Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School

Articleissues
peacock=September 2008
self-published=September 2008
refimprove=September 2008Infobox UK school
name = Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School


size = 150px
latitude = 51.6564
longitude = -0.3124
dms =
motto = Serve and ObeyNurturing Excellence
motto_pl = True
established = 1690
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Independent, Day school
religion = Non-denominational
president =
head_label = Headmaster
head = Mr. Peter B Hamilton -
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label = Chairman
chair = Mr. M D G Wheldon
founder =
founder_pl =
specialist =
street = Butterfly Lane
city = Borehamwood
county = Hertfordshire
country = England flagicon|England
postcode = WD6 3AF
LEA = Hertfordshire
ofsted =
staff =
enrollment = 1095cite web |url=http://www.isc.co.uk/viewPage.aspx?templateID=6&schoolId=84109&max=2 |title=The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School |accessdate=2007-08-28 |work=Independent Schools Council ]
gender = Boys
lower_age = 4
upper_age = 19
houses = Calverts, Hendersons, Joblings, Meadows, Russells, Strouts
colours = Navy & Sky Blue
publication =
free_label_1 = Former pupils
free_1 = Old Haberdashers'
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.habsboys.org.uk/
website_name = www.habsboys.org.uk

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 [History of Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree [http://www.haberdashers.co.uk/public/publicWrapper.php?t=1&p=schoolsElstree] ] . 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 moved to Hatcham in South London, where boys' and girls' schools 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 [History of Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree [http://www.haberdashers.co.uk/public/publicWrapper.php?t=1&p=schoolsElstree] ] .

The other part moved to a site in Hampstead, in 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. [History of Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree [http://www.haberdashers.co.uk/public/publicWrapper.php?t=1&p=schoolsElstree] ]

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. [cite web|title=The National Pipe Organ Register - Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School|url=http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=C00921] 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.

Perhaps because of the association of haberdashery and the Jewish community (as well as its location in North-West London), the school is popular with Jewish parents, as the list of old boys shows. The school also has a high proportion of Asian pupils.

For a more detailed account of the school's history, see the relevant section in Cockburn et al (1969), referred to below; or a John Wigley's official history of the school, 'Serve and Obey'.

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 4+, 5+, or 7+). As in the past, it has achieved consistently high levels of academic achievement, last year almost 87% of GCSE papers were marked at A* and 90% were marked A* or A. At A-Level over 92% of papers were graded A , and the pupils have been continuously successful in obtaining places at Oxbridge, 43 for 2005 entry, 40 for 2006, and 36 for 2007; making the Girls and Boys schools ninth and nineteenth in the country respectively. [ [http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Education/documents/2007/09/20/100topoxbridge.pdf Top 100 schools by Oxford admissions hit rate] , The Guardian] The school has been under-represented in national League Tables however, because students take IGCSE papers which are uncounted in Government League Tables and because the school usually limits pupils to taking only three A-Level subjects.Many student have gone to cambridge oxfor harvard MITand the others in the IV league Haberdashers' Aske's received a glowing Inspection report in the autumn of 2005, praised for both its academic achievement and for its extracurricular 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 inspects the school and hands 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", "Timeline" and "The Key"), a school newspaper ("The Habs Bugle"), and religious groups ("J-soc" (Jewish Society), "Islamic Society" and "Christian Union") but other non-literary societies also flourish within the school such as an Amnesty International group, the Politics, Science and Economics Societies which invite outside speakers, Food Society, Film society, Debating Society, Model United Nations Society, Chess Club, Classics Society, Bridge Club, Russian Club, Philosophy Club, J-Soc, Christian Union and Radical Society (A society that invites and debates with speakers with a background in the far-left of politics), a Ukulele Orchestra and many others, although the societies list change term to term as boys create new clubs. The school holds an annual MENCAP Funday and an annual Senior Citizens' Tea Party.

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 'The Russels Ironman Challenge (recently renamed "Mr. Hardman's Atlantic Challenge")' 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.The Cricket 1st XI were one of only four school teams to be undefeated in the 2006 season. HABS teams have won many bridge competitions. HABS is regarded as one of, if not the top Model United Nations school in the UK, with delegations winning top prizes at every conference attended. Debating is a tour de force at HABS with the school having won the School's Mace competition, having coached the England Captain and Worlds Best Debater (Jamie Susskind) and with the school completed the debating quadruple (Durham,Oxford,Cambridge and Bristol) for the first time in schools history.Habs also came runners up in the Bank of England Base Rate Competition, Target 2.0, both in 2006 and again in 2007. A Habs team has reached the final of the Ogden business competition 2007, and is down to the last eight teams in the country this year.

The school offers for students in year 10 and above a choice of either the 'School Community Service' (SCS) or the 'Combined Cadet Force'(CCF). The SCS allows students to take an active role in helping out at the school or indeed external locations, where students volunteer on a weekly basis. The CCF comprises of the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force sections, all of which teach leadership skills, as well as an extensive variety of other skills and qualifications, such as a BTEC diploma in Public Services. The corps takes cadets on a field day each term to take part in activities that are specific to their section (e.g. the RAF section typically go flying). The current contingent commander is Mjr. N.P. Saddington (History department).

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" (1996) at an unnamed school that is easily identifiable as Haberdashers', for instance by references to the school's location, layout and, most tellingly, motto.

Other Haberdashers' Schools

* Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls was also established in Acton. The Acton school moved during the 1970s to its current location next to the Boys' School in Elstree.
* Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College formerly Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Boys & Girls 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 divided by Year group with the Prep school consisting of years 1-6, the Lower school 7-9, the Middle school 10-11, and the Sixth Form for years 12-13.

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. For example, Russells House raised over £20,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust between 2003 and 2007.

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 visiting children to events set up by teachers and students from both the boys' school and the girls' school. Events include computer games, a candyfloss machine, bouncy castles, football, swimming and a petting zoo.

Supported charities

* 2004 - 2005 Water Aid, [http://www.tommys.org/ Tommy's the Baby Charity]
* 2005 - 2006 [http://www.cherrylodgecancercare.org.uk/ Cherry Lodge Cancer Care]

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 [http://www.isinspect.org.uk/reports/2005/0467_05.htm ISI Online Report] .

League Tables

The school was ranked at 24 by The Sunday Times in their 2006 Parent Power feature [http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials//topindependentsecondaryschools.pdf] 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 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,115677,00.html] and 72nd (out of 939) at A level [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,114842,00.html] , though this is largely because 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 [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/25/utable1.xml] , and 24th (out of 2703) in their full list ranked by average score per A-level entry [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/leaguetables/secondary2007/alevel.xml] .

Notable Old Haberdashers

Old boys of the school, called , include:
* Sir Ralph Freeman (1880-1950), engineer and architect of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
* Frederick Augustus Voigt (1892-1957), journalist, anti-fascist campaigner
* Lionel Kochan (1922-2005), historian
* Alan Whicker (born 1925), television presenter
* Alan J. Charig (1927-1997), paleontologist
* Sir Geoffrey Leigh (born 1931), founder of Leigh City Technology College, property mogul
* Brian Sewell (born 1936), art critic, journalist, and television personality, referred to the school as "bloody fucking Haberdashers'" [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030928/ai_n12745922/pg_13?tag=artBody;col1 Andrew Barrow, 'A life in full: Nothing if not critical', Independent on Sunday, Sept 28, 2003] ]
* Lord Brittan (born 1939), politician
* Paul Darrow (born 1941), actor
* John Rutherford (born 1941) fellow in Spanish and director of the Centre for Galician Studies at The Queen's College, Oxford. Translator of "Don Quixote".
* Michael Bukht OBE (born 1941), the "Crafty Cook", Michael Barry, from the BBC2 television show "Food and Drink"
* George Foulkes (born 1942), politician
* Jon G. P. Summerill (born c,1942), Chairman, Yellowhammer advertising group
* Michael Green (born 1943), founder of Carlton Television
* Richard Wright (1943-2008), organist/keyboard player and founder member of Pink Floyd
* Andy Bradford (born 1944), actor and fight arranger
* Sir Martin Sorrell (born 1945), Chief Executive of WPP plc (1986-)
* Simon Schama (born 1945), historian
* John Karter (born c.1945), racing journalist and biographer of Frankie Dettori
* Professor Geoffrey Crossick (born c. 1945), Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London
* Professor John Urry (born c. 1946), sociologist
* Sir Nicholas Serota (born 1946), Director of Tate Galleries (1988-)
* Peter Kellner (born 1946), formerly the political analyst of the BBC Newsnight current affairs programme
* Stephen E. G. Lea (born 1946), Professor of Psychology, Exeter University
* Darien Angadi (1949-1984), actor and boyhood soprano
* Michael Wills (born 1952), Labour junior minister
* Toby Harris (born 1953), Labour Politician and former president of the Cambridge Union
* Julian Goater (born 1953), long distance runner
* Peter Kosminsky (born 1956), Documentary Film Maker
* David Lidington (born 1956), Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary
* Michael Collins (born c 1958), clarinetist
* Martin Bussey (born 1958), composer and conductor
* Jonathan FeBland (born 1960), composer
* Damon Hill (born 1960), racing driver
* Mark Kermode (born 1963), film critic (real name Mark Fairey)
* Jason Isaacs (born 1963), actor
* Dr Raj Persaud (born 1963), consultant psychiatrist, plagiariser and television personality
* Andrew Caspari (born 1963), TV producer
* David Baddiel (born 1964), comedian
* Luke Fisher (born 1965), businessman
* Daniel Levy (born 1968) Lobbyist and one of the architects of the Geneva Accord
* Robert Popper (born 1968), producer of the BAFTA award winning "Peep Show" and author of "The Timewaster Letters", "The Return of The Timewaster Letters" and "The Timewaster Diaries" under the pseudonym of Robin Cooper
* Jonny Persey, (born 1968), film producer
* Sacha Baron Cohen (born 1971), comedian (aka Ali G, Borat, or Bruno)
* Nick Goldsmith, (born 1971), film and TV producer
* Dan Mazer, (born 1971), TV producer
* William Sutcliffe (born 1971), author of "New Boy", a fictional book inspired by his experiences at the school.
* Matt Lucas (born 1974), comedian
* Dean Craig (born 1974), film writer "Death at a Funeral"
* Michael Weadock (born 1976), TV and radio football commentator
* Alexander S. Bermange (born 1976), composer and lyricist
* Adam Thirlwell (born 1978), author
* Zac Lichman (born 1980), Big Brother (UK) Contestant ('Ziggy') 2007 and member of boyband Northern Line
* Paul Terry (born 1987), actor
* Roy W Brown human rights activist
* Adam Parsons BBC TV sports correspondent
* Jeremy Brier (born 1980) - Winner of the World Debating Championships (2004), former President of the Cambridge Union, Barrister and prospective Conservative MP for Luton North (2007-)
* John Barker, terrorist and founder member of the Angry Brigade
* Ragulan Raviragan, Heart Surgeon

Trivia

* The school grounds and buildings were used as settings for scenes in a number of early 1960s TV series including "The Avengers" as well as "The Saint", starring the young Roger Moore.
* 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.Fact|date=September 2007

References

J.S. Cockburn, H.P.F. King, K.G.T. McDonnell (1969) " [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22132 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)

External links

* [http://www.habsboys.org.uk/ The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School website]
* [http://www.habsgirls.org.uk/ The Haberdashers' Aske's Girls' School website]
* [http://tatler.co.uk/Schools/2007/Details.aspx?Type=Public&Area=London&ID=508&List= Tatler Schools Guide page on HABS]