Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby is a 7–18 boys

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

, located in

Great Crosby Great Crosby is an area of the town of Crosby, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England and is historically, part of Lancashire. Location In 1907, the Victoria County History described Great Crosby's location thus: 'The a ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

. The school's motto is that of the

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 111 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prior t ...

: ''Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt'' (Small Things Grow in Harmony). ''From September 2025, Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School will join Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School to create a single, co-educational senior school. The newly created school will be known as Merchant Taylors’ School and will be co-educational for all pupils aged 4-18, creating one school, one community, with one vision.''

History

Establishment

The school was founded in 1620 under the instruction of the estate of John Harrison, a citizen and Merchant Taylor of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, who was born in

, and was run under the auspices of the Merchant Taylors' Company until 1910. In 1878, the school moved to its present site, some 1,000 yards from the previous, which now forms part of the

Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Merchant Taylors' Girls' School is a selective private girls' school in Great Crosby, Merseyside, England. History Merchant Taylors' Girls' School was established in 1888, having inherited the buildings from the boys' school that had moved ...

, with whom the school shares a Governing Board and

Bursar A bursar (derived from ''wikt:bursa, bursa'', Latin for 'Coin purse, purse') is a professional Administrator of the government, administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usual ...

. The first

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

was the Revd John Kidde, who was also at the time the ‘Minister of Crosby’ and a farmer of to support his family of eight children. Kidde was apparently sacked from the post in 1651 on the grounds of mismanagement, although it is thought he was forced out by Roman Catholic sympathizers on account of his Puritan/Presbyterian ways.

Boarding school

Until the 1970s, Merchant Taylors' was also a

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. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

. It currently caters for over 700 day pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 (with an additional 120 in the Junior School). Lessons run Monday-Friday, 08:40-16:00 (A Saturday working day was abolished in 1981). As a result of these longer school days, holidays are frequently several weeks longer than

local education authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

dates. The school is independently run, and, as such, charges tuition fees. Fees were partially subsidised by the Government under the

Assisted Places Scheme The Assisted Places Scheme was established in the UK by the Conservative government in 1980. Children who were eligible were provided with free or subsidised places to fee-charging independent schools - based on the child's results in the schoo ...

until the closure of that scheme in 2001. The Schools now run their own means tested Assisted Places Scheme under which about 20% of pupils benefit from free, or reduced-fee places. The schools offer around £1 million a year in bursaries. About 17 per cent of pupils at the two senior schools receive assistance, worth up to 100 per cent of the £11,394 annual fees.

Recent history

In 2013, Merchant Taylors’ was Crosby’s best performing school with 98% of pupils at the boys’ school achieving five Cs or above in any subject at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

Overview

Academic attainment

Academically, the School sees around 60% of grades awarded at A* and A at

and, consistently excellently at

A-Level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

, where 80% and above of grades have been recorded at A*-B. 2012 saw record results at A Level, with the percentage of grades awarded at A* and A 62.3%. The School also enters students for a range of other public examinations, including

Extended Project Qualification Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is a qualification taken by some students in England and Wales, which is equivalent to 50% of an A-Level. Graded A*–E and worth up to 28 UCAS tariff points, it is part of level three of the national qualif ...

s, which have been offered since 2011.

Extracurricular activities

The primary sports played by the school are

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, however

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

as well as

samoan cricket Kilikiti, also known as Samoan cricket or kirikiti, is one of forms of cricket, several forms of the game of cricket. Originating in Samoa (English Missionary, missionaries introduced History of Test cricket (to 1883), their game of cricket in the ...

have both recently been introduced as an 'official' school sport and looks set to challenge the more established sports over the coming years. The school also has a boat house which is currently on loan to Southport Dragon Boat Club, in the nearby town of Southport for its rowing team. The rowing team compete in national races with a number of boys competing at national level every year. The rugby coaching staff includes former

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

international Ian McKie, and included

Mike Slemen Michael Anthony Charles Slemen (11 May 1951 – 20 July 2020) was an international rugby union player. He toured South Africa in 1980 with the British and Irish Lions and at the time played club rugby for Liverpool. Early life Mike Slemen wa ...

, former

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 ...

and

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

international and England team selector until his death in 2020. The school also has a

Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, sub divided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to ...

, run in conjunction with Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, headed by Contingent Commander, Major (CCF) Helen Irwin. Her predecessors include Lieutenant Colonel (CCF),

, Squadron Leader Mark Stanley RAFAC (formerly

RAFVR(T) The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Training Branch), often abbreviated to RAFVR(T), is a Volunteer Reserve element of the Royal Air Force specifically appointed in a cadet training role within the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Members o ...

) and Lieutenant Colonel (CCF), Paul Irvine. The Army section of MTS CCF is badged as

Duke of Lancaster's Regiment The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) (LANCS) is an infantry regiment of the line within the British Army, part of the King's Division. Headquartered in Preston, it recruits throughout the North West of England. The ...

(

King's Regiment The King's Regiment, officially abbreviated as KINGS, was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division. It was formed on 1 September 1958 by the amalgamation of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) which had been raised in 168 ...

until July 2006). In 2015, Merchant Taylors' CCF celebrated its centenary year. A new banner was presented in the nearb
St. Faith's Church
with The Duke of York in attendance. In December 2011, the £5.5m Ian Robinson Sports Centre was opened. Facilities include a climbing wall, fitness suite, sports hall and dance studio. The Sports Centre is named after ex Head of Rugby, Ian Robinson, who died on a school sports tour in Australia after a white water rafting accident in 2007. Other facilities include a heated indoor swimming pool on site (which has been emptied and eventually closed permanently in 2020 due to leaking and other maintenance issues so substantial that the cost of rectifying same remains prohibitive), a language laboratory, extensive playing fields, fully equipped science laboratories, an art and design suite, cricket nets, a self-contained music block and a share of Northern Club's facilities.

Notable people

Former pupils

''Old Boys of Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby, are known at the school as "Old Crosbeians"'' *

Peter Atkins Peter William Atkins (born 10 August 1940) is an English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He retired in 2007. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including ''Physical Chemistry'', ''Ino ...

, Bishop of Waiapu * Gordon Ellis, painter *

Charles James Mathews Charles James Mathews (26 December 1803 – 24 June 1878) was a British actor. He was one of the few British actors to be successful in French-speaking roles in France. A son of the actor Charles Mathews, he achieved a greater reputation th ...

, actor *

Ward Muir Wardrop Openshaw Muir (22 June 1878 – 9 June 1927) was a British photographer, journalist, editor, and author, known as Ward Muir. Early life Muir was born in Waterloo, Merseyside, Waterloo, Lancashire, the younger son of the Rev. J. J. Muir, a ...

(1878–1927), photographer *

Robert Runcie Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, (2 October 1921 – 11 July 2000) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991, having previously been Bishop of St Albans. He travelled the world widely ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury * Ronald White, amateur golfer *Bertie Wilson, Second Engineer on RMS ''Titanic''

Headmasters

Notable teachers and staff

* Dame Jean Davies, Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service *

John Pugh John David Pugh (born 28 June 1948) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Southport from 2001 to 2017. He stood down at the 2017 snap election. In November 2017, he was elected to Sefton Metropolita ...

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

MP for

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...