Parmiter's School is a co-educational state comprehensive school with academy status in

Garston, Hertfordshire Garston is a suburban village in Hertfordshire, England. Garston is contiguous with Watford and now, despite retaining a local identity, is effectively a suburb. It is within the Stanborough, Woodside and Meriden wards of the borough of Watfor ...

, close to the outskirts of North West London, England with a long history. Although the school admits pupils of all abilities, it is partially selective. , it was the most oversubscribed school in Hertfordshire.

History

Beginnings

Thomas Parmiter was a wealthy silk merchant in East London, who died in 1681. He left two farms in southwest

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

in his will to provide £30 per annum for six almshouses and £100 per annum for "one free school house or room for ten poor children" in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

, London. Elizabeth Carter donated land for the school and an annual income of £10, while William Lee donated £100 for the building of a school house and a further annual £10. The building in St John Street (now Grimsby Street) was completed in 1722. The Trustees of Thomas Parmiter's Estate bought property in Cambridge Heath, London in 1723. By 1730 the school accommodated 30 boys, growing to 50 in 1809. In 1839 it moved to new premises in Gloucester Street (now Parmiter Street) after the original site was acquired by the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first at the London end. Co ...

. Unfortunately these buildings were destroyed by

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Peter Renvoize left the foundation the sum of £500 on his death in 1842. In 1870, the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

acquired most of the Cambridge Heath property for the sum of £27,000. The Charity Commission, acting under the

Endowed Schools Act 1869 The Endowed Schools Act 1869 ( 32 & 33 Vict. c. 56) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Endowed Schools Acts 1869 to 1948. It was passed during William Ewart Gladstone’s first ministry, to restructure endowed ...

, forced a new constitution on the foundation, directing one third of the income to the almshouses and two-thirds to the school, which was by this time providing secondary education to 70 boys. Fees were to be introduced, with 40 foundation scholarships for boys from the parish of St Matthew's, Bethnal Green. The Gloucester Street school closed in 1885, reopening in new buildings in Approach Road () in 1887. In 1913 a revised constitution created separate foundations for the school and the almshouses. The Parmiter phoenix was designed by W.A. Cross for the 40th anniversary of the Approach Road school in 1927. In 1951 the school became a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

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

. In 1966 and 1967 it successfully resisted plans by the

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. From 1965 to 1986 it was an ad hoc committee of the Greater London Co ...

to merge it with St Jude's Church of England School to form a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

. Parmiter's Grammar School had grown to 525 boys by 1976, but the days of the grammar school were numbered.

New campus, new era

The school moved to

as a mixed comprehensive school in 1977. The grammar school in Bethnal Green closed in the same year. The school acquired

grant maintained 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 ...

status in 1991, and returned to

status in September 1999. In April 2010, Parmiter's School hosted ''

Any Questions? ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 20: ...

'', a topical debate on the elections, broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

Academic performance and reputation

The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' Secondary School rankings 2011 showed Parmiter's in 278th place out of 2190 schools.Secondary Schools 2011
''Financial Times'', 2011. The ''Evening Standard'' places Parmiter's School in 54th place out of 269 state schools in south-east England in 2010 based upon GCSE and A-Level results.State School GCSE Results
''Evening Standard'', 2010. The

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspection in July 2024 found that "''The School's purposeful pursuit of excellence and academic rigour enables pupils to excel''"Ofsted Inspection Report
''Ofsted'', September 2024.

Sports

In 1997 the Year 12 football team reached the final of the

English Schools' Football Association The English Schools' Football Association was founded in 1904 and is the governing body of schools' football in England. It is responsible for the running and development of schools competitions and festivals at primary and secondary school age ...

National Cup, the title being shared with

Monkseaton High School Monkseaton High School is a coeducational upper school situated in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, England for 13- to 18-year-olds. There are 465 students on roll, over 150 of whom are in the sixth form. The school has initiated or led a number of ...

after a 0-0 draw and again in both 2005 and 2006, narrowly losing twice.

Admissions

The school may admit up to 25% of pupils based on academic ability, and up to 10% on musical aptitude, once other admission criteria such as those relating to looked after children and siblings of existing pupils have been met.

Notable former pupils

Former pupils of the boys' grammar school in Bethnal Green: * Tom Burns (professor of sociology, wrote studies of the BBC and corporations) * John Cartwright (former West Ham Utd footballer, later controversial England youth coach) * Sir

Terence Clark Sir Terence Joseph Clark (born 19 June 1934) is a British retired diplomat and writer. Career Clark was educated at Parmiter's School. He did National Service nominally in the Royal Air Force, actually learning Russian at the Joint Services ...

KBE CMG CVO (born 19 June 1934), British retired diplomat and writer * John Crow (former governor of the

Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; ) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surve ...

) * Alp Mehmet (UK ambassador to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

) *

Emanuel Miller Emanuel Miller (26 August 1892 – 29 July 1970) was a British psychiatrist. He is best known for his work on child psychology. Life Miller was born on 26 August 1892 into a Lithuanian Jewish family in Spitalfields, London, and was educated at ...

(British psychiatrist) * Dave Pearson (painter) * Iain Rice (writer on model railways) *

Graham Stilwell Graham Stilwell (15 November 1945 – 31 January 2019) was a professional tennis player from the United Kingdom. He was born in Denham, Buckinghamshire Denham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, Engla ...

(England No. 2 tennis player) * Alfie Stokes (professional footballer) * Tommy Walsh (TV gardener, ''

Ground Force ''Ground Force'' is a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh. Production The series was created b ...

'') * Geoffrey Woolley (

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

recipient) attended the school up to the age of 10. Former pupils of the mixed comprehensive school in Hertfordshire: *

Asha Banks Asha Alice Banks (born 26 November 2003) is an English actress and singer. She began her career as a child actress on the West End. Her films include ''The Magic Flute'' (2022) and '' My Fault: London'' (2025). On television, she is known for he ...

(English actress) * Nathan Byrne (English footballer) * Captain Everything! (punk rock band) * Tom Carroll (English footballer) *

Will Cozens Will Cozens is a British radio presenter and DJ formerly employed by Global Radio as a presenter on Capital & Capital London Cozens was spotted by the Bauer Radio owned Kiss 100, after featuring on Channel 4's ''Soundclash'', originally he ...

(

The Capital FM Network Capital is a network of twelve Independent Local Radio, independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the stations are owned and operated by Global Media & Enter ...

Radio DJ) * Harry Crawford (footballer) (

Southend United F.C. Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League (English football), National League, the fifth English football league system, level of En ...

professional footballer) *

Oliver Dowden Sir Oliver James Dowden, (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously held various ministerial positions under Prime ...

(Member of Parliament for

Hertsmere Hertsmere is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Borehamwood. Other settlements in the borough include Bushey, Elstree, Radlett and Potters Bar. The borough contains several fi ...

, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) * Connor Emerton (cricketer) *

Steven Finn Steven Thomas Finn (born 4 April 1989) is a former English cricketer. He was a right-arm fast bowler, who also bats right-handed. At the age of 16, he became Middlesex County Cricket Club's youngest-ever debutant in first-class cricket. He mad ...

(

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and

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 ...

cricketer) *

Nick Leeson Nicholas William Leeson (born 25 February 1967) is an English former derivatives trader whose fraudulent, unauthorised and speculative trades resulted in the 1995 collapse of Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest existing merchant bank ...

(responsible for the bankruptcy of

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London. It was one of England's oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 by Francis Baring, a British-born member ...

) *

Jordan Parkes Jordan David Parkes (born 26 July 1989) is an English football midfielder. Playing career Parkes left Parmiter's School in Garston, Hertfordshire at sixteen to pursue a football career at Watford. His debut came in a 2006 League Cup second r ...

(former

Watford F.C. Watford Football Club is a professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The team played at several grounds in their early history, includ ...

) * Kelly Somers (sports journalist) * Anthony Zboralski (French hacker and internet entrepreneur) * Alexei Rojas ( Arsenal youth academy and Colombia youth international footballer)

References

{{Authority control Schools in Three Rivers District Academies in Hertfordshire Educational institutions established in 1722 1722 establishments in England Relocated schools Secondary schools in Hertfordshire