St Clement Danes School is a mixed academy school in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire.

Admissions

St Clement Danes is a partially selective school, providing education to students aged 11 (

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 in the United ...

) through to 18 (

Year 13 Year 13 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland and New Zealand. It is sometimes the thirteenth and final year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-compulsory e ...

). Most students are admitted based on proximity to the school, with priority given to students with siblings already at the school, or whose parents are staff at the school, but up to 10% of the Year 7 cohort are admitted based on performance in the eleven-plus exam, and a further 10% may be admitted based on performance in a musical aptitude test. Entry to the

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

in Year 12 is dependent on GCSE exam grades, and admissions are mainly from students already at the school, but there is also an additional intake of external students.

Location

The school occupies a large site to the northwest of

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and ...

in Chorleywood. It is about a mile (1.6 km) from

Chorleywood station Chorleywood is a London Underground and National Rail station in Travelcard Zone 7 (previously zone B) on the Metropolitan line. The village of Chorleywood is in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire about from London. Chorleywood stat ...

, and is served by buses from the station and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

. It is situated on ''

Chenies Chenies is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the border with Hertfordshire, east of Amersham and north of Chorleywood. History Until the 13th century, the village name was Isenhampstead. There were two ...

Road'' ( A404), which at that point occupies the boundary of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire for a half-mile, adjacent to the north side of the school. The school is less than a mile west of junction 18 of the M25.

History

The school was founded in 1862 by the church wardens of St Clement Danes Parish in

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...

, London and opened in Houghton Street. It was funded from income from the St Clement Danes Holborn Estate, a charity founded in 1551 which owned a piece of land on the north side of Holborn.School History
, St Clement Danes School.

Grammar school (Holborn & Hammersmith)

The first St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Grammar School for Boys was established in 1862 in ''Houghton Street''

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

, near to the church. In 1928, the school transferred to a new site on ''Du Cane Road'' in Hammersmith, where it flourished as St. Clement Danes

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 school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

until 1975. The school had a well-known choir which featured in a 1975

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

recording (ASD 3117) of

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata '' Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Carl ...

's ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

'', conducted by André Previn with the LSO (and chorus). The site was next to

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of ...

, and is now occupied by ''St Clement's House'', a block of flats and Wood Lane High School. On 29 June 1973, 13-year-old Nicholas St Clair from Fulham was killed on the school playing fields when he was struck in the chest by a javelin thrown by a fellow student. A verdict of accidental death was recorded by the coroner following an inquest into the incident.

Comprehensive (Chorleywood)

In 1975, under an agreement between the Governing Board of the School and

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...

, it was re-established in new premises in Chorleywood, as a Voluntary-Aided Mixed Comprehensive School. In April 1994 the school was incorporated as a

grant-maintained school Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective ad ...

. The Du Cane Road buildings were taken over by Burlington Danes Church of England School, sold to

in 2002 and demolished in 2004. The school receives additional financial support from the St Clement Danes School Charitable Foundation, one of the beneficiaries of the historic St Clement Danes Holborn Estate.

Academy (Chorleywood)

The school converted to academy status in July 2011. In 2016, the school became part of the Danes Educational Trust, a multiple-academy trust, which also includes Croxley Danes School, Chancellor's School,

Elstree Screen Arts academy Elstree Screen Arts Academy (formerly Elstree University Technical College) is a university technical college (UTC) located in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, which opened in September 2013. The UTC specialises in behind-the-scenes media p ...

and Onslow St Audrey's School.

Houses

The house system was introduced in 1907 with four houses: Clare, Temple, Clement and Dane. By 1938 the school had grown and two new houses were added: Burleigh and Lincoln. Essex and Exeter were subsequently introduced in 1952. On the move to Hertfordshire, the school reverted to six houses, with Clare and Essex not being reintroduced until 2005.

Current Houses and Colours

Commemoration

Every year a commemoration service is held in St Clement Danes Church in London to commemorate the beginning of the school. It is a large celebration, in which the orchestra and choir play a big part. Half of the school visit the church in London, whilst the other half attend a service held at the school in Chorleywood. The school's song 'The Anchor Is Our Emblem' is sung at the church.

Notable former pupils

Boys' grammar school in London: * Sir

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...

, conductor & cellist * Maj-Gen Eric Barton CB MBE, Colonel Commandant from 1982–7 of the Royal Engineers *

Geoffrey Davies Geoffrey Davies (born 15 December 1942 in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actor. Biography The son of an accountant, Davies was educated at grammar school and studied at art college to be a commercial artist before becoming an ...

, developed pacemakers with Aubrey Leatham in the 1950s * Professor Tony Dornhorst CBE, FRCP, physician * Wally Downes, Wimbledon football player * Frank Field, politician * Martin Fitzmaurice, darts master of ceremonies *

Andy Fraser Andrew McIan Fraser (3 July 1952 – 16 March 2015) was a British musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist and co-composer for the rock band Free, which he helped found in 1968 when he was 15. He also founded the rock band Sharks ...

, bass guitarist, songwriter and sometimes studio piano player with Free: famous for "All Right Now" (co-writer). * John Jackson,

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

goalkeeper * Ben Levene, artist * Hugh Lindsay (born 1938), English amateur footballer who played for

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and appeared in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only albu ...

, bass guitarist and songwriter with the Sex Pistols * Mikey Craig, bass player with Culture Club * Michael Oliver, broadcaster on Radio 3 and on Radio 4's ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when v ...

'' *

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

, television playwright, director, novelist * John Slater, actor * David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon, Labour MP from 1970 to 1983 for Swindon * Michael Ward, economist who developed international economic statistics *

Alan Wilder Alan Charles Wilder (born 1 June 1959) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer and former member of the electronic band Depeche Mode from 1982 to 1995. Since his departure from the band, the musical project called Recoil b ...

, former keyboard player for Depeche Mode Mixed comprehensive in Hertfordshire: *

Katy Brand Katherine Frances Brand (born 1979), known as Katy Brand, is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'' and for Comedy Lab ''Slap'' on Channel 4. Early life and education Brand was born in ...

, comedienne *

Dee Caffari Denise "Dee" Caffari MBE (born 23 January 1973) is a British sailor, and in 2006 became the first woman to sail single-handedly and non-stop around the world "the wrong way"; westward against the prevailing winds and currents. In February 200 ...

, record-breaking sailor * Natasha Khan, singer and musician,

Bat For Lashes Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979), known professionally as Bat for Lashes, is an English singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. She has released five studio albums: '' Fur and Gold'' (2006), ''Two Suns'' (2009), '' The Hau ...

Tim Lovejoy Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings on the ...

, TV presenter * Rob Kiernan, professional footballer *

Lee Canoville Leroy Paul Canoville (born 14 March 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player he was a defender who began his career with Premier League side Arsenal, he went on to play in the Football League for N ...

, professional footballer * Jack Garratt, singer and multi-instrumentalist *

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, singer * Liam Watson (record producer)

Notable former staff

Mark Warburton Mark Warburton (born 6 September 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player who is a first-team coach at West Ham United. As a player, Warburton was a right back at non-League level with Enfield and Boreham Wood. He beg ...

, head coach of

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, coached part time at the school * Andrew Davies (screenwriter) taught English 1958–61. * Bill Ashton (jazz musician and founder of the

National Youth Jazz Orchestra The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) is a British jazz orchestra founded in 1965 by Bill Ashton. In 2010. Mark Armstrong took over as Music Director of the flagship performing band, and Artistic Director of the organisation; Bill Ashton becam ...

) taught French 1971–73. *

Roland Mathias Roland Glyn Mathias (4 September 1915 – 16 August 2007) was a Welsh writer, known for his poetry and short stories. He was also a literary critic, and responsible with Raymond Garlick for the success of the literary magazine ''Dock Leaves'' (f ...

, poet *

Jonathon Porritt Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet, CBE (born 6 July 1950) is a British environmentalist and writer. He is known for his advocacy of the Green Party of England and Wales. Porritt frequently contributes to magazines, newspapers and books ...

(eco-politician) taught English and directed drama 1974–77

References

External links

School history

Get Information About Schools (GIAS)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Clement Danes School Schools in Three Rivers District Academies in Hertfordshire Educational institutions established in 1862 Relocated schools 1862 establishments in England Secondary schools in Hertfordshire Rickmansworth