Dr Challoner's Grammar School
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Dr Challoner's Grammar School is a Voluntary Controlled Grammar School of 1287 boys located in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England.
It was founded in 1624 in accordance with the last will and testament of Dr. Robert Chaloner (spelt with only one ‘l’). Chaloner was Rector of Amersham from 1576 to 1584, when he took up office as a Canon of Windsor, Berkshire, England, a post he held until his death in 1621.
History
In his will, Robert Chaloner left money to establish "a free gramar scoole in Amersam", as well as £40 a year for a schoolmaster. The school was situated in Old Amersham for almost three centuries before moving, with the support of Buckinghamshire County Council, to its present buildings in Amersham-on-the Hill in 1905. At this time, the school embraced the principle of co-education for the first time which, according to the school’s first prospectus in 1906, was "practically universal in America".
By 1937, Challoner's was incorporated into the state system of education and by the early 1950s the school had about 350 boys and girls on roll. However, plans for expansion to 550 pupils were overtaken by rapid population growth in the area and the decision was made to establish a separate school for girls in Little Chalfont: Dr Challoner's High School, which opened in 1962. The two schools continue to maintain very close links.
The continued expansion of the Grammar School to its present size of over 1200 boys saw major building projects in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s. The more recent of these developments have provided the school with some of the most attractive school buildings in the county, complementing the original "arts and crafts" style of the 1905 block which still forms the hub of the school. The latest developments include the enclosing of many areas of grass, known by some teachers as the 'sheep-pen area', as well as the standard replacing of doors and all at a time when the Maths department has run out of funds to buy new books for the department to accommodate for the change in the Maths syllabus.
In 2002, Challoner's became one of the first Science Colleges in the United Kingdom, committed to continued excellence in the fields of Mathematics and Science alongside its other all round strengths.
In 2005, the school celebrated the 100th anniversary of the move to the current (Chesham Road) site, also building the Centenary Sports Pitch. The current headmaster is Dr. Mark Fenton, a former post-graduate student of Anglia Polytechnic University, after attaining his main degree from Cambridge University. The school was briefly closed due to smog from the fire at Hemel Hempstead in 2005, although aside from this the school upholds a proud record that it has never closed for weather in the past 20 years.
Perhaps its most famous alumnus is actor Sir Roger Moore, though it is worth noting that he attended Challoner's only for a short period of time during the Second World War.