Latymer Upper School

Foundation Latymer Upper School has its origins in the will of Edward Latymer, who left a bequest to educate "eight poore boyes" of Hammersmith. In 1863, the boys' school moved to a new building between King Street East (now Hammersmith Road) and Great Church Lane, a little to the east of Hammersmith Broadway. The bishop of London, Frederick Temple, opened Latymer Upper School on its new site on King Street in 1895. The old buildings were used for Latymer Lower School, an "elementary" or primary school In 1945, Latymer became a direct grant grammar school, meaning that it took both state-funded and fee-paying pupils. Its head joined the Headmasters' Conference. The Direct Grant system was abolished in 1976, removing government funding, Latymer became a public school, meaning that students normally paid fees. and the school switched to the Assisted Places Scheme, retaining a mix of partly or wholly funded places and fee-paying pupils. Latymer Prep School is a junior school for pupils from age 7 upwards on the same site, in Rivercourt House, by the River Thames. It was founded in 1951 to prepare pupils for Latymer Upper School. In 1996, the Sixth Form became co-educational. In 2004, the main school started on the same path, with the introduction of girls into Year 7; as those pupils moved up the school, it became fully co-educational by 2008. In 2018, the school won three Times Educational Supplement awards, for "Independent School of the Year", "Independent-State School Partnerships", and "Senior School of the Year". Each year, the school gathers in the nearby church of St Paul's, Hammersmith to celebrate "Founder's Day" in honour of Edward Latymer. Latymer Upper School 1895 Building.jpg|The 1895 building File:Old Building Doorway, Latymer Upper School.jpg|The north doorway, with Edward Latymer's crest and ornamental stonework == School ==

Fees Tuition for 2024 was £8,633 per term, plus other mandatory and optional fees. Latymer offers a bursary programme, with assistance ranging between a quarter and the whole of the fees, according to need. One pupil in five received a bursary in 2022. The school states that it intends to increase this to one in four and make the school "needs-blind", meaning that no applicant who passed the entrance exam would be prevented from joining the school through inability to pay fees. Activities The school provides many clubs and societies, including in 2024 a variety of sports, literature, dance, singing, debating, various technologies, philosophy, and photography. The school participates in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. The school runs day trips during the school year, and it offers all students a trip from a choice of some 30 trips run every year in 'Activities Week'. These include outdoor activities such as camping and trekking, and cultural activities and sports. The Latymer Upper School Boat Club taught Andy Holmes, Olympic gold medal rower (1984 Games and 1988 Games), and the cox Henry Fieldman, Olympic bronze medal rower (2020 Games). The Boat Club has gone on to win Henley Royal Regatta, most recently with the win of the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup in 2019. Facilities The Latymer Theatre and Arts Centre, opened in 2000, includes a 300-seat galleried box theatre named the Edward Latymer Theatre and an art gallery. The Latymer Performing Arts Centre contains a drama studio, rehearsal rooms, and a 100-seat recital hall. A new Science and Library building was completed in 2010. The Sports Centre was opened in March 2016; it has a six-lane swimming pool, basketball hoops, badminton markings, cricket nets, a fitness suite, and a bouldering wall, and serves as an area for pupils to take their examinations. The school's playing fields are about a mile and a half away, on Wood Lane. The playing fields were used for training by the England Rugby Team in 2020. Coat of arms The armorial bearings of the founder, Edward Latymer, included his Latin motto, (). The motto puns on his surname, using an "i" in "(pau)(go)", as Latin lacks the letter "y". The crest was changed again to a form more like the original one in September 2020. Academic performance Latymer Upper School was rated in 2012 by the Tatler Schools Guide as one of the highest academically performing schools in the UK. Pupils sit an examination in English and mathematics to enter the school. There were 29 Oxbridge places in 2021, and several pupils went to US universities such as Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Cornell. GCSE and A-Level results over five years are summarised in the table. == Notable alumni and former staff ==

Politics , journalist , Member of Parliament • John Beckett (1894–1964), fascist politician • Peter Hendy, Minister of State for Rail • Alan Hunt, diplomat • John Killick (1919–2004), ambassador • Ian Percival (1921–1998), Solicitor General • Joshua Rozenberg, legal affairs correspondent for the Daily Telegraph • Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith • Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East • Peter Walker (1932–2010), Cabinet Minister • Larry Whitty, General Secretary of the Labour Party • George Walden, Education Minister • John Crace, journalist • Lily Cole, actress and model • Martyn Green (1899–1975), actor, singer, comedian • Christopher Guard, actor • Ophelia Lovibond, actress • Imogen Poots, actress • Augustus Prew, actor • Toby Regbo, actor • Alan Rickman (1946–2016), actor • Mel Smith (1952–2013), actor and film director • Sean Teale, actor • Rufus Jones, actor • Gordon McDougall, theatre director Music , singer , cellist • Walter Legge (1906–1979), record producer, founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra • Charlie Morgan, musician • Jamie Quinn, known as Matrix • Arlo Parks, singer • Jay Sean, singer • Cliff Townshend (1916-1986), jazz musician • Raphael Wallfisch, cellist Sport • Andy Holmes (1959–2010), Olympic gold medal rower • Antony Hooper, cricketer • Simon Hughes, cricketer • Hugh Jones, athlete • Dan Luger, rugby player • Dominic Waldouck, rugby player Other fields , chef , biologist • Heston Blumenthal, TV chef and owner of The Fat Duck • Ajahn Brahm, Buddhist monk • Gordon Brook-Shepherd (1918–2004), author • Thomas Haller Cooper (1919–1987?), member of the Waffen SS's British Free Corps • Peter Farquhar (1946–2015), teacher • Richard Jackson, Bishop of Hereford • Harold Spencer Jones (1890–1960), Astronomer Royal • Philip I. Murray, professor of ophthalmology • John D. Ray, Egyptologist • Jerry Roberts (1920–2014), wartime codebreaker at Bletchley Park • David Shoenberg (1911–2004), physicist • Jim Smith, biologist • Allegra Stratton, journalist • Terence Tiller (1916-1987), poet and radio producer • David Tress, painter • Fred Vine (1939-2024), geologist and co-discoverer of plate tectonics • Arthur Earnest Watkins (1898-1967), botanist • Geoff Whitty (1946–2018), sociologist Former staff • Peter Jacobs, piano • Max Kenworthy, music • Robert King (conductor), music == See also ==