St Christopher School is a boarding and day co-educational

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Letchworth Garden City Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England. Established in 1915, shortly after

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in whi ...

founded

, the school is a long-time proponent of

progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...

Characteristics

St Christopher is noted for a lack of any formal

school uniform A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution.They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries. An example of a uniform would be requiring button-down shir ...

and the freedom and encouragement to address teachers by their first names. The school has entirely

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

diet for both boarders and day pupils (a condition of receiving initial sponsorship from the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

). The school established a system of self-governance with Major Officials (the St. Christopher term for a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

) being nominated and elected by their student peers. School meetings allow students and staff alike to propose, vote and implement new and amended rules and policy, but with the

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

reserving the right to veto any he deems unworkable or unacceptable. The system was temporarily in turmoil during the mid-2000s, but a move back towards this ethos has recently been restored under the leadership of current Head Richard Palmer who has held the post since 2006.

History

The school was founded in 1915 by Dr. Armstrong Smith. In 1919,

Beatrice Ensor Beatrice Ensor (11 August 1885 – 1974) was an English theosophical educationist, pedagogue, co-founder of the New Education Fellowship (later World Education Fellowship) and editor of the journal ''Education for the New Era''. Early years Bo ...

and Isabel King assumed joint headship following Smith's retirement the previous year, but both women left to found Frensham Heights in Surrey in 1925. The School in its present form developed under the guidance of Lyn and Eleanor Harris (1925–1953) and their son Nicholas (1954–1980). Following Nicholas's death the governors employed Colin Reid. Colin Reid was Head Master from 1981 to 2004. The headmaster for the next two years was Donald Wilkinson, who made many changes to the running of the school during his short spell. He announced his resignation from the post on 28 September 2006. He was replaced by Richard Palmer who had taught at the school in other capacities before and by then was heading up the Junior School. Palmer left in 2020 to be replaced by Emma-Kate Henry who had served as Deputy Head 2008-13.

Old Scholars

The Old Scholars club, officially The St Christopher Club, runs an annual meeting in July open to all former St Christopher pupils and staff. The Old Scholars club also hosts Matches Day for sports in the Spring. As well as reunions, the club also holds archives of old materials, from photographs of school buildings being constructed, to 'Green Cuisine' recipes.

Headships

*Dr Armstrong Smith (1915–1918) *Beatrice Ensor & Isabel King (1919–1925) *Lyn and Eleanor Harris (1925–1953) *Nicholas King-Harris (1954–1980) *Colin Reid (1981–2004) * Donald Wilkinson (2004–2006) *Richard Palmer (2006–2020) *Emma-Kate Henry (2020–present)

Notable former pupils

Ed Asafu-Adjaye Edward Yaw Okyere Asafu-Adjaye (born 22 December 1988) is an English footballer who plays for side Royston Town, where he plays as a defender. Career Born in Southwark, London, Asafu-Adjaye started his career at Luton Town as a scholar, he w ...

, footballer *

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, Liberal Democrat politician * Gavin Campbell, actor, TV presenter and businessman *

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, golfer *

Julia Darling Julia Rose Darling (21 August 1956 – 13 April 2005) was an English novelist, poet and dramatist. Early life and education Darling was born in 1956 in 8 College Street, Winchester—the house Jane Austen died in. Her parents were John Ramsay D ...

, author *

Jenny Diski Jenny Diski FRSL (née Simmonds; 8 July 1947 – 28 April 2016) was an English writer. She had a troubled childhood, but was taken in and mentored by the novelist Doris Lessing; she lived in Lessing's house for four years. Diski was educated a ...

, author *

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, actor *

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, theatre producer * A. A. Gill, journalist and restaurant critic * Connie Glynn, YouTuber and author *

Freya Ridings Freya Ridings (born 19 April 1994) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Ridings rose to prominence in 2017 with her ballad, " Lost Without You", which became a top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart. She followed this with ...

, singer and songwriter *

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, publisher *

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, actor *

George Lamb George Martin Lamb (born 20 December 1979) is an English radio and television presenter, currently presenting ''Football Tonight'' on BT Sport. In 2012, Lamb presented the Channel 4 game show ''The Bank Job''. Lamb is the son of actor Larry Lam ...

, broadcaster *

Rolf Landsberg Rolf Landsberg ( – ) was a German Professor of Physical Chemistry. Between 1961/2 and 1964 he served as rector of the Leuna-Merseburg "Carl Schorlemmer" Academy for Chemistry (near Leipzig). Life Rolf Landsberg was the elder of two sons born ...

, academic (Physical Chemistry) and University Rector *

Prince Rupert Loewenstein Rupert, Prince zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, Count of Loewenstein-ScharffeneckMartin, Douglas (22 May 2014). ''The New York Times. ''Retrieved 27 May 2014Archived here (24 August 1933 – 20 May 2014) was a Spanish-born Bavarian aristoc ...

, manager of

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, comedian and podcaster * Neil Murray, musician *

Shawn Slovo Shawn Slovo (born 1950) is a South African screenwriter, best known for the film '' A World Apart'', based on her childhood under apartheid. She is the daughter of South African Communist Party leaders Joe Slovo and Ruth First. She wrote the scree ...

, writer *

Richard Walker Richard Walker, Rick, Ricky, or Dick Walker may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Walker (baritone) (1897–1989), English singer and actor Law and politics * Richard Walker (MP) (1784–1855), British Member of Parliament for Bury, 1832 ...

, angler *

Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous Action film, action, Thriller films, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and ...

, film producer and director

References

External links

The school's web siteOld Scholars - The St Christopher ClubProfile
in the

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website * ISI Inspectio
Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Christopher School, Letchworth Boarding schools in Hertfordshire Independent schools in Hertfordshire Educational institutions established in 1915 1915 establishments in England Letchworth Buildings and structures in Letchworth