William Ellis School is a voluntary aided secondary school and sixth form for boys located in Highgate, London, England.
Admissions
The School is located near Hampstead Heath in north London.
It is situated just east of Parliament Hill and north of Gospel Oak railway station. It is next to Parliament Hill School, a girls' school.
Up to 10% of places are offered to boys with an aptitude for music as determined by a music aptitude test.
History
Origins
The school's founder, William Ellis (not to be confused with the inventor of rugby football, William Webb Ellis) was a public-spirited businessman. In the mid-19th century, Ellis founded a number of schools (named 'Birkbeck Schools' after George Birkbeck, adult education pioneer and founder of Birkbeck University, London) and inspired many teachers to promote his educational ideas.
Ellis wanted children to be taught "useful" subjects such as science (including "Social Science"), and to develop the faculty of reason; this was in contrast to the learning by rote of religious tracts, ancient languages and history, characteristic of many schools at the time. Whilst William Ellis School is the only one of these schools that retains William Ellis' name, the last surviving Birkbeck School still operating as a school in its original (Grade 2 listed 1862) building is Colvestone Primary School (previously the 'Kingsland Birkbeck School') in Dalston, East London.
Foundation and development (1862-1937) The school was established in 1862 at Gospel Oak, and was originally known as the Gospel Oak Schools. It catered for both girls and boys of a wide age range. In 1889, the Gospel Oak Schools were reconstituted as a boys' secondary school, under the headmastership of E.B. Cumberland.
Move to current site and grammar school years (1937-1978) At this time, the school displayed characteristics of traditional public schools, such as a house system; a prefect system (with prefects wearing gowns when on duty); a school song; and playing rugby football rather than football as the school sport. School uniform was strictly observed, with blazer colours and ties indicating Junior School, Middle School, Sixth Form and prefects; and blazers and ties could only be removed in the summer if the weather was pronounced “Officially Hot”.
It combined these traditional features with liberal educational developments such as School Committees, in which pupils discussed and helped determine aspects of school policy. Classes in each Form were labelled G, L and M (rather than A, B and C) to avoid any suggestion of rank or streaming.
The school ran its lessons on an unusual six-day timetable, so that if a Monday were Day One, the following Monday would be Day Six of the timetable, and Day One’s academic timetable would fall on the Tuesday. This provided a rotation of lessons, so that unpopular items did not always fall upon the same weekday; it also allocated a Day for the sports activities of each Form, from First to Sixth, which again did not always fall upon the same weekday. It was a matter of pride that pupils could master the Six Day timetable, and remember over weekends and vacations the Day upon which the School would recommence. The school also had a Combined Cadet Force with army and RAF sections. The CCF Hut on the periphery of the school playground nearest Parliament Hill Fields house a stores for uniforms etc., an armoury with chained very elderly Lee Enfield .303 rifles, and one .22 target rifle.
Around 1955 two young teachers who had qualified during or as a result of a 3 year short service contract in the Education Corps resigned to return to Army service in the Greenjackets, causing something of a concern.
Although the adjacent Parliament Hill Fields and Kenwood were used for cross country runs, Rugby and Cricket activities were held at the School's extensive playing fields in Edgware, some seven miles away. Pupils at least between 1951 and 1955 walked to Belsize Park Underground and thence to Edgware by train holding cardboard tickets, later would be ferried to and from the fields by coach on their appointed games afternoon.