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 Donald John Wilkinson (born 14 February 1955) is a Scottish people, Scottish former first-class cricketer and educator. Wilkinson was born at Irvine, North Ayrshire, Irvine in February 1955. Education He was educated at the Lancaster Royal Gr ...

, 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) *

(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 *

Catherine Bearder Catherine Zena Bearder (née Bailey; born 14 January 1949) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament between 2 July 2014 and 12 November 2019. She was a Member of the Eur ...

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

Neil Coles Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. Coles had a successful career in European golf, winning 29 important tournaments between 1956 and 1982. After reaching 50, he won a further 14 important Seniors ...

, 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 *

JJ Feild John Joseph Feild (born 1978) is a British-American film, television and theatre actor. He started his television career in 1999. Feild played Fred Garland in Philip Pullman's ''The Ruby in the Smoke'' and ''The Shadow in the North'' television ...

, actor *

Sonia Friedman Sonia Anne Primrose Friedman (born Freedman; born April 1965) is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first ...

, theatre producer * A. A. Gill, journalist and restaurant critic *

Connie Glynn Constance Ella Glynn (born 16 March 1994) is an English Internet celebrity, author, and cosplayer. Early life Glynn is from Hatfield, Hertfordshire. She and her brother attended St. Christopher School in Letchworth on a bursary. She took class ...

, 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 t ...

, singer and songwriter *

Paul Hamlyn Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn, (12 February 1926 – 31 August 2001) was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist, who established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 1987. Early life He was born Paul Bertrand Wolfgang Hamburger in Berlin, Ger ...

, publisher *

David Horovitch David Horovitch (born 11 August 1945) is an English actor, perhaps best known for playing the character of Inspector Slack in ''Miss Marple''. He stars in the '' Game of Thrones'' prequel series ''House of the Dragon'' as Grand Maester Mellos. ...

, 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

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

Olly Mann Oliver Louis Mann is a British writer, presenter and gadget correspondent. He is best known as the presenter of the weekend evening show on LBC and for his work with longtime collaborator Helen Zaltzman with whom he presented the award-winning ...

, 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 screen ...

, 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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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