Chatham House Grammar School was an all boys

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, that was merged in September 2011 with its sister school

Clarendon House Grammar School Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school in Ramsgate, Kent, England, formed as a result of the merger of the boys-only Chatham House Grammar School and girls-only Clarendon House Grammar School in September 2011. Cha ...

to become the Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School. It had a coeducational

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

and shared teaching facilities and various A Level courses with

. The two schools worked together to provide subjects, bands, and outings. Both schools were co-ed from the sixth form (Year 12 and 13).

History

Chatham House was founded in 1796 by William Humble at 5 Love Lane, later renamed Chatham Street, although there is evidence that the school had existed prior to its formal establishment in a room behind the Post Office in the High Street. The school underwent major changes during the 1800s. The buildings were renovated and expanded, rugby and hockey were also introduced into the sporting programme.

World War II

When Ramsgate was bombed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a bomb hit the school library (where a skylight now stands) but did not detonate. Prior to that, the library had been the school chapel, as evidenced by the amount of stained glass windows situated quite high up. The school had numerous entrances to private shelters used in the second world war to shelter from air raids. Most of these entrances were covered up (now underneath the playing fields) but the last ones are still visible on the lower playground and have been used recently by the local fire authorities for training purposes. In a carpark of the school there is also a slabbed-over entrance to the Ramsgate A.R.P. tunnels, which ran for around 3.5 miles. These are not connected to the school shelters. Chatham House School

The main building of the school as well as the railings were

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Admissions

The school had approximately 813 students including the 262 students in the sixth form, accepting only boys in years 7–11, and a limited number of girls in the sixth form, mostly drawn from the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in a ...

that encompasses

Broadstairs Broadstairs () is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 ...

and

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

, but some from as far away as

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne, Kent, Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury loca ...

and the Whitstable area. Chatham House is situated just south of the junction of the A255 and the A254. On 4 March 2008, the school had an

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspection which rated the school as outstanding - the highest grade achievable. All areas that were inspected were found to be Grade 1 (outstanding) or Grade 2 (good) and the school was praised for its work. The school had the highest rate of GCSE and A level passes in Kent, 73% of students taking their GCSEs last year got A* to C.

Uniform

The school maintained a strict system of uniform throughout all years, including the sixth form. The uniform consisted of a dark green blazer, dark trousers, white shirt and a green tie striped with the correct form the pupil was placed into. In the senior school (years 9–13), ties were also green and striped as previously mentioned. Some pupils also became eligible to wear ties in recognition of other achievement. House 'colours' were similar to the house tie but with a white stripe running along each side of the coloured stripe. School 'colours' were a single white school crest on a dark green tie with a white stripe. There were also 'colours' for sport and music, which consist of a repeating pattern of white stripes and the school crest and were earned by representing the school's first team in 75% of the matches in a season.

House system

The school had a house system with the junior school consisting of years 7 and 8. From year 9, the pupils joined the senior houses. In total there were 8 houses, 4 junior school houses and 4 senior school houses. In the senior houses pupils wore a tie indicative of their house. In year 12 (or lower sixth) the form groups were split into two. The nomenclature for representing a pupil's house was: 7Wh, 11Pe, 12To(ii) The ties consisted of a green tie striped with the appropriate colours named below: The former Chatham House Junior Houses were: *Brackenbury's (Brack's) *Norman's *White's *Larkin's All pupils wore dark green ties. In the Chatham House Senior houses, pupils wore a dark green tie with a coloured stripe: * Heath's = white striped tie * Mann's = orange striped tie * Pearce's = light green striped tie * Thomas' = pink striped tie StGeorgeschurch

Former senior houses, no longer in use, were: * Coleman's - sky blue stripes * Searle's - red stripes * Simmond's - purple stripes * Thornton's = yellow striped tie The house system was used for sporting events - house fixtures results accumulate over the academic year - and for various other competitions, including acting and design contests. The results from all of these fixtures were tallied at the end of each year to determine the winner of the Cock House Trophy.

Competition cups

Throughout the school year, the houses took part in competition cups, which contribute points toward the Cock House Cup. These included the Taylor Acting Cup, Larkin Music Cup, Chapman Design Cup and the Curzon Picture debating competition. Also, sports day events and general achievement contribute towards house points totals.

Merger

In 2009, Chatham House and the nearby girls-only

Clarendon House Clarendon House was a Townhouse (Great Britain), town mansion which stood on Piccadilly in London, England, from the 1660s to the 1680s. It was built for the powerful politician Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and was the grandest priva ...

formed the Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School Federation. The Federation became a new Converter Academy in January 2011, bringing greater control over admissions, site and buildings, curriculum development and much-needed additional income. In Spring 2011, despite previous news letters stating "the federation is not a merger or a takeover of the girls' school", it was announced that the schools will work together as one school. Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils would be based at Chatham House and year 10 and 11 pupils would be based at the former Clarendon House. Beginning September 2011, the new school Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School introduced a combined house system resulting from the amalgamation of old Chatham and Clarendon houses.

Notable alumni

Alumni of Chatham House are known as Old Ruymians. Chatham House has the sixth highest number of ''Who's Who'' entries for

state schools A state school, public school, or government school is a primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-funded schools a ...

. Well known Old Ruymians include: *

Iain Aitch Iain Aitch is an English writer, journalist and artist who lives in London. He is the author of the travel book ''A Fête Worse Than Death,'' a humorous first person journey through an English summer, and ''We're British, Innit,'' a humorous l ...

, author and journalist *

Herbert William Allingham Herbert William Allingham FRCS (17 April 1862 – 4 November 1904) was a British surgeon. He was surgeon to the Household of King Edward VII, and surgeon in ordinary to the Prince of Wales (later King George V). Early life Herbert Allingham was ...

, Surgeon to the Household of

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, and Surgeon in Ordinary to the Prince of Wales (later

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) * Rear-Adm

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, submariner and Director from 2000 to 2003 of the

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* Maj-Gen

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GM, Commandant from 1989 to 1993 of the

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, racing driver * Matt Dunn, author *

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, fantasy writer * Geoffrey Colin Guy CMG CVO OBE,

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(1976–81), and Commissioner of the Turks and Caicos Islands (1958–59, 1959–65) Heathdod

* Sir Edward Heath,

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from 1970 to 1974 *

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MP for

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(2005–2017) *

Sean Kerly Sean Robin Kerly (born 29 January 1960) is an English former field hockey player who competed at three Olympic Games and won a gold medal in 1988. Biography Kerly was born in Whitstable and was educated at Chatham House Grammar School in R ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player * Lieutenant Marc Lawrence, Sea King observer of

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, killed on 21 March 2003 in a crash in

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, radio personality & DJ *

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, Labour MP for

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(1983–2001) * Desmond Misselbrook CBE, Chairman from 1972 to 1978 of Livingston Development Corporation *

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, humourist * Rev Dr Edward Norman, gave the BBC

Reith Lecture The Reith Lectures is a series of annual BBC radio lectures given by leading figures of the day. They are commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service. The lectures were inaugurated in 1948 to mark the historic contrib ...

in 1978 * John Ovenden, Labour MP for

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(1974–79); Leader of Kent County Council (1994–97) * Geoff Parsons,

high jumper * Charles Robson (1859–1943),

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

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, and secretary (manager) of

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* Prof

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, emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the London School of Economics (LSE) *

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Sir

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, Station Commander from 1968 to 1970 of RAF El Adem in Libya;

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(1985–89). *

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, founder of the

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band

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* Most Rev

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, Archbishop Primate of South America and Bishop of Argentina (2002–present) *

Sir

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CBE CB -

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during the first

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, Station Commander from 1980 to 1982 of

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and h ...

References

External links

Chatham Clarendon Grammar School Federation Home Page

(previous website)
OFSTED report

EduBase

website for ex-pupils of Chatham House & Clarendon House

News items

17-year-old boy electrocuted in April 2009
{{authority control Defunct boys' schools in the United Kingdom Defunct grammar schools in England Boys' schools in Kent Grammar schools in Kent Ramsgate 1797 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1797 Grade II listed educational buildings Grade II listed buildings in Kent International Baccalaureate schools in England Academies in Kent