St Peter's School

St Peter’s School stands in the heart of York, beside the River Ouse. The oldest parts of the site face Bootham, where the hall range dates from 1838, the chapel from 1861 and the library from 1894. Boarding houses such as Wentworth and Rise border the main campus, while Linton, Dronfield and The Manor lie across the river and are reached by a footbridge. The school now occupies about fifty acres after expanding in the 2000s to include the former Queen Anne site. Three sections serve pupils aged two to nineteen: St Peter’s 2–8, St Peter’s 8–13 and the senior school. The riverbank grounds of the junior school once belonged to St Olave’s, founded in 1876 and acquired in 1901. The school’s history reaches back to 627, when St Paulinus founded it beside York Minster. Three conspirators from the 1605 Gunpowder Plot—Guy Fawkes, John Wright and Christopher Wright—were pupils here. After the Civil War the site moved several times before settling in Minster Yard in 1844. Girls joined the sixth form in 1976 and the school became fully coeducational in 1987. The choir now serves as the choir school for the York Minster Choristers following the closure of The Minster School in 2019. St Peter’s 8–13 was named the best pre-prep and independent school of the year in 2021. Visitors find the main campus a blend of Victorian and modern buildings. The chapel hosts compulsory morning services three times a week. The school’s Combined Cadet Force traces its origins to the Officers Training Corps founded in 1913. On the sports fields pupils play rugby, hockey and cricket, while the boat club, founded in 1851, has produced more than twenty-eight British representative rowers since 1998. Music flourishes with choirs, orchestras and groups that perform at York Minster and beyond.