Caterham School

Campus

Caterham's campus is on the edge of its estate which extends to around 200 acres (81 hectares). It is set within Harestone Valley, and a large part of the estate consists of Oldpark Wood. The school owns the large 'Hare stone' that named the valley, which was first recorded in 1605 but is believed to be older.

Notable people who formally opened or laid foundation stones for buildings at Caterham include HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Lord Carey of Clifton (the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury), Samuel Morley and William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme.

Old School

At the front of Caterham is the Old School, designed by E.C. Robins and finished in 1884. Its foundation stone was laid in 1883 by Samuel Morley. In 2011 the Old School was housing Caterham's administration, the Wilberforce Hall and the Townsend and Viney boarding houses.

The Old School has two facades. The Main Front faces Harestone Valley Road (the section of which was a tree-lined avenue) and the Main Court is the space in between them. Originally the Main Court was an open lawn but was later replaced with roads to ease the traffic in and out of the valley. The Home Front of the Old School faces Home Field.

The Main Court is the venue of Caterham's annual classic car show.

The Old School was painted by the Second World War artist Dennis Flanders in 1991 and is among his last works.

The vestibule at Caterham is the formal entrance which houses Sir William Reynolds-Stephens' memorial for the Old Caterhamians who died in the First World War. The vestibule joins to a long corridor that spans the horizontal axis of the Old School, which in the 19th century was the thoroughfare of Caterham. The vestibule leads to the Concourse.

The concourse is built within the inside court of the Old School and connects it with the Pye Centre.

Located off the cloisters is the Wilberforce Hall - Caterham's former formal dining hall - now named after the abolitionist William Wilberforce who was a founding governor of Caterham in 1811. The Wilberforce is notable for its illumination by seven Arts-and-Crafts stained glass windows between both sides and red-white polychrome brickwork. It is now a space for lectures, concerts (choirs, piano recitals or small instrumental groups), fashion shows, museum exhibitions and formal luncheons, teas or dinners. The hall has, however, been used for exhibitions for over a century: the 1924 Science Exhibition there featured an aquarium and a display of motor-car engines. The pianist Lance Dossor gave a number of piano recitals at the Hall during the 1930s, before gaining a prize at the III International Chopin Piano Competition.

Maggs Library

Caterham's main library is housed in its Memorial Hall at the centre of the campus, built in 1925 to commemorate the Old Caterhamians killed in the First World War. It was designed by the architect Walter Monckton Keesey OBE OC and opened in July 1925 by the Chair of Caterham, William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme DL.

During the mid-20th century, the Memorial Hall served as Caterham's concert hall. Notably, the pianist Peter Katin performed there in 1985 and 1987. For most of the 20th century, the building also housed the Caterham School Archive before its move to updated premises within the Pye Centre.

Albert P. Maggs OC of the London antiquarian booksellers Maggs Bros later contributed to the building's conversion into the Maggs Library. The Maggs Library has one large, long reading room housing non-fiction and another reading room and a gallery space housing fiction.

When Miller Bourne built the Performing Arts Centre in 2015, the space in front of the Memorial Hall was redeveloped into a small stone plaza with amphitheatre seating.

Performing Arts Centre

Caterham's performing arts centre was designed by Miller Bourne, finished in 2015 and opened by Simon Callow CBE.

The centre opens to the wider community on occasions, such as for the school's History Festival in November, visiting productions or for events for local primary schools. In 2021, Caterham hosted a TEDx event which took place in the Humphreys. Poet, broadcaster and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen hosted an event at the centre for pupils from local primary schools in Caterham's East Surrey Learning Partnership on literacy skills.

On the ground floor is a studio for dance and orchestral rehearsals, and on the first floor is the Liu Recording Studio.

The first and second floors the Performing Arts Centre incorporate the older Humphreys Theatre of 338 seats. It also houses the Department of Drama and connects it with that of Music. The Humphreys now serves as the school's principal concert hall which can house its orchestra.

Both the Humphreys and Deayton theatres have retractable seating which enables black-box and theatre-in-the-round arrangements. In 2024, Caterham's production of a dramatisation of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' made use of theatre-in-the-round in the Humphreys to reflect the telescreen surveillance.

Outside, at the front of the centre is a small amphitheatre and to the side of it is the Orchard Theatre of 72 seats, located on the site of Caterham's orchard.

Davey Building

The Davey Building was opened in 2007 by Lord Carey of Clifton, the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury and named to mark the end of Mr. Rob Davey's tenure as Headmaster. On the ground floor is the Refectory which replaced the school's Victorian dining hall (now the Wilberforce Hall). On the first floor is the Department of Physics, on the second is Chemistry and on the third is Biology. Each department has five laboratories.

Pye Centre

Named after the founding sisters of Eothen, which merged with Caterham in 1995, the Pye Centre was a redevelopment of the original North Wing of the Old School. It connects the Concourse and the Wilberforce Hall to its Sixth Form Centre which consists of a downstairs Common Room and upstairs Library.

It also houses Caterham's Health Centre surgery and Archives site. Prior to this, the archive was housed in a reading room on the first floor of the Maggs Library.

Rudd Hall, Leathem Complex and Home Field

Caterham's main sports field for cricket, rugby and lacrosse is Home Field which has been in use since the late-19th century. The Leathem Pavilion overlooks it on the bank, and was built as a second war memorial for Old Caterhamians who died in the Second World War after the Memorial Hall for the First World War.

The pavilion housing a bar and balcony terrace was redeveloped by Miller Bourne in 2012 to include a complex of modern classrooms and fine art and dance studios. The complex was opened by HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent in February 2012. The Leathem Complex also houses the Christine Walker Gallery, which is Caterham's permanent art gallery named after an artist who went to Eothen (which merged with Caterham in 1995).

Adjoining the Leathem Complex is the Rudd Hall, which was built in 1938 as a gymnasium and for some time was the school's second theatre, where Robert Easton performed in 1939. The stage is no longer in use, having been replaced by the modern Deayton Theatre in Caterham's Performing Arts Centre.

Sports Centre

Caterham's earliest sports buildings were the 1884 gymnasium in the inside court (now the Concourse) of the Old School and the now-demolished 1889 swimming bath opened by Sir James Whitehead, then the Mayor of London.

The Sports Centre was built on the parkland opposite the Old School, and opened in November 1996 by the Olympic athlete Sebastian Coe MP. It was refurbished and extended by Miller Bourne architects in 2023 and re-opened by Dame Kelly Holmes in February 2024.

Beech Hanger, Shirley Goss and Mottrams

Beech Hanger ('Beech Hanger Court'), Shirley Goss and Mottrams ('Foxburrow') are three Victorian country houses which are within the Caterham estate on the outskirts of the campus. Beech Hanger is a boarding house whilst Shirley Goss and Mottrams house Caterham Prep. The original formal gardens belonging to these country houses largely no longer remain, however elements of Victorian arboretum planting do.

Hill Fields

Caterham owns sixteen acres of playing fields at Hill Fields in Caterham-on-the-Hill, about a mile away from the school's campus. As Caterham is surrounded by its estate in Harestone Valley, it was difficult to develop further level playing fields within the valley. In December 2017, the Hill Fields Pavilion, designed by Miller Bourne, was opened by Matt Dawson MBE.

History

See also the Headmasters of Caterham

Caterham today is the product of a co-ed merger between the Congregational School (formally renamed 'Caterham' in the mid-1920s) for boys and Eothen School for girls.

The Congregational School ('Caterham')

Rev. John Townsend, the minister of the Jamaica Row Chapel at Bermondsey, founded the Congregational School in 1811 at 29 West Square, in Newington, London. The year before he had written to "ministers, officers and all other members and friends" of Congregationalist churches in England to share his concerns about the inadequate standard of education available to their sons. The abolitionist politician and philanthropist William Wilberforce was an early governor of the school until his death in 1833.

In 1815, the school moved to a country house in Lewisham, then a rural village on the outskirts of London. Rev. William J. Hope, the Headmaster from 1823 to 1852, was a close lifelong friend of the historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle. Hope met Carlyle when they were at school together at Annan Academy before both going to the University of Edinburgh. Though it is possible that Carlyle visited Hope at the school, it would only have been on an informal basis and so there is no record. Carlyle was greatly upset by Hope's death in 1853, which he described as a "mournful complexity of ill news".

One of the earliest school photographs dates to around 1865 and depicts pupils at Lewisham with cricket bats.

The historian Nigel Watson notes that, somewhat unusually for the period, Thomas Rudd - Headmaster from 1859 to 1894 - disapproved of corporal punishment, writing that "I can do better without it". During his tenure of 35 years, Rudd also strengthened the Old Boy network at the school, which contributed to the creation of the Old Caterhamians' London club being established in 1899.

The school was at Lewisham for nearly seventy years, during which time it gained prominence. Samuel Morley, an abolitionist political radical and MP for Bristol was made Treasurer of the school from 1868. William Ewart Gladstone distributed Speech Day prizes to pupils of the school in 1875, the year after his first term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The removal of the school from Lewisham was decided for a number of reasons. A key concern was the increasing urbanisation and industrialisation around the school, accelerated from 1858 onwards with the arrival of the East Kent Railway, later the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.

Eothen

In 1892, Catherine Pye founded a school for girls in a house at Harestone Hill in Caterham with her sister Winifred. Pye was born in 1869 and in 1890 received an exhibition to attend Newnham College at the University of Cambridge under its first principal, the early suffragist Anne Clough. The founding of Eothen was a result of changing perspectives about the standards and objectives of female education.

The Misses Pye were particularly focused on preparing pupils to receive places at universities, with the historian Nigel Watson noting that even by the early-20th century, "such occurrences were still rare" which explains Eothen's early tradition "to celebrate every university place by lighting up the school grounds with Chinese lanterns and fairy lamps." In 1897, the school admitted boarders and was named 'Eothen', an Ancient Greek term for "from the dawn." Over the decades, surrounding Victorian houses were incorporated into the school. Eothen's grounds were adjacent to the Congregational Church of Caterham, which also served as the school chapel for Caterham School.

Eothen had a reputation for music under the composer Jane Joseph who taught there from 1916 and wrote the school's song in 1928. The composer Imogen Holst was one of her pupils, and Holst later returned to Eothen to also teach in 1932. In 1939, Holst wrote the Eothen suite for small orchestra. Through Holst's musical connections, Ralph Vaughan Williams visited and the Russian pianist Nina Milkina gave her first concert in England at Eothen.

Eothen was bombed twice during the Second World War, once in 1941 and again, more seriously in 1944. No lives were lost. In 1981, Eothen pupils were admitted to the Sixth Form at Caterham. The school's centenary service was held at Southwark Cathedral in 1992 but by the following year it was considering a merger with Caterham, which took place in 1995. Upon merger, Caterham adopted Eothen's motto of 'Veritas Sine Timore' (Truth Without Fear).

The Pye Centre at Caterham was later named in memory of the Misses Pye.

Caterham

After the merger with Eothen in 1995, Caterham became fully co-educational.

In 2010, Breck Bednar joined the First Form at Caterham and left in 2012 before his 2014 murder due to online grooming. After his death, Caterham fundraised for the Breck Foundation which was established in his memory to spread awareness about online safeguarding.

2011 marked two centuries since the founding of Caterham. In October 2011, the bicentenary service was held at Westminster Abbey and conducted by the Dean of Westminster, Dr John Hall. The bicentenary banner used in the service is now housed in Caterham's Wilberforce Hall. Over 2000 people were invited to the service.

In February 2012, HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, visited Caterham to meet the Headmaster Julian Thomas and Head Boy and Head Girl. He opened the school's redeveloped Leathem Pavilion and reviewed the CCF.

In 2023, Caterham was awarded 'Best Independent School of the Year' in the United Kingdom by the Times Educational Supplement. In the same year, it was the first and only school in the UK to receive three 'Key Areas of Strength' in its latest ISI inspection. It is also an 'Apple Distinguished School'.

In August 2025, The Times reported that Caterham achieved the highest percentage of GCSE grade 9s across all co-ed private schools in Surrey and Kent, placing it sixth in the UK.

In September 2025, along with Eton, Brighton, Canford and Gresham's, Caterham was shortlisted for the 2026 Tatler Schools Guide Awards for the title of best public school in the country.

In 2025, Caterham was ranked by The Sunday Times as 38th out of the UK's highest achieving 100 independent schools (on combined GCSE and A-Level results), placing it within the top 1.5% of independent schools within the UK.

Caterham has been recognised as a member of the 'Edtech 50' group formed under The Education Foundation think tank based in Westminster. A major factor for this is Caterham's own subsidiary, Sphynx AI.

Admissions

Fees

As of 2025, Caterham's fees for day pupils from First Form to Upper Sixth Form are £9,210 per term, with the exception of entry to the Sixth Form, which is £9,610 per term. This places it above the average for HMC schools which £5,299 per term for day pupils. The full boarding fee at Caterham can reach at most £20,145 per term which is similarly above the HMC schools average of £12, 816 per term for boarding pupils.

Scholarships and bursaries

The school may award a scholarship if the applicant performs exceptionally well on the entrance exam tests. The scholarships can be for academics, art, design, innovation, music, sport, performing arts, or all-rounder. The academic scholarships are up to 30% off the school fees. The school also has a bursaries scheme for children of United Reformed Church ministers, for families in the armed forces or those on a low income.

Publications

Caterham produces a number of in-house publications each year. 'The Caterhamian' and 'Omnia' are edited by school staff and there are three longstanding, annual student-led publications.

'The Caterhamian' and 'Omnia'

The earliest of Caterham's publications date back to January 1888 with the 'Magazine of the Congregational School, Caterham Valley' which continues to this day with the annual review named 'The Caterhamian'. 'Omnia' (the first word of the original motto) is the magazine for Old Caterhamians.

'Cat Among the Pigeons'

'Cat Among the Pigeons' is the magazine for the arts and humanities which named after a Speech Day prize established by Geoffrey Pidgeon OC, an MI6 officer and later author. The Pidgeon Prize for Literature at Caterham aims to "promote creative and intellectual writing endeavours."

'Quantum Ultimatum'

'Quantum Ultimatum' is Caterham's academic journal for the sciences and the magazine of its Moncrieff-Jones Society, named after Sir Alan Moncrieff CBE OC, who established the first premature-baby unit in 1947.

'Preview'

'Preview' is Caterham's magazine for politics. The 2010 issue of Preview was launched at the Palace of Westminster with the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow giving a speech. That year, MPs David Laws (Liberal Democrats), Michael Fallon (Conservative) and Nigel Farage (UKIP) contributed articles to the magazine. The 2011 launch of Preview took place at Westminster Cathedral Hall, with Nigel Evans as speaker and Michael Gove in attendance. Contributors to the 2011 issue included Lord Geoffrey Howe, Sam Gyimah and Daniel Hannan with Nicola Jennings of The Guardian producing the cartoons.

Events

The following traditional events, some of which Caterham opens to the wider community, are ordered chronologically for the academic year:

Twilights

'Twilights' are concerts held regularly at Caterham throughout the year in the Wilberforce Hall, beginning before and ending after sunset. They follow a long tradition from the 19th century of musical evening entertainments in the Wilberforce. Sir Paul Dukes and Eric Thiman performed at these concerts when they were pupils at Caterham.

Chapel and Chamber

Concerts of the Caterham School Chapel and/or Chamber Choirs are known to the wider community because they are public performances in London and Europe throughout the year. The Chamber has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Concerts in recent years have taken place at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court, St James' Church, Piccadilly, St John's Church, Waterloo, Arundel Cathedral and the Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux. In 2020, the choir sang Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday

On the Armistice, a silence is observed with a whole school assembly before the Old School. Traditionally, the Headmaster lays a wreath at the school memorial on behalf of the staff and the Head Boy and Head Girl on behalf of the pupils. Caterham's service on Remembrance Sunday often serves the wider local community as well as the school. The 'Roll of Honour' is read by the Head Boy and Head Girl before readings by the Headmaster and members of staff who have undertaken military service. The Director of Music then conducts a Service for Reflection and Remembrance in the Wilberforce Hall.

History Festival

Since 2023, the Department of History at Caterham organises the annual History Festival in November, held at both theatres in the Performing Arts Centre. It is open to the wider educational community, with students from all schools admitted by ticket for free. Caterham is the only school in the world to run an annual event of this type for the public as well as its own community.

Speakers have included two recipients of the Wolfson History Prize, two academics knighted for services to history, two presenters of documentaries for the BBC and an editor of 'History Today'.

Nine Lessons and Carols

The Department of Music at Caterham follow the 'Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols' of King's College, Cambridge for the Christmas Service at Caterham. It traditionally took place at the Congregational Church which also served as the School Chapel, but has been moved to St. John's Church, Caterham Valley in recent years.

The Moncrieff-Jones Christmas Lecture

(or the 'Christmas Lecture')

Similar to the idea of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, this is an event often opened to the wider community and hosted by Caterham's Moncrieff-Jones society, named after the pediatrican and Old Caterhamian Professor Sir Alan Moncrieff. Nick Lane gave the 2016 Christmas Lecture.

The Bonarjee Lecture

Similar to the idea of the Reith Lectures of the BBC, the annual Bonarjee Lecture at Caterham explores topics on "free speech, a free media and democracy" and is named after the BBC journalist and Old Caterhamian Stephen Bonarjee. John Humphrys gave the 2019 Bonarjee Lecture.

Speech Day

Speech Day at Caterham is the closing of the academic year and is held on the first Saturday of July, where prizegiving also takes place. Distributors of prizes and/ or guest speakers have included the Prime Minister William Gladstone in 1875, the Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Howe in 1982 and the Secretary of State for Education Keith Joseph in 1984.

The 'special' non-subject, named prizes at Speech Day include:

The Pidgeon Prize for Literature, traditionally selected from Cat Among the Pigeons.

The Chilcott Prize for Composition (after Bob Chilcott)

The Young, Frederic H. Gay and Alden Davies Prizes awarded to the winners of the Caterham 'IRP' (Independent Research Project).

The Moncrieff Jones Prize for Sciences (after Professor Sir Alan Moncrieff)

Houses

There are nine school houses at Caterham, six mixed for day pupils, two for boarding boys and one for boarding girls. Most are named after places, whilst the boys boarding houses are named after people, associated with the school.

Day

Aldercombe Harestone Lewisham Newington Ridgefield Underwood

Boarding

Beech Hanger Townsend Viney

Headmasters

Ceri Jones is the fourteenth Headmaster of Caterham (or once called 'The Congregational School') and has served in that office since 2015. Previously Second Master at Tonbridge School, Jones took over from Julian Thomas, who went on to become Master of Wellington College. Jones co-founded the Accelerate and Access educational charity.

Notable headmasters include Rev. William Hope who was a close lifelong friend of Thomas Carlyle, Allan Mottram who had also been an Old Caterhamian, the historian D.G.E. Hall who went on to become a Professor Emeritus at the University of London and Lt Col Terrence Leathem who was involved in leading intelligence operations at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.

Caterham's headmasters traditionally resided at Headmaster's House.

Governance

Caterham is governed by both traditional and modern models: the Foundation and the Board of Trustees, the highest positions within or on which are the 'President' and the 'Chair' of Caterham, respectively.

The incumbent Chair of Trustees is Monisha Shah, a media professional who is also the Chair of the King's Council Selection Panel and has served as a trustee of Wikimedia UK, the Royal Collection Trust, the National Gallery and the Tate and as a member on the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The incumbent President is the Honourable Mr. Justice Graeme Mew. Notable previous holders of this office include William Lever, Viscount Leverhulme, Sir Alan Moncrieff and General Sir Alex Harley.

Caterham is the only school in the UK where the governance of the Board of Trustees involves a separate 'Shadow Board' consisting of Old Caterhamians under thirty.

Partnerships

Caterham aims to run and develop programmes to contribute its resources to the local community. It founded the 'East Surrey Learning Partnership' (ESLP), providing curriculum support to eight local primary schools. It also runs the 'Saturday Plus' programme each weekend which focuses on providing resources to prepare local primary school children for academically selective independent or grammar schools. Sixth Form pupils also volunteer to regularly host Clifton Hill School, a local primary for children with learning difficulties.

Since 2006, Caterham has supported Lerang' wa School in Tanzania.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Caterham operated a 'Laptops4Lockdown' scheme to direct technology to local state primary schools to help the process of virtual schooling.

LAE

In 2012, Caterham along with Eton, Brighton College and five other independent schools supported the founding of the London Academy of Excellence (LAE) in Stratford. One of LAE's school houses was therefore named 'Caterham'. LAE pupils are supported by Caterham's careers and university mentoring and CaterhamConnected network.

The Caterham Family of Schools

In 2023, Caterham founded the 'Caterham Family of Schools' which encompassed its own prep school, Caterham Prep and Copthorne Prep. In December 2024, The Hawthorns School joined and was followed by Oakhyrst Grange in July 2026. Copthorne, Hawthorns and Oakhyrst maintain their own independent management whilst benefitting from an established connection to facilitate the admission process to Caterham. The group also aims to collaborate on developing digital learning in their curriculums.

CaterhamConnected

The school operates 'CaterhamConnected', its own professional and social media network for alumni, staff, parents and Sixth Form pupils from Caterham and its partnership schools. As well as the digital platform, CaterhamConnected runs 'Insight' events for the community, which take place globally.

Notable Old Caterhamians

Alumni of Caterham are titled 'Old Caterhamians' (O.C.), often colloquially clipped to 'Old Cats'.

James Benning (born 1983), cricketer

Stephen Bonarjee (1912-2001), BBC journalist

Ali Brown (born 1970), cricketer

Sir John Butterfill (born 1941), politician

Ann Conolly (1917-2010), botanist

Rosie Clarke (born 1991), athlete

Angus Deayton (born 1956), actor and television presenter

Cuthbert Dukes (1890–1977), pathologist and author

Sir Paul Dukes (1889–1967), journalist and MI6 officer

Jon Finch (1941–2012), film and television actor (1970–2005)

George Morgan Garro-Jones (1894-1960), politician

Jon Gilbert (born 1972), writer, bibliographer of Ian Fleming

Roger Griffin (1935-2021), astronomer

Chukwudi Iwuji (born 1975), actor

Walter Monckton Keesey, O.B.E (1887–1970), architect and artist

Geoffrey Kemp (born 1939), writer on international relations.

Harry McInley (born 1993), cricketer