Little Chalfont
Little Chalfont
Little Chalfont is a village and civil parish in Chiltern district in south east Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in a small group of villages called The Chalfonts which also consists of Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter...
: Dr Challoner's High School
Dr Challoner's High School
Dr Challoner's High School, abbreviated to DCHS, is a grammar school for girls between the ages of 11 and 18, located in Buckinghamshire, England. In August 2011 the school became an Academy....
, which opened in 1962. The two schools continue to maintain very close links, collaborating especially in music and drama productions, whilst the Dr. Challoner's Debating Society has staged numerous collaborative events.
The continued expansion of the Grammar School to its present size of over 1,200 boys saw major building projects in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s, followed by the construction of a large astroturf pitch and improvements to the sports fields.
In 2002, Challoner's became one of the first Science College
Science College
Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics...
s in the United Kingdom. The school started a second specialism as a Language College
Language College
Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...
in April 2007.
In 2005, the school celebrated the 100th anniversary of the move to the current (Chesham Road) site, also building the Centenary Sports Pitch. The current headmaster is Dr. Mark Fenton, who attended Peterhouse, Cambridge University as an undergraduate and Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...
(formerly known as Anglia Polytechnic) as a graduate student.
In that same year, a house system
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
was founded, with each of the six houses named after a previous headmaster: Foxell, Holman, Newman, Pearson, Rayner and Thorne. At the end of each year, a sports day has been run; winning in 2005 was Rayner, in 2006 Pearson and in 2007, 2008, 2009 Holman, 2010 Thorne and in 2011 Holman. An earlier house system with four houses named for those listed in the original school song as "Buckinghamshire's four mighty men"- Challoner, Hampden, Milton and Penn - was abandoned in 1976. The chorus of that song appears below.
England of shires has a good two score
Each of them brags of her mighty men
Bucks she can boast of her famous four
Challoner, Hampden, Milton and Penn
The school was inspected by Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
on 12 November 2007. The report graded the school as "Outstanding" in every category.
The school also has a high number of students securing Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
places, with 27 (14%) in 2010.
On 1 September 2008, the school officially changed its status from a Voluntary Controlled school to a Foundation school
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....
, on the basis that "the additional autonomy which foundation status offers will enabled the school to provide an even better standard of education in the future". In January 2011 the school became an Academy.
Notable former pupils
Notable former students include:- Peter AtkinsPeter AtkinsPeter William Atkins is a British chemist and former Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Lincoln College. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics...
- physical chemist and textbook author - Steve Chandra SavaleSteve Chandra SavaleSteve Chandra Savale originally from London, United Kingdom, also known by his stage names Chandrasonic and Chandra Blunt, is a British musician of Asian descent, best known as the lead guitarist of the British electronica band Asian Dub Foundation...
- guitarist with Asian Dub FoundationAsian Dub FoundationAsian Dub Foundation are a British electronica band that plays a mix of rapcore, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence... - Chris CleaveChris Cleave-Biography:Cleave was born in London in 1973, brought up in Cameroon and Buckinghamshire, and educated at Balliol College, Oxford where he studied Psychology. He lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and three children.-Writing:...
- author - Graham FitchGraham FitchGraham Fitch is an English pianist and a former professor at the University of Cape Town.-Biography:First prize winner in the Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, Fitch graduated with honours from London's Royal College of Music as a Hopkinson Gold Medallist...
- concert pianist & master-teacher - Roger Hammond – professional racing cyclist
- Greg HandsGreg HandsGregory William "Greg" Hands, MP is a Conservative Party politician. He is currently the Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham having been elected during the 2010 general election for the newly-created constituency formed with the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and...
– ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP for Chelsea & FulhamChelsea and Fulham (UK Parliament constituency)Chelsea and Fulham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was first contested in the 2010 general election.... - Dave LegenoDave LegenoDavid "Dave" Legeno is an English actor, boxer and mixed martial artist.-Life and career:Legeno was born in Marylebone, London, England. He has been quoted as saying that he wanted to act since he read Shakespeare's Richard III...
– actor, Fenrir Greyback in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceHarry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling... - Margaret MeeMargaret MeeMargaret Ursula Mee, MBE was a British botanical artist who specialized in plants from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. She was also one of the first environmentalists to draw attention to the impact of large-scale mining and deforestation on the Amazon Basin.-Early life:Margaret Ursula Brown was...
– botanical artist - Roger MooreRoger MooreSir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
– actor (attended Challoner's for a short time while an evacuee during World War II) - John MousinhoJohn MousinhoJohn Michael Lewis Mousinho is an English footballer who plays for League One side Stevenage as a midfielder.Mousinho began his professional football career at Brentford, having previously been on the books at Chesham United and Notre Dame Fighting Irish respectively – the latter whilst studying...
- footballer for Stevenage F.C. - Kenneth Page Oakley - anthropologist, son of Tom Page Oakley, Headmaster of DCGS
- Alexis PetridisAlexis PetridisAlexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
- rock & pop critic - Dominic RaabDominic RaabDominic Rennie Raab is a British Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Esher and Walton in Surrey and is a former international business lawyer.-Biography:...
- Conservative MP for Esher & Walton - Arthur Reynolds – missionary & author
- Abdul WaheedAbdul Waheed (suspected aircraft bomb plotter)Abdul Waheed or Wahid, formerly Donald Douglas Stewart-Whyte is one of the suspects arrested in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2006, in connection with the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot...
– (born Donald Stewart-Whyte), two years after leaving Challoner's, he was arrested in connection with the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot2006 transatlantic aircraft plotThe 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada... - Rick WardenRick WardenRichard George Warden is an English television and movie actor.Warden studied at Dr Challoner's Grammar School and received a B.A. Honours in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, 1994. He married actress Lucy Barker on 1 May 2004.He is probably best known for his appearances in the HBO...
– actor