(He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed = , type =

Public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

Independent day school , religion = Nondenominational Christian , president = , head_label = Head , head = Edward Elliott , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_label = Chairman of the Governing Body , chair = Jonathan W Scott , founder =

Stephen Perse Stephen Perse (1548 – 30 September 1615) was an English academic and philanthropist, who founded schools that still carry his name. Biography He was probably educated at Norwich School, and took his B.A. degree at Gonville and Caius Colle ...

, medium = , address = Hills Road , location = , city = Cambridge , district = , postcode = CB2 8QF , county = Cambridgeshire , country = England , coordinates = , local_authority = , dfeno = 873/6010 , urn = 110923 , ofsted = , staff = 138 teaching, 117 support staff, 26 peripatetics , capacity = , enrolment = 1,564 (2016) , gender = Co-educational , lower_age = 11 , upper_age = 18 , houses = 8 , colours =
Purple and black , publication = OP News Magazine , free_label_1 = Alumni , free_1 = Old Perseans , free_label_3 = , free_3 = , website = http://www.perse.co.uk/ The Perse School is a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

(English independent

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and, in the case of the Perse, a former

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

) in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1615 by

, its motto is ''Qui facit per alium facit per se'', taken to mean 'He who does things for others does them for himself'. The School began accepting girls at 11 and 13+ in September 2010 and was fully co-educational by September 2012. 'Perse' is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an association of the leading UK independent schools. The organisation now comprises three schools, which together provide for children aged 3 through to 18. The Pelican is the Perse's nursery and pre-preparatory school, and accommodates pupils from 3–7. It is situated on Glebe Road, close to the main school site. Preparatory education for students aged 7 to 11 years old is provided by the Perse Prep, which is located close to the Upper School, just north of the junction of Long Road and Trumpington Road. In Year 7 pupils usually progress to the Upper School, where they sit

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

or IGCSE examinations and A-Levels.

History

The school was founded in 1615 at its original site in Free School Lane, Cambridge. Its former buildings now house the Whipple Museum of the History of Science. In 1960, the school moved to the site it now occupies as its 'Upper' school on Hills Road. There have been multiple phases of expansion, particularly in the 21st century. Among notable developments is the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre, a 400-seat theatre, exhibition and rehearsal space designed by architects Haworth Tompkins, which opened in 2018. An old prospectus lists the fees as £3 per term in 1890. From 1945 to 1976 it was a

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

, offering free places to 40% of pupils. Following the abolition of the Assisted Places Scheme, The Perse no longer received any state funding and became independent. The school was ranked 13th in the Sunday Times Parent Power league table in 2019 and 6th in the Daily Telegraph national table of A Level, Pre-U and IB results with 83% A* and A grades from 175 candidates. In 2021, The Sunday Times also named The Perse School as the top independent secondary school in East Anglia, as the school had the best performance in the GCE A Level Examinations in the region.

Motto

The school motto is ''Qui facit per alium facit per se'', usually taken to mean "He who does things for others does them for himself". This is an example of a rebus motto, the Latin sentence ending in a word play on the founder's name "per se" and his benefaction. A

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

dedicated to the school's founder, Dr Stephen Perse, was installed in Free School Lane, Cambridge.

Competitions, Olympiads and scholarships

Pupils have competed and scored highly in academic competitions and Olympiads, in addition to winning awards including

Arkwright Engineering Scholarships The Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is an engineering award given to engineering students within the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. It has been running since 1991 and, as part of The Smallpeice Trust, has awarded over 6,000 scholarships to ...

and Nuffield Research Placements (previously Nuffield Science Bursaries). Students have won scholarships for summer placements at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and research institutes in Heidelberg, Germany. British competition results include: *First place in the Pi Wars robot competition *First place in the Schools' Challenge general knowledge competition *First place (winning the Trinity College prize) in the

National Cipher Challenge The National Cipher Challenge is an annual cryptographic competition organised by the University of Southampton School of Mathematics. Competitors attempt to break cryptograms published on the competition website. In the 2017, more than 7,500 st ...

*First place in the Bank of England ''Target Two Point Zero'' interest rate challenge *Invitation to the British Physics Olympiad presentation afternoon (top 4 in the country in the AS Challenge) *Qualifying for the UKMT Team Maths Challenge final (winning the poster competition) *Qualifying for the British Informatics Olympiad final (top 15 in the country) *Qualifying for Round 2 (top 20 to 25 in the country) of the UK Chemistry Olympiad *Scoring Gold in Round 1 of United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad Students have also competed in international competitions including the International Mathematical Olympiad, the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad, the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, the International Biology Olympiad, the International Rocketry Challenge, the

European Union Contest for Young Scientists The European Union (EU) Contest for Young Scientists is a science fair, initiated by the European Commission. It is a part of the European Union Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, and is managed by the Directorate Gen ...

and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Innovation

In 2018, The Perse School partnered with a Cambridge-based education technology entrepreneur, Rob Percival, to support the creation of an online artificial intelligence maths teaching platform. Blutick in association with The Perse School, exhibited at the BETT Show in London, 2019 to launch a free beta version.

Developments

The Perse School began accepting girls at 11+ and 13+ in September 2010 and became fully co-educational in September 2012 . Since 2020, The Perse School Cambridge International (TPSCI) has liaised with partners to open up The Perse international schools outside of England. Currently, two international schools have been set up, namely The Perse School Singapore (opened in Jan 2020) and The Perse School Suzhou in China (opened in Sep 2021).

Headmaster's blog

On his blog the headmaster, Ed Elliott, described his 'ten second challenge' in which he would give students who "commit occasional minor misdemeanours (such as forgetting a book) the opportunity to talk their way out of a punishment". The story was quickly picked up by the mainstream media who reported that pupils were "let off punishment for clever excuses".

Notable Perseans

Academia

* Maurice Bloch, anthropologist * Harold James, professor of history and international relations * W. E. Johnson, logician * F. R. Leavis, literary critic * Michael Loewe, sinologist * Edward Henry Palmer, orientalist *

G. L. S. Shackle George Lennox Sharman Shackle (14 July 1903 – 3 March 1992) was an English economist. He made a practical attempt to challenge classical rational choice theory and has been characterised as a "post-Keynesian", though he is influenced as well b ...

, economist *

E. H. Warmington Eric Herbert (E. H.) Warmington, MA, FRHistS (15 March 1898 – 8 June 1987) was a professor of classics, internationally known for his Latin translations. Education Herbert attended The Perse School, Cambridge and won a scholarship to Peterhou ...

, classicist

Art

Thomas P. Campbell Thomas Patrick Campbell (born July 12, 1962) is the director and CEO of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, overseeing the De Young Museum, de Young and Legion of Honor (museum), Legion of Honor museums. ...

, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Business

* David Tang, Hong Kong-based entrepreneur

Engineering

* Arthur Marshall, aviation engineer * Anthony Michell, hydraulic engineer

Film and theatre

* Ranjit Bolt, translator and playwright * Marius Goring, actor * Peter Hall, founder of the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

Humphrey Jennings Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 195 ...

, film director * Matthew Lloyd, theatre director,

Royal Exchange, Manchester The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...

* Colin McFarlane, actor * Jeremy Silberston, film director

Law

* Mark Potter, Appeal Court judge and President of the Family Division

Media

* Simon Akam, author, writing on military history and the British Army since 9/11 * Mel Calman, cartoonist * Rodney Dale, writer and publisher * John Gross, critic and editor *

Tom Harwood Thomas Hedley Fairfax Harwood (born 26 August 1996) is a British journalist and political commentator. He is the political correspondent for GB News. He worked for the right-wing political news website Guido Fawkes between 2018 and 2021, and was ...

, journalist for ''

Guido Fawkes Guido Fawkes is a right-wing political website published by British-Irish political blogger Paul Staines. History In September 2004, Staines began writing an anonymous blog about British politics under the name of Guido Fawkes, an alternative ...

'', '' The Daily Telegraph'' and GB News * Tom Rosenthal (publisher) (1935–2014), publisher and art critic *

Mark Saggers Mark Leonard Saggers (born 28 May 1959) is a British journalist and radio presenter. Early life He attended the Perse School, Cambridge, 1970–77 and was a keen sportsman representing the school at rugby, hockey, and cricket. As a schoolboy, he ...

, BBC sports broadcaster

Military

*Group Captain William Neil McKechnie,

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

recipient * Ralph Lilley Turner MC, 2nd/3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles

Music

* Pete Atkin, singer/songwriter *

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

, singer/songwriter and guitarist of

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

Spike Hughes Patrick Cairns "Spike" Hughes (19 October 1908 – 2 February 1987) was a British musician, composer and arranger involved in the worlds of classical music and jazz. He has been called Britain's earliest jazz composer. Later in his career, he ...

, jazz musician and journalist * Ronnie Ross, jazz musician * John Woolford, first boyfriend of Benjamin Britten

Politics

* Anthony Browne, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire * Rajani Palme Dutt, leading figure in the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

* Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge 2010-2015 * David Steiner,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

State

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of Education * Donald Tebbit, diplomat,

British High Commissioner to Australia The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia is an officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative to the Commonwealth of Australia. Despite Britain's close relationship wi ...

* Quentin Thomas, civil servant, head of the British Board of Film Classification

Religion

John Polkinghorne John Charlton Polkinghorne (16 October 1930 – 9 March 2021) was an English theoretical physicist, theologian, and Anglican priest. A prominent and leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion, he was professor of ma ...

, physicist and theologian *Bishop Jeremy Taylor, an influence on the foundation of Methodism

Science

Gustav Victor Rudolf Born Gustav Victor Rudolf Born FRCP, HonFRCS, FRS (29 July 1921 – 16 April 2018) was a German-British professor of Pharmacology at King's College London and Research Professor at the William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and The London Sch ...

, pharmacologist *

Sarah Martins Da Silva Sarah Martins da Silva is a British gynaecologist and researcher specialising in male infertility. Martins da Silva is a Clinical Reader in reproductive medicine at the University of Dundee. She also works as an honorary consultant gynaecolog ...

, gynaecologist and scientist *Associate Professor

Anthony Lowe Anthony Peter Lowe AP (born 16 March 1962) is a British-Australian mathematical physicist and actuary. He previously served as chief executive officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, and is a frequent media commentator on prostat ...

, mathematical physicist and

actuary An actuary is a business professional who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. The name of the corresponding field is actuarial science. These risks can affect both sides of the balance sheet and require asset man ...

* Brian G. Marsden, astronomer *

Ronald G. W. Norrish Ronald George Wreyford Norrish Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (9 November 1897 – 7 June 1978) was a British chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Norrish was born in Cambridge and was educated ...

, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 * George Paget Thomson, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937

Sport

Zaman Akhter Zaman Akhter (born 12 March 1999) is an English cricketer who plays for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and was the 6th graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) to sign a professional contract. He is a right-handed batsman and righ ...

, cricketer *

Charles Clayton Charles Clayton (October 5, 1825 – October 4, 1885) was a United States representative from California. He was born in Derbyshire, England. He was the Alcalde of Santa Clara, California from 1849 to 1850. He was a miller and founded the Santa ...

, cricketer *

Owen Giles Owen Giles was a professional rugby player at Northampton Saints, comfortable at any position in the back and second rows. Having attended The Perse School (He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed ...

, Northampton Saints rugby union player * Alex Coles, Northamption Saints rugby union player * Horace Gray, cricketer * Richard Hesketh, cricketer * Tess Howard, field hockey player *

Reimell Ragnauth Reimell Tagenath Ragnauth (born 29 March 1975) is an English former first-class cricketer. Ragnauth was born in March 1975 at Cambridge, where he was educated at The Perse School, before going up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. While studying at C ...

, cricketer

Staff

Headmasters

* George Griffith, MA - died 1686 * Frederick Heppenstall, MA - 1864 to 1874 * Dr

W. H. D. Rouse William Henry Denham Rouse (; 30 May 1863 – 10 February 1950) was a pioneering British teacher who advocated the use of the "direct method" of teaching Latin and Greek. Life Rouse was born in Calcutta, British India on 30 May 1863. After his f ...

, MA, LittD (Cantab) - 1902 to 1928. Formerly a fellow of

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

* H. A. Wootton - 1928 to 1945 *

Stanley Stubbs Stanley Stubbs may refer to: * Stanley Stubbs (headmaster) * Stanley Stubbs (baseball) {{hndis, Stubbs, Stanley ...

, MA - 1945 to 1969. Formerly a housemaster at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

* Anthony E. Melville - 1969 to 1987. Formerly senior history master at Haileybury * Dr Martin Stephen - 1987 to 1994. Subsequently, High Master of Manchester Grammar School from 1994 to 2004 and then St Paul's School from 2004 to 2011. Director of Education for GEMS Education UK. Non-Executive Chairman of the Clarendon Academies Group * Dr Nigel P. V. Richardson - 1994 to 2008. Headmaster of

The Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

from 1989 to 1992. Chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in 2007. Governor of Magdalen College School and Haileybury. AGBIS board member. Author of the biography ''Thring of Uppingham: Victorian Educator'' * Mr Edward C. Elliott, MA - 2008 onwards. Joined the school in 1997 as head of sixth form and was senior deputy head before being appointed headmaster

Notable staff

Henry Caldwell Cook Henry Caldwell Cook (1886–1939) was a British educator known for his book ''The Play Way'', which contended that doing was a better learning method than reading and listening, and that youth study through play. Early life and career Henry ...

, (1886–1939) educationalist *

Frederick Crossfield Happold Frederick Crossfield Happold, (1893–1971) was an educational pioneer, tenured headmaster, author and decorated British army officer. Early life and First World War Born the son of a butcher in Scotforth, Lancashire the family nevertheless had d ...

DSO ( Cantab.) *

Glenn Kirkham Glenn Charles W. Kirkham (born 8 October 1982) is an English field hockey player who played for the English and British national team. Hockey Kirkham made his international senior debut for the national squad in January 2002 in a match again ...

, captain of the England national field hockey team, served as a sports coach at the Perse from 2005 to 2014, including as assistant director of sport and head of hockey from 2012 to 2014. After three years away from The Perse School, Kirkham returned to the new post of Upper School Director of Sport in September 2017. Kirkham participated at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing, and the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

in Delhi * Helen Richardson Walsh, hockey gold medalist

References

External links

*
School Roll of Honour for the World Wars
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perse School 1615 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1610s Independent schools in Cambridgeshire Schools in Cambridge Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference