Did you know that?

The school was only the fifth new grammar school to be built after the end of World War Two

The school cost £250.000 to build, was designed around a steel frame construction based on the 8'3" concept (!) and to accommodate 630 staff and pupils with a lifespan of only 60 years!

The founding intake in 1953 had to lodge temporarily at Clarendon School, Oxhey for their first year - the buildings at Scots Hill weren't completed until mid 1954!

The first former pupil to claim a State Pension achieved the dubious honour in March 2001 (name withheld!)

Former pupils and teachers achieved international sports honours in ten separate codes - Athletics, Basketball, Rugby Union (both men and women), Gymnastics, Badminton, Netball, Swimming, Wheelchair Basketball and even Dragon Boat Racing

One former pupil reached the legal heights of a High Court Judge

There have only been three Headmasters in the school's 54 years of existence

Only one school rule exists without any change whatsoever in wording or interpretation since first published in 1953 - 'Physical Education, no child is excused from games, gym, swimming or showers without a note from the parent. If the child is to be excluded for any length of time, a doctor's certificate should be sent to the school.'

In 1953 there were only seven school rules, now there are twenty-six

In the fifties the average teacher age was 28, in the current times it is 41

The school was officially opened on 20 June 1956 by the Rt Hon Countess Mountbatten of Burma

The school's motto, an extract from Psalm 127 - Nisi dominus aedifacaverit -' is a shortened version of the fuller text which translates as - except the Lord build this house, they labour in vain that build it - and its adoption in 1953, together with the that of the full coat of arms as the school badge, was by the permission of the then Rickmansworth Urban District Council

The school's badge, consisting of the Rickmansworth UDC motto and coat of arms, additionally includes the supporting dragons from the Clarendon School badge

In 1974 the school ceased to hold Grammar School status when as a result of a government decree first published 1969 it became a Comprehensive School

The school changed status twice more, in 1989 to a Grant Maintained School followed by becoming a Foundation School in 1999

____Use these icons to print or email this page to a friend____