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Westminster City School

Coordinates: 51°29′52″N 0°08′21″W / 51.4978°N 0.1391°W / 51.4978; -0.1391
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Westminster City School
Address
Map
55 Palace Street

, ,
SW1E 5HJ

Coordinates51°29′52″N 0°08′21″W / 51.4978°N 0.1391°W / 51.4978; -0.1391
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoStrength in Unity
Established17th century
Refounded in 1877
Department for Education URN138312 Tables
OfstedReports
Head teacherPeter Broughton
ChaplainStephen Taylor
GenderBoys, mixed sixth form
Age11 to 18
Enrolment807
Websitehttp://www.wcsch.com

Westminster City School is a state-funded secondary academy for boys, with a mixed sixth form, in Westminster, London. The school educates over 800 students, with links to more than 100 different cultures, in a central London location. The school offers places at Year 7 entry, each year, to boys of Christian faith, other world faiths, and those of no faith. The current headteacher is Peter Broughton, while the current deputy headteachers are Jen Lockyer and Simon Brown.[1]

The school became an academy in 2012. In March 2022, Ofsted rated it "good".[2]

Old school poster
The vestibule 1922
Aerial view of School

History

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Foundation

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The charters and foundations of several historic charity schools[3] were by Act of Parliament in 1873 incorporated into the Grey Coat Hospital Foundation and United Westminster Schools (UWS) Foundation. UWS comprised the Westminster City School and Emanuel School, Wandsworth; the Grey Coat Hospital Foundation comprised the Grey Coat Hospital, Westminster and Queen Anne's School, Caversham. In 1910, the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers transferred the Sutton Valence School in Kent into UWS.[4] [5] Westminster City School is amalgamation of the former Brown Coat, Green Coat and Black Coat schools. Key dates in its history are:[5]

  • 1590: Lady Dacre petitions Queen Elizabeth I for a royal charter for a hospital in "this City of Westminster" and to provide "instruction of certain boys and girls".
  • 1601: Queen Elizabeth grants order of incorporation for Emmanuel Hospital.
  • 1624: Green Coat School Westminster opened.
  • 1633: Charter of King Charles I for St Margaret's Hospital.
  • 1654: A hospital, along with almshouses and a school, is founded by James Palmer in Westminster.
  • 1671: Following a period of closure, Palmer's School is reopened as the Black Coat School.
  • 1677: Bequest of benefactor Emery Hill to the Brown Coat School.
  • 1688: Blue Coat School founded.
  • 1698: Grey Coat Hospital founded.
  • 1706: Queen Anne granted a royal charter to Grey Coat Hospital.
  • 1736: Brown Coat School formally opened.
  • 1847: Brown Coat school numbers increased to 60.
  • 1873: Following a vote in Parliament, Queen Victoria approved amalgamation under United Westminster Schools.
  • 1874: The school was formally opened.[5]
  • 1876: The 'foundation stone' was laid in Palace Street by Sir Sydney Waterlow.[5]
  • 1877: The new School building was opened by the Dean of Westminster, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley.[5]
  • 1878–9: The Science and Art Department withdrew accreditation from headmaster Goffin on suspicion of supplying exam answers to students, a claim supported by a Parliamentary select committee.[6][7] The school's governors retained Goffin in office, claiming he was only guilty of "over cramming".[6][8]
  • 1890: School officially named Westminster City School.[5]
  • 1901: The sculptor Frank Taubman placed a copy of the statue of Waterlow in front of the school.[9]
  • 1918: Education Act gives Westminster City grammar school status.
  • 1939: Outbreak of the Second World War with school evacuated to Tonbridge, Kent area, amalgamating with the Judd School.
  • 1940s: Westminster City School Palace Street building was badly damaged in an air raid during the Blitz.[10]
  • 1944: School moved from Tonbridge to Exmouth.
  • 1945: With the end of the Second World War, school re-assembles in Westminster with numbers now down to 350.
  • 1958: Golden jubilee year of the Old Westminster Citizens' Association. The school was used as a location for the film Inn of the Sixth Happiness starring Ingrid Bergman.
  • 1963: 330th anniversary of the Charles I charter celebrated with a service at St. Margaret's Church, attended by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother who visited the school after the service.
  • 1977: Westminster City School celebrates 100 years at Palace Street and becomes a four form entry mixed ability comprehensive school.
  • 1983: Westminster City School and its Origins, by R. Carrington, is published.[5]
  • 2004: A teacher was raped by a pupil after class. The pupil involved was sent to prison and the teacher eventually won compensatory damages and legal costs from the school.[11]
  • 2018: £6 million Jack Pouchot Building officially opened by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. It improves music, art and drama spaces for pupils and is named after Jack Pouchot, a former pupil and the youngest man to be decorated with the Distinguished Conduct Medal in battle during the First World War.[12]
Pouchot Building opening
The Duke of Kent at the opening of the Pouchot Building

Notable former students

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Recent living alumni

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Other notable pupils (from Westminster City Grammar School days)

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References

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  1. ^ "Westminster City School : Home". wcsch.com. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Westminster City School Inspection report" (PDF).
  3. ^ "WHERE DID THEY GO TO SCHOOL?" (PDF). 26 May 2004. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  4. ^ Foundation, Westminster City School. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Carrington, R (1983). Westminster City School and its Origins (PDF). Amazon: WESTMINSTER CITY SCHOOL and its origins by R. Carrington Published by kind permission of the Trustees of the United Westminster Schools' Foundation, and the Governors of Westminster City School. pp. 1–113. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  6. ^ a b Department of Science and Art (1880). "Appendix A; Case of Mr. Goffin". Twenty-Seventh Report. Command papers. Vol. C. 2619. London: HMSO. pp. 3–7.
  7. ^ Report from the Select Committee on Mr. Goffin's Certificate; together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index. Parliamentary Papers. Vol. HC 1878-9 x (334) 23. H.M. Stationery Office. 1 August 1879. p. iii.
  8. ^ Hughes, Joseph, ed. (September 1881). "Monthly Notes; The Goffin Case". The Practical Teacher. 1 (7). T. Nelson: 348.
  9. ^ R. Carrington: Westminster City School and its Origins. United Westminster Schools Foundation and the Governors of Westminster City School. 1983.
  10. ^ Ronan Thomas, Victoria Street SW1 1940–1945, West End at War, with photograph. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  11. ^ Teacher raped by boy wins damages, BBC News, 22 June 2009
  12. ^ "John Pouchot". Leighton Linslade Town Council. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Councillor details – Councillor Wes Streeting". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  14. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1956". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  15. ^ "John Auguste Pouchot – Fenny Stratford in the Great War". freewebs.com. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  16. ^ Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
  17. ^ "OWCA | Welcome to the Old Westminster Citizens' Association". owca.org.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  18. ^ "National Portrait Gallery – Person – Alan Francis Bright Rogers". npg.org.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  19. ^ Who's Who (UK)
  20. ^ "Sir Denis Rooke, OM". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  21. ^ "Rosenthal quits Royal Academy after 31 years of blockbusters". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  22. ^ "My perfect weekend: Christopher Warren-Green". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
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