The Latymer School Explained

The Latymer School
Coordinates:	51.625°N -0.0744°W
Motto:	Latin: Qui Patitur Vincit ("He who endures wins")
Type:	Voluntary aided grammar school
Head Label:	Headteacher
Head:	Maureen Cobbett
Chair Label:	Chair of the Governing Board
Chair:	Stephen Way
Founder:	Edward Latymer
Address:	Haselbury Road
City:	Edmonton
County:	Greater London
Country:	England
Postcode:	N9 9TN
Local Authority:	Enfield Council
Dfeno:	308/5400
Urn:	102055
Ofsted:	yes
Staff:	141
Enrolment:	1365
Gender:	Coeducational
Lower Age:	11
Upper Age:	18
Houses:	Ashworth Dolbé Keats Lamb Latymer Wyatt
Colours:	Royal & Navy Blue
Website:	https://www.latymer.co.uk

The Latymer School is a selective, mixed grammar school in Edmonton, London, England, established in 1624 by Edward Latymer.

History and traditions

Latymer was established in 1624 on Church Street, Edmonton by bequest of Edward Latymer, a London City merchant in Hammersmith.^[1] Although most of his wealth passed to the people of Hammersmith and the Parish of St Dunstan's (now Latymer Upper School), he named certain properties and estates to fund the education and livelihoods of "eight poore boies of Edmonton" with a doublet, a pair of breeches, a shirt, a pair of woollen stockings and shoes distributed biannually on Ascension Day and All Saints' Day. Pupils wore the red Latymer cross on their sleeves.

In 1662, John Wild of Edmonton made a bequest for the annual maintenance of a schoolmaster and a poor scholar at Cambridge. In 1697, Thomas Style extended the bequest to fund the education of "twenty poor boys ... Grammar and Latin tongue." Several similar benefactions produced about £550 per annum, which funded the instruction of more than one hundred boys, of which sixty were clothed. In 1811, Ann Wyatt, a widow from Hackney, willed her Navy Annuities for the construction and maintenance of a new school. The school-room was built in 1811 in accordance to her will.^[2]

The school did not take on Latymer's name for some centuries; when it finally did, it was known as Latymer's School. At some point, the apostrophe was dropped and the name modified to the Latymer School. It has been situated on its present site since 1910, when it also became coeducational.

The school motto, Qui Patitur Vincit ('Who endures wins'), was also adopted in 1910 by Richard Ashworth, then headmaster. Prior to this, the motto was Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ('Let he who bears the palm (of honour) deserve it').

The school has formal links with St John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those colleges.

In 1967 the school switched to a comprehensive intake as a result of Circular 10/65, a request from the Labour government to local education authorities to plan for conversion to a fully comprehensive education system. However, a certain amount of informal selection still took place in liaison with local primary schools.

In 1988, Latymer took advantage of the Education Reform Act 1988 to become a Grant-Maintained school with selective entrance exams once more. Grant-maintained status was abolished by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and Latymer reverted to voluntary aided status.

Ofsted judgement and school ranking

The school underwent its most recent Ofsted inspection on 24 March 2022, when it received an overall grade of 'Good', after having previously been graded 'Outstanding' on 25 January 2008.^[3] In the 2023 'Parent Power' rankings, published by The Times newspaper, the school was ranked 21st in the UK and seventh-best in London. In that same year, 86.5% of GCSE examinations achieved A-grades (15th nationwide), and 61.7% of entries gained A-grades at A-level, while 83% obtained A or B grades (36th nationwide).^[4]

Notable former pupils

In entertainment

• Evelyn Ankers,^[5] actress, known as "the Queen of the B movies"
• Clare-Hope Ashitey, actress^[6]
• Eileen Atkins, actress^[7]
• Bruce Forsyth, entertainer^[8]
• Tim Pope, director^[9]
• Leslie Welch, radio and television personality, the Memory Man^[10]
• Aubrey Woods, actor, best known for performing "The Candy Man" in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory^[11]

In politics

• Syed Kamall, Conservative MEP^[12]
• Albert Meltzer, anarcho-communist writer^[13]
• Ash Sarkar, British journalist and left-wing political activist^[14]
• David Walder, Conservative Party politician^[15]

In academia

• Mark Abrams, social scientist^[16]
• John Horlock, vice-chancellor, Open University, 1981–90^[17]
• Liz Jolly, Chief Librarian, The British Library (from 2018)^[18]
• John Prebble, historian and novelist^[19]
• Stephen Wheatcroft, economist and civil aviation expert influential in founding of British Airways^{[20] [21]}
• Yorick Wilks, artificial intelligence pioneer^[22]

In sport

• Ted Blake, trampoline pioneer^[23]
• Johnny Haynes, former Fulham F.C. and England football captain^[24]
• Leslie Medley, former Spurs and England footballer.^[25]
• Arthur Sanders, footballer^[26]
• Mark Warburton, formerly manager of Queens Park Rangers^[27]

In music

• James Blake, British electronic artist^[28]
• Grace Chatto, cellist in British electronic music band Clean Bandit^[28]
• Richard Cook, music writer, former executive of PolyGram records^[29]
• B.J. Wilson, original drummer of Procol Harum^[30]

Other

• Nick Holtam, 78th bishop of Salisbury^[31]

External links

• Official website
• A summary of Latymer's academic performance
• A detailed history of the Latymer schools at British History Online
• Profile at the Good Schools Guide

Notes and References

1. Web site: History of the school The Latymer School. 2022-01-01. www.latymer.co.uk.
2. Web site: Latymer - Four Centuries of Giving. The Latymer Foundation. 2019-04-03.
3. Web site: Find an inspection report and registered childcare . 6 October 2020 .
4. Web site: Parent Power: The Latymer School . subscription . 2024-03-14 . The Times.
5. Book: Mank, G.W. . Women in Horror Films, 1940s . McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers . 2005 . 978-0-7864-2335-4 . 2024-03-22 . Latymer School in London, as well as the Golophyn School and the Tacchomo School of Music and Dramatic". 54.
6. News: Davis . Anna . I'd rather study law says rising film star . London Evening Standard . ES London . 4 September 2006 . 25 March 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100708224457/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23365620-id-rather-study-law-says-rising-film-star.do . 8 July 2010 . dmy-all .
7. Web site: EncycloCentral -. https://web.archive.org/web/20080422064432/http://www.encyclocentral.com/14933-Dame_Eileen_Atkins_Performer.html. dead. 22 April 2008. 30 January 2017.
8. News: He can sing, dance, make jokes, his timing is immaculate. He could match Sammy Davis Junior step for step. 22 December 2006. 30 January 2017. The Guardian. Kennedy. Maev.
9. http://www.timpope.tv/bio.html timpope.tv : bio
10. Web site: Leslie Welch – The Memory Man. John. Barber. 30 January 2017.
11. News: Coveney . Michael . Aubrey Woods obituary . 22 March 2024 . The Guardian . 14 May 2013.
12. News: Nasrullah . Harun . Former MEPs head for the House of Lords . 22 March 2024 . The Muslim News . 29 January 2021.
13. Web site: I couldn't paint golden angels – Chapter I. 30 January 2017. As I didn't go to an upper-class school, though Latymer was reckoned so locally ... Kids were offered bright hopes in schools like the Latymer School, Edmonton, which was perhaps of the best of its kind, and taught hitherto middle class values to the sons and daughters of the working class.
14. News: Spanner . Huw . Young, Gifted and Brown . 22 March 2024 . High Profiles . 2020.
15. Book: Wilkinson, F.L. . The Territorial Air Force: The RAF's Voluntary Squadrons, 1926–1957 . Pen & Sword Books . 2020 . 978-1-5267-5105-8 . 2024-03-18 . 213.
16. Web site: Janus: The Papers of Mark Abrams. He was educated at the Latymer School in Edmonton. 18 March 2024. University of Cambridge.
17. Web site: History of the OU – John Horlock. https://web.archive.org/web/20151001073016/https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/historyofou/story/john-horlock. 1 October 2015. Open University. 14 April 2014.
18. Web site: Library Lives: Liz Jolly, British Library Boston Spa and St Pancras. 12 March 2024. 2018.
19. Web site: John Prebble. 30 January 2017. February 2001.
20. News: Stephen Wheatcroft, aviation expert – obituary. The Telegraph. 9 May 2016.
21. News: Stephen Wheatcroft Register The Times.
22. Book: Maybury, Mark. Words and Intelligence II. 36. Khurshid. Ahmad. Christopher. Brewster. Mark. Stevenson. 1 January 2007. Springer Netherlands. 1–37. 10.1007/1-4020-5833-0_1. Yorick Alexander Wilks: A Meaningful Journey. Text, Speech and Language Technology. 978-1-4020-5832-5.
23. Web site: The detailed history of trampolining from Nissen to Blake and still onwards. [e-mail]. 30 January 2017.
24. Book: Gardner, J. . Johnny Haynes . Pitch Publishing . 2017 . 978-1-78531-347-9 . 2024-03-14 . 25.
25. News: Les Medley. Brian. Glanville. 22 March 2001. 30 January 2017. The Guardian.
26. Web site: arthur sanders – fact file . 30 January 2017.
27. News: Ralston . Gary . My old pal Mark Warburton's trying to make me a Rangers man but I'd LOVE a Celtic win says Frank McLintock . 14 March 2024 . The Daily Record . 9 September 2016.
28. News: Highly-strung sounds of success for Clean Bandit. Bellotti. Alex. Hampstead Highgate Express. 13 March 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20151229230842/https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/etcetera/music/highly_strung_sounds_of_success_for_clean_bandit_1_3283121. 29 December 2015. en.
29. News: Richard Cook. John. Fordham. 24 September 2007. 30 January 2017. The Guardian.
30. Web site: Kenny White on Barrie Wilson . 30 January 2017.
31. Web site: Nomination: Diocese of Salisbury . Prime Minister's Office . 13 March 2024 . 12 April 2011.