Charterhouse School

Charterhouse is a private school for pupils aged 13 to 18, set on a hilltop site of more than 200 acres just outside Godalming in Surrey. The school occupies a former monastery and has grown from a 17th-century foundation into one of England’s leading public schools. Its main buildings, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick, stand on land bought in 1872 when the headmaster William Haig Brown moved the school from London. Fifteen boarding houses, each with its own colours and traditions, are spread across the campus. The school chapel, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, serves as a war memorial with nearly 700 names from the First World War. The school’s reputation rests on strong academic results and a wide range of extra-curricular activities. In 2024 more than half of pupils gained A* or A grades at GCSE, and in 2012 over ninety per cent of Cambridge Pre-U examinations were graded Distinction or Merit. Former pupils include a British Prime Minister and over twenty who have gone on to Oxford or Cambridge. The inspectors noted pupils’ exceptional achievements in sport, music and the arts, alongside excellent relationships between staff and pupils. Visitors walk past the main school buildings and see the chapel with its long lists of names. The fifteen boarding houses each display their own tie colours and house flags. Paths lead to the Ralph Vaughan Williams Music Centre, the John Derry Technology Centre and the Halford Hewitt Golf Course. The chapel’s stained glass and the Hardwick-designed interiors remain central to the school’s daily life.