Rutlish School
| Rutlish School | |
| Motto | Modeste Strenue Sancte |
| Established | 1895 |
| Type | Comprehensive Voluntary controlled school |
| Headteacher | Mr Alex Williamson |
| Founders | William Rutlish and John Innes |
| Specialism | Maths and Computing |
| Location | Watery Lane Merton Park Greater London SW20 9AD England  |
| LEA | Merton |
| Ofsted number | 102679 |
| Students | 1079 |
| Gender | Boys |
| Ages | 11 to 16 |
| Houses | Argonauts, Carthaginians (formerly Crusaders), Kelts, Parthians, Romans, Spartans, Trojans and Vikings |
| Website | Rutlish School |
| Coordinates: 51°24′33″N 0°12′29″W / 51.4092°N 0.2081°W | |
Rutlish School is a comprehensive school for boys. It is on Watery Lane, Merton Park, south-west London. It was formerly a grammar school.
It is noted for caning its most famous alumnus politician, British Prime Minister Sir John Major in its grammar school period.
Contents |
History
The school is named after William Rutlish, embroiderer to Charles II. Rutlish was a resident of the parish of Merton and is buried in the churchyard of the parish church of St. Mary. Rutlish died in 1687 and left £400 for a school (about £61 thousand today)[1] for the education of poor children of the parish[2].
By the 1890s the charity had accumulated a considerable excess of funds and John Innes, local landowner and chairman of the board of trustees, used some of the excess to establish a school.
Grammar school
The first school building, established as a grammar school, was located in what is now Rutlish Road, off Kingston Road. After World War II the school was overflowing its building (and the science block, built in the 1930s, had been destroyed as a result of enemy action) so in the early 1950s, buildings off Mostyn Road were converted for use as the Junior School. Though the work was not completed and the heating system was not installed, this opened after a delay, in late September 1953. A new building was erected for the rest of the school, on the present site south of Watery Lane. This opened in September 1957. Both this and the Junior School were on land that had belonged to John Innes and which had been occupied until 1945 by the John Innes Horticultural Institution (now the John Innes Centre in Norwich).
School buildings
The 1950s school buildings are arranged around three sides of a quadrangle. To the north are a four-storey main entrance block (which contained the school library on the top floor) and a three-storey central block of general purpose classrooms facing Watery Lane. To the west is a two-storey science block and to the east a two storey block containing the canteen on the ground floor and the school hall on the first floor. Attached to the rear of the east block is the school gym.
Among the existing school buildings is one which has ties to Innes. The Manor House adjacent to the school entrance on Watery Lane was Innes's home (a blue plaque records his association). Now demolished school buildings next to the playing field were once the library and offices of the Institution and had ranges of greenhouses attached. In the early 1960s these old buildings were used by the second and third year classes (classes 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, 3B and 3c) and the long greenhouse was used as a lunchtime canteen. Later, in the 1980s, they were art and music rooms. A little known feature of the old building was a warren of hidden crawlspace passages, accessible from the second floor music room, from where clandestine spying operations on other classes could be undertaken. A number of additional buildings have been constructed over the years to supplement the facilities of the 1950s buildings.
Comprehensive
Following the education reforms of the late 1960s, the school became a comprehensive although it retained many of its grammar school traditions long after the conversion - school houses (named after ancient warrior nations or groups), uniforms with house and school colours, a Combined Cadet Force, and prefects. For many many years the school maintained a croquet lawn for the use of the headmaster and the prefects. The school also operated an exchange programme with Eton College for a number of years.
Three tier system
In the 1970s the education system in Merton was altered to use a three tier structure (primary, middle and high school) in place of the former two tier structure and Rutlish lost the first three of its years. The school still retained the old year names; however, so that pupils starting at the school began as "fourth" years. The following years were named "remove", "fifth", "transitus" and "sixth" (actually a pupil's fifth year at the school if he remained that long).
School motto
- The school motto is: "Modeste Strenue Sancte"; meaning: "Be modest, be thorough and pursue righteousness"[3].
School houses
Additional to division into classes and years, the pupils of the school have been for most of the school's history allocated to one of eight school houses. Although, in recent years the system has been unused, it was reinstated in January 2010 with the houses:[4]
Unusually, Rutlish pupils did not, as a matter of course, wear the school badge on their uniforms, instead house membership was identified by a multi-coloured "house braid" which was affixed to the top edges of blazer pockets. In the transitus or sixth form it was common for pupils to be awarded "house colours" as an indication of achievement (often sporting). "School colours" were additionally awarded to those who had shown outstanding achievement. Recipients of house or school colours were entitled to wear the school badge on their blazers. School colours took precedence over house colours and the two were not worn together. Some houses, but not all, also had house ties which could be worn as an alternative to the school tie and, for a while, a school scarf was also available.
Throughout the school year, various inter-house competitions are held, often of a sporting nature, at which pupils compete individually or in teams as representatives of their houses. Towards the end of the school year, the winning house would be announced.
Sixth form
Following the conversion of Merton's education system back to a two tier structure in the 1990s, the school closed its sixth form as it was uneconomic. Students wishing to take A-levels now go to Merton College. From September 2010, a new sixth form will be created jointly with Ricards Lodge High School, Wimbledon. Building work is under way for the new facility, which will be based at both school sites.
Old Rutlishians
Since 1906 the Old Rutlishians Association ("Old Ruts") has existed as an Old Boys sports and social club linked to the school which former pupils of the school were eligible to join. With the loss of the sixth forms the number of former pupils joining the association fell and membership has been opened to all comers.
The club fields a large number of football, rugby and cricket teams and has a ground and clubhouse in Poplar Road, Merton Park.
Entry Year Reunions
There is now a tradition of particular entry years holding reunions, especially on the 50th anniversary of their entry. These have been held by the 1953, 1954 and 1957-59 entry years and is being planned for the 1960 entry year. Remarkably the 1957 entry year managed to track down all 118 pupils (7 of whom had died) in their year. 65 of the survivors attended the main reunion event on 1 September 2007 which is recorded in a website dedicated to the Reunion of the 1957 Entry Year.
Alumni
- Tom Braddock Labour MP from 1945-50 of Mitcham (1898-1903)
- Raymond Briggs, illustrator (1945-52)
- Robert Chetwyn, theatre director (1945-52)
- Francis Chorley CBE, Chairman from 1983-6 of Plessey and President from 1987-8 of the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers (IERE, and now part of the IET) (1937-44)
- Oswald Clark CBE, Principal from 1987-92 of the Society of the Faith (1929-36)
- Sir Derek Cons, President from 2003-6 of the Court of Appeal, Brunei (1939-46)
- Rt Rev John Dennis, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich from 1986-96 and father of Hugh Dennis (1942-9)
- Michael Doerr, Group CEO from 1992-7 of Friends Provident (1946-53)
- Sir Frank Edward Figgures CB CMG, first Secretary General from 1960-5 of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and Director General from 1971-3 of the National Economic Development Office (NEDO) (1921-8)
- Steve Finnan, Liverpool and Ireland international (1989-1992)
- Sir David Follett, Director from 1960-73 of the Science Museum (1919-26)
- Colin Hicks CB, Director General from 1999-2006 of the British National Space Centre (BNSC), and President since 2006 of Eurisy (1957-64)
- Prof Edward Hillhouse, Professor of Medicine since 2002 of the University of Leeds (1966-8)
- Sir Gilmour Jenkins CB MC, President from 1953-4 of the Institute of Marine Engineers (1905-12)
- Sir John Major KG, CH, Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997 (1954-9)
- Sir Morien Morgan CB, aeronautical engineer and Master from 1972-8 of Downing College, Cambridge (1924-31)
- Prof Patrick O'Neill, Professor of Japanese from 1968-86 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and President from 1980-1 of the British Association for Japanese Studies (1935-42)
- Sir Alfred Pugsley OBE, Professor of Civil Engineering from 1944-68 at the University of Bristol, and President from 1957-8 of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) (1914-21)
- Rt Rev Geoffrey Paul, Bishop of Bradford from 1981-3 (1932-9)
- Sir Frederick Page CBE, important aeronautical engineer and Chairman from 1966-73 of SEPECAT, who also was Chief Engineer at English Electric when it built the much-praised Lightning (1928-35)
- Bernarr Rainbow, organist (1926-33)
- Douglas Seale, actor (1925-32)
- Maj Gen Peter Shapland CB MBE, Colonel Commandant from 1981-6 of the Royal Engineers (1934-41)
- Stephen Shaw CBE, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman since 2001 and Director from 1981-99 of the Prison Reform Trust (1964-71)
- David Sherlock CBE, Chief Executive from 1997-2001 of the Training Standards Council, and Chief Executive from 2000-7 of the Adult Learning Inspectorate (1955-60)
- Keith Sutton, artist (1935-40)
- Frank Taylor Conservative MP from 1961-74 for Manchester Moss Side (1919-26)
- Mark Thomas, Editor from 2003-7 of The People (1980-85)
- David Ward, Ambassador from 1998-2002 to the Dominican Republic (1953-60)
- Prof Joseph Webb, Professor of Zoology from 1960-80 at Westfield College (1926-33)
References
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Measuring Worth: UK CPI.
- ^ Students of rutlish schools should be thankfull to William Rutlish as he is the main reason why the school had started and that is why students are having free education currently at Rutlish.British History Online, A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), 'Parishes: Merton', pages 64-8
- ^ Times Online, 28 June 2007
- ^ "December 2009 Newsletter". Rutlish School. December 2009. http://www.rutlish.merton.sch.uk/DEC%2009.pdf. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
