By structuring ourselves as a family of six Schools (Pre-Prep, Prep, Heatherton, Girls, Boys and Sixth) on five sites, we are able to combine huge economies of scale, outstanding facilities and excellence of achievement with first-class pastoral care and knowledge of each pupil as an individual – enjoying the advantages normally gained by both large and small schools.This is a learning community in which all teachers, pupils and support staff are aiming high. Learning is a high priority for staff as well as pupils – we are all seeking the very best every day.
Character is tremendously important for all our Schools, and we value and instil integrity in our students, which is reflective of an establishment founded over 475 years ago by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral.
We also foster a spirit of adventure in our pupils from the time they join our family of Schools and in all areas of School life. This is seen most obviously on our high-ropes course on the Haresfoot campus, and in our hugely successful outdoor education programme, but also in the theatre, the classroom and on the sports pitch.
We are a community that understands the importance of service. We recorded over 2,600 hours of voluntary work from just a single year group last year, and our family of Schools are committed to a rich programme of community service.
The dynamism of the learning across our group is illustrated by the pioneering work we have invested in to develop a mini-MBA course for Berkhamsted Sixth Form staff and students in collaboration with Ashridge Business School and the Oxford University Careers Service.
We are also at the forefront of the implementation of Professor Guy Claxton’s work in helping students to develop as learners throughout their time at our Schools.
Combining excellence and breadth, tradition and a pioneering spirit, a Berkhamsted Schools experience is an outstanding one.
- Henry Atkins (1554/5–1635), President of the College of Physicians,
- Richard Field (1561–1616), clergyman and theologian
- Sir Algernon Methuen (1856–1924), founder and owner, Methuen & Co, publishers
- Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill (1885–1977), wife of Winston Churchill
- Charles Seltman (1886-1957), author and archeologist
- Sir Lumley Lyster (1888-1957), admiral, Royal Navy
- Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood (1889–1939), politician and peace campaigner
- Sir Donald Fergusson (1891–1963), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1936–1945, and Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1945–1952
- H. W. Tilman (1898–1977), mountaineer and sailor
- A. K. Chesterton (1899–1973), first Chairman of the National Front, 1967–1971
- F. S. Smythe (1900–1949), mountaineer and author
- Raymond Greene (1901–1982), endocrinologist and mountaineer
- Rex Tremlett (1903–1986) author and prospector
- Claud Cockburn (1904–1981), writer and journalist
- Graham Greene (1904–1991), author
- Bill Fiske, Baron Fiske (1905–1975), first leader of the Greater London Council, 1964–1967, and Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board
- Sir Peter Quennell (1905–1993), writer and editor
- Sir Colin Buchanan (1907–2001), town planner
- Sir Hugh Greene (1910–1987), Director-General of the BBC, 1960–1969
- Michael Sherard (1910-1998), born Malcolm Sherrard, fashion designer and academic
- Sir Kenneth Cork (1913–1991), accountant, and Lord Mayor of the City of London, 1978–1979
- Margot Jefferys (1916–1999), Professor of Medical Sociology, Bedford College, London, 1968–1982
- Antony Hopkins (1921-2014), composer
- Robert Simons (1922-2011), cricketer
- James Rodwell (1984 -), Rugby, Team GB Rugby 7s at the Rio Olympic Games, 2016 – Silver Medalist
- Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013), composer and broadcaster
- Mark Boxer (Marc) (1931–1988), cartoonist and magazine editor
- Michael Podro (1931–2008), art historian
- Alexander Goehr (born 1932), composer and 1987 Reith Lecturer
- Sir Anthony Cleaver (born 1938), Chairman of the Medical Research Council, 1998–2006
- Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (born 1939), yachtsman
- John Bly (born 1939), antiques expert
- Michael Meacher (1939–2015), politician
- Richard Mabey (born 1941), nature writer
- John Graham Nicholls (born 1929), physiologist
- Kit Wright (born 1944), children’s poet
- Keith Mans (born 1946), politician
- Zaha Hadid (1950-2016), multiple-award-winning architect
- Alan Goldberg (born 1954), warden of western marble arch synagogue
- Lieutenant General Mark Mans (born 1955), Adjutant-General to the Forces
- Emma Fielding (born 1966), actress
- Roger Moorhouse (born 1968), historian and author
- Stephen Campbell Moore (born 1977 Stephen Thorpe), actor
- Robert Courts (born 1978), politician and Member of Parliament for Witney
- Carla Chases (born 1984), actress
- Talulah Riley (born 1985), actress
- Olajide ‘JJ’ Olatunji (also known as ‘KSI’) (born 1993), rapper, actor, white-collar boxer and youtuber [11]
