Westminster School

File:Cmglee Westminster School front.jpg in August 2012]]

{{see also|Grammar school#History|Latin school|Neo-Latin#Latin in school education 1500-1700}}

The earliest records of a school at Westminster date back to the 1340s and are held in Westminster Abbey's Muniment Room.{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster.org.uk/westminster/about/history/ |title=History |publisher= Westminster School |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170824220919/http://www.westminster.org.uk/westminster/about/history/ |archive-date=24 August 2017 |url-status=dead }} Parts of the buildings now used by the school date back to the tenth-century Anglo-Saxon abbey at Westminster.{{Cite web |url= https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/benedictine-monastery |title=About the Abbey |publisher= Westminster Abbey}}

In 1540, Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in England, including that of the powerful Abbots of Westminster, but personally ensured the School's survival by his royal charter.[http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/archives/schools.pdf "Historical notes on Westminster Schools".] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903133650/http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/archives/schools.pdf |date=3 September 2013 }} Westminster City Council. "After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII personally ensured its survival by statute". The Royal College of St. Peter carried on with forty "King's Scholars" financed from the royal purse. By this point Westminster School had certainly become a public school (i.e. a school available to members of the paying public, rather than the private tuition arranged by the nobility). During Mary I's reign the Abbey was reinstated as a Roman Catholic monastery, but the school continued.

Elizabeth I refounded the school in 1560,{{Cite web |url= http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/westminsterschool.htm |title=Elizabeth I has been credited with founding the Westminster School in 1560 |publisher=Luminarium.org |access-date=30 August 2011}} with new statutes to select 40 King's Scholars from boys who had attended the school for a year.{{Cite web |url=http://www.londonancestor.com/leighs/chr-wests.htm |title=Westminster School in London |publisher=Londonancestor.com |access-date=30 August 2011}} Queen Elizabeth frequently visited her scholars, although she never signed the statutes or endowed her scholarships; 1560 is now generally taken as the date that the school was "founded".

Elizabeth I appointed William Camden{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/william-camden |title=William Camden |publisher=Westminster Abbey |access-date=30 August 2011}} as Head Master, and he is the only layman known to have held the position until 1937.The King's Nurseries, John Field, page 29 It was Richard Busby,{{Cite web |url=http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/willen99/w_people/Busby/Busby/busby.html |title=Dr. Richard Busby, Lord of the Manor & Headmaster of Westminster School |publisher=Clutch.open.ac.uk |access-date=30 August 2011}}{{Cite web |url=http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/willen99/w_people/Busby/Bustrus/Bustrus.html |title=Dr. Richard Busby's legacy |publisher=Clutch.open.ac.uk |access-date=30 August 2011}} himself an Old Westminster, who established the reputation of the school for several hundred years, as much by his classical learning as for his ruthless discipline by the birch, immortalised in Pope's Dunciad. Busby prayed publicly up School"Up School" is a Westminster term, meaning in or to the ancient school hall. for the safety of the Crown, on the very day of Charles I's execution, and then locked the boys inside to prevent their going to watch the spectacle a few hundred yards away. Regardless of politics, he thrashed Royalist and Puritan boys alike without fear or favour. Busby also took part in Oliver Cromwell's funeral procession in 1658, when a Westminster schoolboy, Robert Uvedale, succeeded in snatching the "Majesty Scutcheon" (white satin banner) draped on the coffin, which is now held in the library{{Cite web |author=Denis Larionov & Alexander Zhulin |url=http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/frances-parthenope-verney/memoirs-of-the-verney-family--volume-3-ala/page-28-memoirs-of-the-verney-family--volume-3-ala.shtml |title=The 'Majesty Scutcheon.' taken from Cromwell's bier. ebooksread.com electronic library |publisher=Ebooksread.com |access-date=30 August 2011}} (it was given to the school by his family three hundred years later).{{Cite web |url=https://collections.westminster.org.uk/index.php/gb-2014-ws-03-pic-001-77 |title=The Majesty Scutcheon |access-date=29 February 2024}} Busby remained in office throughout the Civil War and the Commonwealth, when the school was governed by Parliamentary Commissioners, and well into the Restoration.

In 1679, a group of scholars killed a bailiff, ostensibly in defence of Abbey's traditional right of sanctuary after the man had arrested a person connected to the college. {{Cite web |url=http://archiveblog.westminster.org.uk/?p=501 |title=The King's Scholars' Pardon |access-date=29 February 2024}} Busby obtained a royal pardon for his scholars from Charles II and added the cost to the school bills.

File:Westminster School Arch.jpg]]

Until the 19th century, the curriculum was predominantly made up of Latin and Greek, and all taught up School.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/westminsterschoo00fors |title=Westminster School Past and Present|year=1884|publisher=Wyman & Sons |access-date=10 July 2015}} Westminster boys were uncontrolled outside school hours and notoriously unruly about town, but the proximity of the school to the Palace of Westminster meant that politicians were well aware of boys' exploits. After the Public Schools Act 1868, in response to the Clarendon Commission{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RcNAQAAIAAJ&q=Westminster+School&pg=PA113 |title=Public Schools and Private Education: The Clarendon Commission, 1861–64 |publisher=Manchester University Press |access-date=10 July 2015|isbn=9780719025808 |year=1988 }} on the financial and other malpractices at nine pre-eminent public schools, the school began to approach its modern form. It was legally separated from the Abbey, although the organisations remain close. The Dean of Westminster was ex officio the Chair of the Governing Body until 2020 and remains a Governor. There followed a scandalous public and parliamentary dispute lasting a further 25 years, to settle the transfer of the properties from the Canons of the Abbey to the school. School statutes have been made by Order in Council of Queen Elizabeth II. The Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, were also ex officio members of the school's Governing Body until 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.westminster.org.uk/about/governing-body/ |title=Westminster School: The Governing Body |publisher=www.westminster.org.uk |access-date=29 February 2024}}

Unusually among public schools, Westminster did not adopt most of the broader changes associated with the Victorian ethos of Thomas Arnold, such as the emphasis on team over individual spirit, and the school retained much of its distinctive character. Despite many pressures, including evacuation and the destruction of the school roof during the Blitz, the school refused to move out of the city, unlike other schools such as Charterhouse and St. Paul's, and remains in its central London location.

Westminster Under School was formed in 1943{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminsterunder.org.uk/about.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051126054443/http://www.westminsterunder.org.uk/about.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 November 2005 |title=Westminster Under School |publisher=Westminsterunder.org.uk |access-date=30 August 2011}} in the evacuated school buildings in Westminster, as a distinct preparatory school for day pupils between the ages of eight to 13 (now seven to 13). Only the separation is new: for example, in the 18th century, Edward Gibbon attended Westminster from the age of 11 and Jeremy Bentham from the age of eight.The Record of Old Westminsters The Under School has since moved to Vincent Square,{{Cite web |url=http://www.educationuk.org/pls/hot_bc/bc_bd_school.page_pls_school_details?x=126739512409&y=0&a=0&b=&psch=1227&psrc=16254576&pseq=1&pinc=1000 |title=Innovative. Individual. Inspirational |publisher=Education UK |date=27 May 2011 |access-date=30 August 2011}} overlooking the school's playing fields. Its current Master is Kate Jefferson.{{cite web |url=http://www.westminsterunder.org.uk/staff.html |title=Westminster Under School |publisher=Westminsterunder.org.uk |access-date=4 January 2009 |archive-date=9 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509091051/http://www.westminsterunder.org.uk/staff.html |url-status=dead }}

In 1967, the first female pupil was admitted to the school. Girls became full members in 1973.{{Cite news |last=Rae |first=John |url= http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/3539666/tales-out-of-school.thtml |title=The Old Boys' Network |work=The Spectator |location=London |date=18 April 2009 |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110605082432/http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/3539666/tales-out-of-school.thtml |archive-date=5 June 2011 }} In 1981, a single-sex boarding house, Purcell's, was created for girls. In 1997 the school expanded further with the creation of a new day house, Milne's, at 5a, Dean's Yard.

In 2005 the school was one of 50 leading independent schools found guilty of running a cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to collaborate in uncompetitive fees for thousands of customers.{{Cite news |url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article588559.ece |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233300/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article588559.ece |url-status= dead |archive-date= 10 March 2007 |title= Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees |newspaper=The Times |location= London |first=Tony |last=Halpin |date=10 November 2005}}{{subscription required}}{{Cite news |url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article877567.ece |title= Parents may sue on school fee rise 'cartel' |newspaper=The Times |location= London |date=4 May 2003 |first=Jonathan |last=Calvert}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{subscription required}} Jean Scott, the head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted). She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed.".{{Cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1455730/Private-schools-send-papers-to-fee-fixing-inquiry.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1455730/Private-schools-send-papers-to-fee-fixing-inquiry.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Private schools send papers to fee-fixing inquiry |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=1 March 2004 |access-date=15 March 2011}}{{cbignore}} However, each school agreed to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and ex-gratia payments totalling £3 million into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.{{Cite press release |url= http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2006/182-06 |title=OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement |publisher=Office of Fair Trading |date=21 December 2006 |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140402142426/http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2006/182-06 |archive-date=2 April 2014 }}{{Cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1511425/Why-did-OFT-take-a-pile-driver-to-crack-a-nut.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1511425/Why-did-OFT-take-a-pile-driver-to-crack-a-nut.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Why did OFT take a pile-driver to crack a nut? |first=John |last=Clare |date=25 February 2006 |access-date=6 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/nov/09/schools.uk |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Elite schools 'breached law' on fees |first=Donald |last=MacLeod |date=9 November 2005 |access-date=6 April 2010}}

In 2007, the school responded to an invitation to become the sponsor of Pimlico School, which was due to be rebuilt as an academy, but decided not to do so after Westminster City Council developed its plans. In 2013 the school collaborated with the Harris Federation to set up a selective, mixed sixth-form academy, with entrance priority being given to those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Harris Westminster Sixth Form opened nearby in 2014; pupils of the academy share some lessons and facilities of the school.

In 2010 the school and the abbey celebrated the 450th anniversary of the granting of their royal charter and Elizabeth I's refoundation of the school in 1560. Queen Elizabeth II with the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a controversial statue in Little Dean's Yard of the Queen's namesake Elizabeth I, the nominal foundress of the School, by Old Westminster sculptor Matthew Spender.{{Cite web |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/7750380/Queen-unveils-statue-of-Elizabeth-I-at-Westminster-Abbey.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/7750380/Queen-unveils-statue-of-Elizabeth-I-at-Westminster-Abbey.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Queen unveils statue of Elizabeth I at Westminster Abbey |work=The Telegraph |location= London |date=22 May 2010 |access-date=5 May 2016}}{{cbignore}}{{subscription required}} The head of the statue came off in May 2016 after a Sixth Former (a pupil in Year 12) tried to climb onto the statue. The head has since been reattached.

In May 2013, the school was criticized for staging an auction involving the selling of internships to fund bursaries, resulting in adverse press coverage.[http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/luke-hurst/westminster-school-are-slapping-you-in-the-face_b_3287061.html "Luke Hurst: Westminster School are Slapping You in the Face With a Big Wad of Cash"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112354/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/luke-hurst/westminster-school-are-slapping-you-in-the-face_b_3287061.html |date=4 March 2016}}. Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 August 2013.

In December 2017, the school announced plans to open six schools in China, working with the Hong Kong educational group HKMETG; the first opened in Chengdu in 2020.{{Cite news |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/westminster-school-to-open-in-china-wtw02hrd5 |title=Westminster School to open in China |last=Bennett| first=Rosemary |date=7 December 2017 |work=The Times |access-date=7 December 2017 |location= London}}{{subscription required}} Revenue generated by the deal will be used to support bursary funds at the existing school, and follows similar moves by Harrow School, Malvern School, Wellington College and Dulwich College. The school was criticized in the media and by its pupils for its decision to teach the Chinese national curriculum as opposed to an international curriculum normally taught by international schools.{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/dec/07/westminster-school-to-set-up-branches-in-china-to-teach-chinese-curriculum |title=Westminster School to set up branches in China to teach Chinese curriculum |last=Phillips |first=Tom |date=7 December 2017 |work=The Guardian |access-date=7 December 2017 |location= London}} Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS London, was quoted in the Financial Times as saying, "I think they have no idea what they're dealing with.... If you set up a school in China, they will have a party secretary superintending the whole school and the party secretary will be responsible for political education."{{Cite news |url= https://www.ft.com/content/4ea11ec0-daa9-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/4ea11ec0-daa9-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Westminster School to teach Chinese curriculum in China – Political education at UK private school's new sites to fall under Communist party direction |website=Financial Times |date=7 December 2017 |access-date=7 December 2017 |location= London}}{{subscription required}} The school responded that it would exercise "soft power" over the teaching and would also teach an international curriculum for students aged 16–18.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-42255159 |title=Westminster to open six schools in China |last=Coughlan |first=Sean |date=7 December 2017 |work=BBC News |access-date=7 December 2017 }} The issue was re-opened when The Times published an article quoting Professor Edward Vickers of Kyushu University, who accused the school (and King's College School, with similar plans) of "helping Chinese teach propaganda".{{Cite news |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/westminster-and-kings-accused-of-helping-chinese-teach-propaganda-g2982z3sj |title=Westminster and Kings accused of helping Chinese teach propaganda |first=Rosemary |last=Bennett |date=18 May 2018 |work=The Times |access-date=20 May 2018 |location= London}}{{subscription required}} These plans were cancelled in November 2021 in response to "recent changes in Chinese education policy".{{Cite news |url= https://inews.co.uk/news/westminster-school-china-sites-chengdu-scrapped-amid-concerns-communist-curriculum-1282000 |title=Westminster School abandons plans for sister sites in China amid concerns about communist curriculum |first=Poppy |last=Wood |date=3 November 2021 |work=i news |access-date=1 August 2021 |location= London}}

The school stands mainly in the precincts of the medieval monastery of Westminster Abbey,{{cite web |url=http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/archives/schools.pdf |title=Westminster School has been teaching scholars in the precincts of the Abbey since at least 1394 |date=10 July 2015 |publisher=Westminster City Council |access-date=26 April 2009 |archive-date=3 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903133650/http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/archives/schools.pdf |url-status=dead }} its main buildings surrounding its private square Little Dean's Yard (known as Yard), off Dean's Yard, where Church House, the headquarters of the Church of England, is situated,{{Cite web |url= http://www.churchhouse.org.uk/ |title=The Corporation of Church House |publisher= Church House |date=10 June 1940 |access-date=30 August 2011}} along with some of the houses, the common room, the humanities building Weston's, and College Hall.

File:Dean's Yard westminster.jpg

Just outside the abbey precincts in Great College Street is Sutcliff's (named after the tuck shop on the site of the building in the 19th century), where Geography, Art,[http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/art.asp Westminster School|Activities|Art] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131174449/http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/art.asp |date=31 January 2010}} Theology, Philosophy and Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek) are taught. The Robert Hooke Science Centre{{Cite web |url= http://www.westonwilliamson.com/projects.php?a=westminster_school |publisher=Weston Williamson Architects |title=Projects |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110910053310/http://www.westonwilliamson.com/projects.php?a=westminster_school |archive-date=10 September 2011 }} is further away, just off Smith Square.[http://www.westminster.org.uk/academiclife/science_centre.asp Westminster School|Academic Life|Robert Hooke Science Centre] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229194704/http://www.westminster.org.uk/academiclife/science_centre.asp |date=29 December 2009}} As part of an expansion programme funded by donations and a legacy from A. A. Milne,{{Cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3611924/Trust-me-TJP-would-gain-nothing-from-taking-a-PGCE.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3611924/Trust-me-TJP-would-gain-nothing-from-taking-a-PGCE.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Trust me: TJP would gain nothing from taking a PGCE |first=Harry |last=Mount |date=12 October 2004 |access-date=6 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}{{subscription required}} the school has acquired the nearby Millicent Fawcett Hall for Drama and Theatre Studies lessons and performances;[http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/drama.asp Westminster School |Activities |Drama] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229193124/http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/drama.asp |date=29 December 2009}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20060110.shtml |title=Radio 4 Making History – Latest programme |publisher=BBC |date=18 October 2005 |access-date=30 August 2011}} the Manoukian Centre for Music Lessons{{Cite web |url=http://www.smartcomm.co.uk/casestudies/commercial/westminster-school-smart-technology.aspx |title=Commercial Case Studies |publisher=Smartcomm |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111007072120/http://www.smartcomm.co.uk/casestudies/commercial/westminster-school-smart-technology.aspx |archive-date=7 October 2011 }}[http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/music.asp Westminster School|Activities|Music] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228011552/http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/music.asp |date=28 December 2009 }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.london-conducting-workshop.com/about.htm |title=London Conducting Workshop Details |publisher=London-conducting-workshop.com |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007113342/http://www.london-conducting-workshop.com/about.htm |archive-date=7 October 2011 }} (timetabled and private) and recitals; and the Weston Building at 3 Dean's Yard.{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.westminster.org.uk/academiclife/weston.asp |website=Westminster School |title=Academic Life - Weston building |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124071459/http://www.westminster.org.uk/academiclife/weston.asp |archive-date=24 January 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.byrnegroup.co.uk/CaseStudies/ViewCaseStudy.aspx?CaseID=25&Sector=EducationCentres&MainImageToLoad=6 |title=Archived copy |website=www.byrnegroup.co.uk |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170712/http://www.byrnegroup.co.uk/CaseStudies/ViewCaseStudy.aspx?CaseID=25&Sector=EducationCentres&MainImageToLoad=6 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} It often uses St John's, Smith Square as a venue for major musical concerts.

File:St john smith.jpg as a venue for major musical concerts.]]

College Garden, to the East of Little Dean's Yard, is believed to be the oldest garden in England, under continuous cultivation for about a millennium.{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/venue-bookings/venues/college-garden |title=College Garden |publisher=Westminster Abbey |access-date=30 August 2011}} Just beyond rises the Victoria Tower of the Houses of Parliament; the King's Scholars have special rights of access to the House of Commons.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} To the North, the Dark Cloister leads straight to the Abbey, which serves as the School Chapel.{{Cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5094502/The-Old-Boys-Network-a-Headmasters-Diaries-1970-86-by-John-Rae-Review.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5094502/The-Old-Boys-Network-a-Headmasters-Diaries-1970-86-by-John-Rae-Review.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=The Old Boys' Network: a Headmaster's Diaries, 1970–86 by John Rae: Review |first=Tom |last=Horan |date=2 April 2009 |access-date=6 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}{{subscription required}}

The playing fields are half a mile away at Vincent Square,[http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/sports.asp Westminster School|Activities|Sports] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112011139/http://www.westminster.org.uk/activities/sports.asp |date=12 January 2010 }} which Dean Vincent created for the school by hiring a horse and plough to carve {{convert|10|acre|m2}} out of the open Tothill Fields. The boathouse is now some way from the school at Putney, where it is also used for the Oxford and Cambridge boat race; but the school's First Eight still returns annually to exercise its traditional right to land at Black Rod Steps of the Palace of Westminster.

In 2011, the school agreed to buy a 999-year lease of Lawrence Hall, London from The Royal Horticultural Society.{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster.org.uk/news-article.html?id=114 |title=Westminster School News |publisher=Westminster.org.uk |access-date=8 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408223823/http://www.westminster.org.uk/news-article.html?id=114 |archive-date=8 April 2014 }} This listed Art-Deco building adjacent to the school's playing fields at Vincent Square has been converted into a Sports Centre. It provides for climbing, martial arts, fencing, rowing, table tennis, badminton, netball, indoor football and indoor cricket.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/document.doc?id=162 |title=The Elizabethan Newsletter, 2012/2013, p. 14 |publisher=oldwestminster.org.uk/ |access-date=8 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225807/http://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/document.doc?id=162 |archive-date=8 April 2014 |url-status=dead }} In 2012 the school took possession of St Edward's House, which was the last Anglican monastery in London.Society of St. John the Evangelist#British congregation. The building, on the corner of Great College Street and Tufton Street, now houses Purcell's, a Boarding House for girls and a Day House for boys, as well as a small Chapel and Refectory.{{Cite web |title=The Elizabethan Newsletter, 2012/2013, p. 16 |url=http://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/document.doc?id=162 |publisher=oldwestminster.org.uk/ |access-date=8 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225807/http://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/document.doc?id=162 |archive-date=8 April 2014 |url-status = dead}} Westminster Under School has also been enlarged by a building in Douglas Street, which provides an Art Studio, IT Suite and Dining Hall.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/document.doc?id=162 |title=The Elizabethan Newsletter, 2012/2013, p. 17 |publisher=oldwestminster.org.uk/ |access-date=8 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225807/http://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/document.doc?id=162 |archive-date=8 April 2014 |url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}

Westminster was the 13th most expensive HMC day school and tenth most expensive HMC boarding school in the UK in 2014/2015{{Cite web |url=http://www.privateschoolfees.co.uk |title=Private School Fees |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010123134/http://www.privateschoolfees.co.uk/ |archive-date=10 October 2016 |access-date=7 April 2015 }} It achieved the highest percentage of students accepted by Oxbridge colleges over the period 2002–2006,[http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn00616.pdf "Oxbridge 'elitism'".] and was ranked as best boys' school in the country in terms of GCSE results in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.best-schools.co.uk/uk-school-league-tables/gcse-grades/|title=Top 100 Schools by GCSE}} In 2019, 84% of pupils scored A*-A for their A-Levels examination, while 80% scored A*-A for their GCSEs.{{Cite web |date=30 October 2019 |title=Westminster School UK: Reviews, Ranking, Fees And More |url= https://britannia-study.com.my/uk-boarding-school/westminster-school |access-date=8 January 2021 |website=Britannia StudyLink Malaysia: UK Study Expert}}

The school plans to introduce girls into Year 9 in 2028.{{Cite web |title=Co-Education and Pre-Prep |url= https://www.westminster.org.uk/co-education-and-pre-prep/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |publisher= Westminster School }} It will be co-educational in all year groups by 2030.{{Cite news |last=Clarence-Smith |first=Louisa |date=27 March 2023 |title=Leading private school to open all classes to girls for first time |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/27/westminster-school-admit-girls-year-groups/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |work=The Telegraph |location= London}}

Westminster School, in the middle of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret's, and the Palace of Westminster, has several buildings notable for qualities, age and history.

• The Great Cloisters, St Faith's Chapel, The Chapter House, The Parlour, 1 and 2 The Cloisters, and the dormitory with the Chapel of St Dunstan are listed Grade I as a group on the National Heritage List for England.{{NHLE|num=1066370|desc=The Great Cloisters, including St Faiths Chapel, The Chapter House...|access-date=9 August 2021}}
• The dormitory at Little Dean's Yard and the staircase and doorway in Little Dean's Yard to the Busby Library are separately listed Grade I.{{NHLE|num=1066372|desc=Little Dean's Yard (College of Westminster School)|access-date=9 August 2021}}{{NHLE|num=1066373|desc=Little Dean's Yard: Staircase to Doorway and Gateway to 'School' and Busby Library|access-date=9 August 2021}}
• College Hall, the 14th-century abbot's state dining hall, is one of the oldest and finest examples of a medieval refectory and still in daily use for that purpose in term-time; outside of term it reverts to the dean as the abbot's successor.[http://www.westminster-abbey.org/__data/assets/file/0012/20253/2007-annual-report.pdf] {{webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091016052718/http://www.westminster%2Dabbey.org/__data/assets/file/0012/20253/2007%2Dannual%2Dreport.pdf|date=16 October 2009}} Queen Elizabeth Woodville took sanctuary here in 1483 with five daughters and her son Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, but failed to save him from his fate as one of the Princes in the Tower. In the 1560s, Elizabeth I several times came to see her scholars act their Latin plays on a stage in front of the attractive Elizabethan gallery, which may have been first erected especially for the purpose.{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1845552.stm |work= BBC News |title= Abbey's 'secret' hall opens its doors |date=28 February 2002 |access-date=6 April 2010}}{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1846818.stm |work= BBC News |title=Six hundred years of history |date=28 February 2002 |access-date=6 April 2010}}
• College, now shared between the three Houses of College, Dryden's and Wren's, is a dressed stone building overlooking College Garden,{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/college-garden |title=College Garden |publisher=Westminster Abbey |date=25 October 2010 |access-date=30 August 2011}} the former monastery's Infirmary garden, which is still the property of the Collegiate Church of Westminster Abbey. College dates from 1729 and was designed by the Earl of Burlington, based on earlier designs by Sir Christopher Wren (himself an Old Westminster).

File:Dragon-weathervanejpg.jpg which was placed on the roof of the school in the 1950s to commemorate the school's resurgence after World War II]]

• School, originally built in the 1090s as the monks' dormitory, is the school's main hall, used for Latin Prayers (a weekly assembly with prayers in the Westminster dialect of Latin),[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090225223115/https://intranet.westminster.org.uk/almanack/pdf/play08.pdf Westminster School Almanack], p. 13. exams, and large concerts, plays and the like. From 1599 it was used to teach all the pupils, the Upper and Lower Schools being separated by a curtain hung from a 16th-century pig iron bar, which remains the largest piece of pig iron in the world.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} The panelling "up School" is painted with the coats of arms of many former pupils. The original shell-shaped apse at the north end of the school gave its name to the 'Shell' forms taught there and the corresponding classes at many other public schools. The current shell displays a Latin epigram on the rebuilding of School, with the acrostic Semper Eadem, Elizabeth I's motto. The classroom door to the right of the Shell was recovered from the notorious Star Chamber at its demolition, but was destroyed during the Blitz. The building lies directly on top of the Westminster Abbey museum in the Norman Undercroft, and ends at the start of the Pyx Chamber. Both School and College had their roofs destroyed by incendiary bombs in the Blitz of 1941. They were re-opened by George VI in 1950.The King's Nurseries, John Field, p. 101.
• The school gateway was also designed by the Earl of Burlington. It is engraved with the names of many pupils, who used to hire a stonemason for the purpose.{{Cite web |url=http://schoolgateway.westminster.org.uk/?page_id=7 |title=History of the School Gateway |publisher=Westminster School |access-date=10 July 2015}}

File:Ashburnham House 1880.jpg

• Ashburnham House houses the library[http://www.westminster.org.uk/academiclife/library.asp Westminster School |Academic Life |The Library] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030115034831/http://www.westminster.org.uk/academiclife/library.asp |date=15 January 2003}} and the Mathematics Department,{{Cite web |url=https://intranet.westminster.org.uk/almanack/pdf/play08.pdf |title=Westminster Almanack, p. 16 |access-date=26 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726153853/https://intranet.westminster.org.uk/almanack/pdf/play08.pdf |archive-date=26 July 2011 }} and until 2005 accommodated the Economics, English and History of Art departments as well. Ashburnham House may have been built by Inigo Jones or his pupil John Webb around the time of the Restoration, as a London seat for the family, who became the Earls of Ashburnham. It incorporates remains of the mediaeval Prior's House. Its garden is the site of the monks' refectory and some of the earliest sittings of the House of Commons. In 1731 when Ashburnham housed the King's and Cottonian libraries, which form the basis of the British Library,[http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/manuscripts/cottonmss/cottonmss.html Cotton Manuscripts] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912081329/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/manuscripts/cottonmss/cottonmss.html |date=12 September 2016}}, British Library. there was a disastrous fire, and many of the books and manuscripts still show the marks.{{Cite web |url=http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/collectioncare/2014/10/burnt-cotton-collection-survey-enables-digitisation-prioritisation.html |title=Burnt Cotton Collection survey enables digitisation prioritisation |access-date=10 July 2015}} After the Public Schools Act 1868 there was a scandalous parliamentary and legal battle between the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey and the School until the School eventually obtained Ashburnham House under the Act for £4,000. The dispute was reported in The Times and it was suggested by Thomas Wise, Secretary of The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings that the property was "in danger of being pulled down or of being virtually destroyed by being converted into a boarding-house in connexion with Westminster School", adding that the "house is admirably suited for a residence for the Dean or one of the Canons, and is totally unfitted for a school or a boarding house."[The Times (London, England), Wednesday, 23 November 1881; pg. 8] The school responded: "The Chapter themselves have in past years greatly altered and disfigured Ashburnham-house. It had originally two wings; one was destroyed and never restored. About 1848 the roof was taken off, a story added, and a dome in the ceiling of the drawing-room demolished, the external elevation being ruined. The house now has no beauty externally, and hardly any features of interest internally, except the staircase, which in any case would be preserved".[The Times (London, England), Monday, 28 November 1881; p. 6] On 28 November William Morris also became involved in the campaign, writing a letter to the editor of The Daily News.{{Cite book |title=The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part A: 1881–1884, Volume 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qggABAAAQBAJ&q=%22Ashburnham+House%22+%22William+Morris%22&pg=PA83 |access-date= 10 July 2015|isbn=9781400858675 |last1=Morris |first1=William |date=14 July 2014 | publisher=Princeton University Press }} In the event, the school demolished the adjacent Turle's House and renovated sections of the east wing, but left the staircase and drawing room untouched.{{Cite book |title=William Morris and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4seSAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Ashburnham+House%22+%22William+Morris%22&pg=PA75 |access-date= 10 July 2015|isbn=9781135914080 |last1=Donovan |first1=Andrea Elizabeth |date=12 December 2007| publisher=Routledge }} During the Second World War, the library was used for military purposes and as an American soldiers' club, the Churchill Club.

File:The Greaze.jpg

The Greaze has been held "up School" (in the School Hall) on Shrove Tuesday since at least 1753.{{Cite web |url=https://www.westminster.org.uk/about-westminster/history/westminster-milestones |title=Westminster School, Milestones |access-date=10 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134730/https://www.westminster.org.uk/about-westminster/history/westminster-milestones |archive-date=4 March 2016 }} 1753 – "First recorded 'Pancake Greaze". The head cook ceremoniously tosses a horsehair-reinforced pancake over a high bar, which was used from the 16th century to curtain off the Under School from the Great School. Members of the school fight for the pancake for one minute, watched over by the Dean of Westminster, the Head Master, and the upper year groups of the school{{Cite news |title=Health and safety diminishes Westminister School's annual Pancake 'Greaze' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7361452/Health-and-safety-diminishes-Westminister-Schools-annual-Pancake-Greaze.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7361452/Health-and-safety-diminishes-Westminister-Schools-annual-Pancake-Greaze.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=4 March 2010}}{{cbignore}} and distinguished or even occasionally royal visitors. The pupil who gets the largest weight is awarded a gold sovereign (promptly redeemed for use next year), and the Dean begs for a half-holiday for the whole school. Weighing scales are on hand in the event of a dispute. A cook who failed to get the pancake over the bar after three attempts would formerly have been "booked" or pelted with Latin primers, but that tradition has long lapsed.{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/03/02/117915167.pdf |title=One Pancake for Fifteen Boys |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 March 1899}}{{Cite news |title=English Schoolboys: Recollections of Westminster |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/07/11/102012887.pdf |date=11 July 1903}}

The privilege of being the first commoners to acclaim each new sovereign at their coronation in Westminster Abbey is reserved for the King's (or Queen's) Scholars. Their shouts of "Vivat Rex/Regina" ("Long live the king/queen!") are incorporated into the coronation anthem "I was glad".{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/royals/coronations/guide-to-the-coronation-service |title=Guide to the Coronation Service |publisher=Westminster Abbey |access-date=30 August 2011 |archive-date=5 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205061127/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/royals/coronations/guide-to-the-coronation-service |url-status=dead }} The tradition dates back to the coronation of King James II.Lawrence E. Tanner (1934), Westminster School: A History, Country Life Ltd, London, p. 36.

The School commemorates its benefactors every year with a service in Westminster Abbey in Latin in which the Captain of the King's Scholars lays a wreath of pink roses on the tomb of Elizabeth I: the service alternates between Little Commem, held in Henry VII's Chapel and involving just the King's Scholars, and the Big Commem, to which the whole school community is invited.{{Cite web |url=https://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/big-commem-2014 |title=Big Commem 2014 |access-date=10 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309154727/https://www.oldwestminster.org.uk/big-commem-2014 |archive-date=9 March 2016 }}

The King's Scholars have privileged access to the House of Commons gallery, said to be a compromise recorded in the Standing Orders of the House in the 19th century, to stop the boys from climbing into the Palace over the roofs.

Despite the formal separation from the abbey,[http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/encyclopedia/article_show/Westminster_Abbey/m0009100.html?from=hotlink "Westminster School, a public school with ancient and modern buildings nearby, was once the Abbey School."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611125707/http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/encyclopedia/article_show/Westminster_Abbey/m0009100.html?from=hotlink |date=11 June 2009}} the school remains Anglican, with services in the abbey attended by the entire school at least twice a week, and many other voluntary-attendance services of worship. The school was expressly exempted by the Act of Uniformity to allow it to continue saying Latin prayers despite the Reformation. Every Wednesday there is an assembly Up School known as Latin Prayers, which opens with the Head Master leading all members of the school in chanting prayers in Latin, followed by notices in English. The school's unique pronunciation of formal Latin is known as "Westminster Latin",[https://archive.org/details/annalsofwestmins00sarguoft/page/272/mode/2up Annals of Westminster School by John Sargeaunt], 1898[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkuCY1cRA7E Charles Low reads the Election Dinner graces] and descends from medieval English scholastic pronunciation: Queen Elizabeth I, who spoke fluent Latin, commanded that Latin was not to be said "in the monkish fashion", a significant warning upon loyalties between Church and State.

Since the monastic Christmas revels of medieval times, Latin plays have been presented by Scholars, with a prologue and witty epilogue on contemporary events. Annual plays, "either tragedy or comedy", were required by the school statutes in 1560, and some early plays were acted in College Hall before Elizabeth I and her whole Council. However, in a more prudish age, Queen Victoria did not accompany Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales to the play, and recorded in her diary that it was "very Improper". Today, the play is put on less frequently, any members of the school may take part, and the Master of the King's Scholars gives the Latin prologue. The 1938 play caused a diplomatic incident, with the German ambassador withdrawing after being offended by the words Magna Germania figuring in extenso on a map of Europe displayed.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

There is a Westminster jargon little known to the general public:

• Years 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are called Fifth Form, Lower Shell, Upper Shell, Sixth Form and Remove, respectively.
• 'Green' is Dean's Yard.
• 'Yard' is Little Dean's Yard.
• 'School' is the main school hall, where Latin Prayers, exams and major plays and talks take place.
• 'Sanctuary' is the area outside the Great West Door of the Abbey off Broad Sanctuary.
• 'Fields' is Vincent Square.
• The preposition "up" is used to mean "at" or "towards" (hence up School). At my house (boarding/day) and home can be differentiated thus, up House means at School and at my house means at home.
• 'Station' is sport.
• 'Water' is rowing.

File:Westminster School Boat Club early morning.jpg]]

The school has three Eton Fives courts behind Ashburnham House. The school frequently fields pupils as national entries in international competitions in rowing, or "water", and fencing.

Westminster School Boat Club is the oldest rowing club in the world, located on the River Thames. The Oxford University Boat Club uses Westminster's boathouse at Putney as its HQ for the annual Oxford and Cambridge boat race on the Thames. The boathouse was remodelled in 1997 and won a Wandsworth design award in 1999.[https://homepages.westminster.org.uk/wsbc2/facilities.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912192905/https://homepages.westminster.org.uk/wsbc2/facilities.htm|date=12 September 2007}} The school's colour is pink; Westminster rowers raced Eton College for the right to wear the colour.[http://www.westminster.org.uk/prospectus.pdf Prospectus] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225223111/http://www.westminster.org.uk/prospectus.pdf |date=25 February 2009}}, p. 20. "In 1837 there was a boat race against Eton in which each school chose their colours – Westminster chose pink which remains the school's colour to this day." The premier Leander Club at Henley, founded in London by a number of Old Westminster rowers, later adopted it, although they call the colour cerise.{{Cite web |url=http://www.leander.co.uk/shop/about.asp |title=Leander Club – Shop – About |publisher=Leander.co.uk |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928232723/http://www.leander.co.uk/shop/about.asp |archive-date=28 September 2011 }} The only problems arise when racing against Abingdon School, whose team also wears pink.

File:Vincentsquare.jpg|right]]

Since 1810, when the Head Master, William Vincent, fenced off and ordered the ploughing of the waste marshlands known as Tothill Fields for use by the school, which were being threatened by London's urban sprawl, the school's main sports ground has been nearby at Vincent Square,{{Cite news |first=Paul |last=Shearer |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4f85705a-401d-11de-9ced-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4f85705a-401d-11de-9ced-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Palatial surroundings |newspaper=Financial Times |location=London |date=16 May 2009}}{{Cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/giles_coren/article6345675.ece |work=The Times |location=London |title=Forget the Ashes This is how to play cricket |date=23 May 2009 |access-date=6 April 2010 |first=Giles |last=Coren}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} with football and cricket on the main area and tennis and netball on the courts; it also hosts a playground for Westminster Under School. At 13 acres, it is the largest private, open green space in Central London, despite this, it is not large enough for all pupils doing these sports to use simultaneously the three football pitches and typically one smaller practice pitch becomes one main cricket square and several smaller practice squares for the cricket season. So the school hires and owns other sporting facilities near the school. These include the oldest boating club in the world, an astroturf ground in Battersea, and the Queen Mother Sports Centre, home to a variety of sports. "Green" (Dean's Yard) is also used, and the three Eton Fives courts in Ashburnham Garden, the garden behind Ashburnham House.

Westminster played in the first school cricket match against Charterhouse School in 1794[https://homepages.westminster.org.uk/cricketarchive/webpage/temp/The%20Earliest%20School%20Match.htm The Earliest School Match] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040125012748/http://homepages.westminster.org.uk/cricketarchive/webpage/temp/The%20Earliest%20School%20Match.htm |date=25 January 2004}} and from 1796 played cricket against Eton.{{Cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/314/314336.html |title=Eton College v Westminster 1796 |publisher=Cricket Archive |access-date=26 April 2012}}

{{wikisource |Description of the Rules of Football as played at Westminster School (1849-1855)}}

Westminster has a historic joint claim to a major role in developing Association Football.{{Cite web |title=History of Football – The Global Growth |url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/game/historygame4.html |publisher=FIFA |access-date=30 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904091017/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/game/historygame4.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=4 September 2011 }} During the 1840s at both Westminster and Charterhouse, pupils' surroundings meant they were confined to playing their football in the cloisters,{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/press/news/news/2006/june/world-cup-kicked-off-in-the-cloisters |title=World Cup kicked off in the Cloisters |publisher=Westminster Abbey |date=1 June 2006 |access-date=30 August 2011}} making the rough and tumble of the handling game that was developing at other schools such as Rugby impossible, and necessitating a new code of rules. On 24 November 1858,{{citation |title=Bell's Life |date=12 December 1858}} Westminster played Dingley Dell at Vincent Square in the earliest known football fixture in the London area (Dingley Dell was the most active non-school team in the London area in the five years before the Football Association was established in 1863).{{Cite journal |last=Curry |first=Graham |date=3 April 2019 |title=Football in the capital: a local study with national consequences |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2017.1355790 |journal=Soccer & Society |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=512–527 |doi=10.1080/14660970.2017.1355790 |s2cid=148890249 |issn=1466-0970}} During the formulation of the rules of Association Football in the 1860s, representatives of Westminster School and Charterhouse also pushed for a passing game, in particular rules that allowed forward passing ("passing on"). Other schools (in particular Eton College, Harrow, and Shrewsbury School) favoured a dribbling game with a tight off-side rule. By 1867 the Football Association had chosen in favour of the Westminster and Charterhouse game and adopted an off-side rule that permitted forward passing.Morris Marples, A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London 1954, p. 50.[https://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/news/newsid=71590.html FIFA.com – Football Rules are brilliant!] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405132302/http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/news/newsid%3D71590.html |date=5 April 2009}} The modern forward-passing game was a direct consequence of Westminster and Charterhouse football.

File:Westminster school grants view.jpg

The school is split into 11 houses, some of which are day houses (only admitting day pupils, who go home after school), the others being boarding houses with a mix of boarders and day pupils. College is the exception to this — all King's Scholars must board. Each house has a Housemaster, a teacher who is responsible for the house, the pupils in it and their welfare, and a Head of House, a pupil in the Remove, nominated by the Housemaster. The role of the Head of House largely consists of assisting the Housemaster in organising activities such as house competitions, for which the Head of House might draw up teams. Further to these positions, each day house has an Assistant Housemaster, and each boarding house has a Resident Tutor. The houses are named after people connected to the house or school in various ways – mainly prominent Old Westminsters, but also former Head Masters and Housemasters. Grant's is the oldest house for pupils other than scholars, not only of Westminster but of any public school.

Houses are a focus for pastoral care and social and sporting activities, as well as accommodation for boarders. All day houses are mixed-sex, and all houses admit girls; RR is the only boarding house not to admit girls as boarders (up until 2020) and PP does not admit boys as boarders.[http://www.westminster.org.uk/entrylevels/girls.asp Westminster School |Entry Levels |Entry at 7/8] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606075807/http://www.westminster.org.uk/entrylevels/girls.asp |date=6 June 2010}}

File:Grant's t-shirt.jpg

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! rowspan="2"|House

! rowspan="2"|Abbr.

! rowspan="2"|Founded

! rowspan="2"|Named after

! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Colours

! colspan="2"|Pupils

|-

! Boarding !! Day

|-

| College || CC || 1560 || n/a

| style="background:#050;"| || Dark green

| Mixed{{Cite web |url=https://twitter.com/PatrickDerham/status/908621585984212994 |title=A great moment in the history of @wschool. The induction of the Queen's Scholars including the first four girls.pic.twitter.com/LaixNZ7EIu |last=Derham |first=Patrick |date=15 September 2017 |website=@PatrickDerham |language=en |access-date=13 January 2018}} || None

|-

| Grant's || GG || 1750 || The "mothers" Grant – landladies who owned the property and put up boys in the days before boarding existed, when the School only accommodated Scholars; the oldest house in any of the Public Schools.

| style="background:#add; color:#a52222;"| ■ || Maroon on light blue

| Mixed || Mixed

|-

| Rigaud's || RR || pre-1896 (rebuilt) || Stephen Jordan Rigaud – former schoolmaster

| style="background:#ff7f00; color:#000;"| ■ || Black on orange (Tie uses orange on black)

| Mixed || Mixed

|-

| Busby's || BB || 1925 || Richard Busby – former headmaster

| style="background:#a03; color:#30a;"| ■ || Dark blue on maroon

| Mixed || Mixed

|-

| Liddell's || LL || 1956 || Henry Liddell – former headmaster

| style="background:#ff0; color:#00f;"| ■ || Blue on yellow (ties are yellow on black or yellow and silver on black)

| Mixed || Mixed

|-

| Purcell's{{efn|Formerly Barton Street, and originally a part of Dryden's}} || PP || 1981 || Henry Purcell – former organist of Westminster Abbey

| style="background:#90c; color:#fff;"| ■ || White on purple

| Girls || Boys

|-

| Ashburnham || AHH || 1881 || The Earls of Ashburnham whose London house is now part of the School

| style="background:#006; color:#0ff;"| ■ || Light blue on dark blue

| rowspan="5"|None || rowspan="5"|Mixed

|-

| Wren's || WW || 1948 || Christopher Wren

| style="background:#000; color:#f6e;"| ■ || Pink on black (Blue and Maroon used on ties)

|-

| Dryden's || DD || 1976 || John Dryden

| style="background:#f22; color:#ddd;"| ■ || Silver on red (Tie uses separated silver and red stripes on dark blue)

|-

| Hakluyt's || HH || 1987 || Richard Hakluyt{{Cite web |url=https://homepages.westminster.org.uk/hakluyts/about.htm |title=Hakluyt's Online | About Hakluyt's |publisher=Homepages.westminster.org.uk |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002215641/https://homepages.westminster.org.uk/hakluyts/about.htm |archive-date=2 October 2011 }}

| style="background:#000ee0; color:#ff0;"| ■ || Yellow on blue

|-

| Milne's || MM || 1997 || A. A. Milne

| style="background:#f22; color:#ff0;"| ■ || Black on orange (Tie uses Red and Yellow)

|}

All King's Scholars, both boys and girls, are required to board in College (unless under exceptional circumstances). Wren's was formerly known as Homeboarders and Dryden's as Dale's. Before it was rebuilt, Rigaud's was known as Clapham's and Best's.

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

• Since 2020 Gary Savage
• 2014–2020 Patrick Derham
• 2005–2014 Stephen Spurr
• 1998–2005 Tristram Jones-Parry
• 1986–1998 David Summerscale
• 1970–1986 John Malcolm Rae
• 1957–1970 John Dudley Carleton
• 1950–1957 Walter Hamilton
• 1937–1950 John Traill Christie
• 1919–1936 Harold Costley-White
• 1901–1919 James Gow
• 1883–1901 William Gunion Rutherford
• 1855–1883 Charles Broderick Scott
• 1846–1855 Henry George Liddell
• 1828–1846 Richard Williamson
• 1819–1828 Edmund Goodenough
• 1815–1819 William Page
• 1803–1814 William Carey
• 1802 John Wingfield
• 1788–1802 William Vincent
• 1764–1788 Samuel Smith
• 1764 John Hinchliffe
• 1753–1764 William Markham
• 1733–1753 John Nicoll
• 1711–1733 Robert Freind
• 1695–1711 Thomas Knipe
• 1639–1695 Richard Busby
• 1621–1639 Lambert Osbaldeston (jointly with Wilson until 1626)
• 1610–1626 John Wilson
• 1598–1610 Richard Ireland
• 1593–1597 William Camden
• 1572–1592 Edward Grant
• 1570–1572 Francis Howlyn
• 1564–1570 Thomas Browne
• 1563 John Randall
• 1562 Robert Rolle
• 1557 John Passey
• 1555–1556 Nicholas Udall
• 1543–1555 Alexander Nowell
• 1540 John Adams

}}

• Nick Bevan (rowing coach, later headmaster of Shiplake College)
• John Sargeaunt (English Master)
• David Riches (rowing coach, history teacher)

Between 2001 and 2004, the school was one of fifty independent schools involved in the independent school fee fixing scandal in the United Kingdom. It was subsequently found guilty of operating a fee-fixing cartel by the Office of Fair Trading. The commission argued that until 2000, the practice had been legal and that the commission had not been aware of the change in the law.{{Cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4420822.stm |title=Private schools fee-fixing ruling |work= BBC News |date=9 November 2005}}

Two independent reviews were commissioned after national campaigns from Everyone's Invited and Black Lives Matter unearthed evidence of rape culture and racism at Westminster School.{{Cite news |date=14 March 2022 |title=Everyone's Invited: Westminster School apologises after sexual harassment claims |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-60733528 |access-date=5 September 2022}} In March 2022, the school issued a "sincere and unreserved" apology for harm caused by racism, sexual harassment and other harmful sexual behaviour.{{Cite news |first=Nicola |last=Woolcock |title=Westminster headmaster apologises after abuse and race reviews |work=The Times |location= London |url= https://www.thetimes.com/article/westminster-headmaster-apologises-after-abuse-and-race-reviews-xhsf2nh8d |date=12 March 2022 |access-date=5 September 2022 }}

In March 2021, alumni compiled a "dossier of rape culture" at the school.{{Cite news |last=King |first=Jordan |date=21 March 2021 |title=Ex-pupils compile dossier of 'rape culture' at £40,000-a-year private school |url= https://metro.co.uk/2021/03/21/westminster-school-ex-pupils-compile-dossier-of-rape-culture-14277801/ |access-date=5 September 2022 |work=Metro |location= London}} A 21-page document included 76 entries on "everyday life" for female pupils and included claims of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment.{{Cite news |first1=Ben |last1=Ellery |first2=Katy |last2=Amos |first3=Nicola |last3=Woolcock |title=Former pupils compile dossier of 'rape culture' at Westminster School |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/former-pupils-compile-dossier-of-rape-culture-at-westminster-school-rxp68p593 |date=20 March 2021 |access-date=5 September 2022 |work=The Times |location= London}} Allegations were levelled at both students and teachers.{{Cite news |last2=Watts |first1=Arthi |last1=Nachiappan |first2=Ryan |title=Students accuse 'groping' teachers in school sex abuse scandal |work=The Times |date=5 April 2021 |location= London |url= https://www.thetimes.com/article/students-accuse-groping-teachers-in-school-sex-abuse-scandal-wbdpbtjzl |access-date=5 September 2022 }}

In March 2022, a review into harmful sexual behaviour at the school was headed by Fiona Scolding QC. The review considered 44 Westminster-related posts submitted to Everyone's Invited alongside other evidence. The review found that 25% of pupils and 65% of girls surveyed said they experienced physical or verbal harmful sexual behaviours, sexual discrimination, and unwanted sharing of images. There was also "a strong sense from pupil interviewees of a social hierarchy within the school where some male pupils' status was dictated by familial wealth, academic success and charisma." Submissions to Everyone's Invited also recalled the Westminster Tree website that mapped sexual contact between students.{{Cite news |last=Prichard |first=Evie |title=What I went through as a pupil at Westminster School |work=The Times |location= London |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/what-i-went-through-as-a-pupil-at-westminster-school-l9tdc5fh9 |date=31 March 2021 |access-date=5 September 2022 }}

A total of 44 recommendations included an overhaul of the school's relationships and sex education curriculum, "active bystander" training, and a greater emphasis on building healthy relationships. The report also recommended training for housemasters, matrons, and tutors on managing pastoral issues including mental health. Other recommendations include a behavioural code of conduct for students informed by the student body.

In 2020, more than 250 alumni signed a letter lobbying the school to combat the "toxic culture of racism within the student body." Signatories complained that Westminster did not include any black authors in their curriculum and overlooked Britain's role in the slave trade.{{Cite news |date=14 June 2020 |title=Top public school accused of 'toxic culture of racism' among pupils |url= http://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/14/top-public-school-accused-of-toxic-culture-of-racism-among-pupils |access-date=5 September 2022 |work=The Guardian |location= London}}

In March 2022, Challenge Consultancy published a Race Review of Westminster School that found "continued denial of the racism and the invisibility of the issue". Challenge Consultancy was commissioned by Westminster School to facilitate understanding of how staff and pupils perceive the culture around race, ethnicity and cultural diversity and consider how it can better engage with these issues in the future. The review's authors were led by Femi Otitoju who found evidence that international pupils including British Asian, British Black, Chinese and Jewish pupils "recounted a lack of sensitivity and delays in responding to emotions they experienced when calling out unacceptable behaviour". 25 recommendations included the recruitment of "diverse teaching staff," a publicised racial harassment policy, and an increased offer of counselling for victims.

{{See also|List of people educated at Westminster School}}

About 900 people educated at Westminster School are in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Former pupils are known at the school as "Old Westminsters" and include the following:

• Richard Hakluyt (1553–1616), writer{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Gerald Roe Crone |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/252157/Richard-Hakluyt |title=Richard Hakluyt (British geographer) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Thomas Braddock (1556–1607), clergyman and translatorStephen Wright, "Bradock, Thomas (1555/6–1607)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3193, accessed 23 June 2017]
• Ben Jonson (1573–1637), poet and dramatist{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/306058/Ben-Jonson |title=Ben Jonson (English writer) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Arthur Dee (1579–1651), alchemist and royal physician
• George Herbert (1593–1633), public orator and poet{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/262706/George-Herbert |title=George Herbert (British poet) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• John Dryden (1631–1700), poet and playwright{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/172371/John-Dryden |title=John Dryden (British author) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• John Locke (1632–1704), philosopher{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/345753/John-Locke |title=John Locke (English philosopher)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723), architect and scientist, co-founder of the Royal Society{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wren_christopher.shtml |title=History – Historic Figures: Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723) |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 August 2011}}
• Robert Hooke (1635–1703), scientist{{Cite web |url=http://www.roberthooke.org.uk/chronolo.htm |title=Chronology of Robert Hooke |publisher=Roberthooke.org.uk |access-date=30 August 2011 |archive-date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414134458/http://www.roberthooke.org.uk/chronolo.htm |url-status=dead }}
• Henry Purcell (1659–1695), composer
• Joseph Thurston (1704–1732), poet admired by Alexander Pope[https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-70938#odnb-9780198614128-e-70938-div1-d584298e173 ODNB. Retrieved 16 June 2020.]
• Charles Wesley (1707–1788), Methodist preacher and writer of over 6,000 hymns{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639939/Charles-Wesley |title=Charles Wesley (English clergyman)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet (1714–1788), banker and Lord Mayor of London (1757–1758)
• Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel (1725–1786), First Lord of the Admiralty
• Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735–1811), Prime Minister
• Edward Gibbon (1737–1794), historian{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/233161/Edward-Gibbon |title=Edward Gibbon (British historian) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Charles O'Hara (1740 – 25 February 1802), British military officer in the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence, and French Revolutionary War, later Governor of Gibraltar
• Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746–1825), ADC to Washington 1777, defeated by Jefferson in 1804 in contest for Presidency
• Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), lawyer, eccentric and philosopher{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61103/Jeremy-Bentham |title=Jeremy Bentham (British philosopher and economist)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Thomas Pinckney (1750–1828), American soldier, politician, and diplomat
• Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet (1762–1823), British soldier and principal in the Asgill Affair
• Robert Southey (1774–1843), poet, historian and biographer{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/556936/Robert-Southey |title=Robert Southey (English author)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Matthew Lewis (1775–1818), novelist and dramatist{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/338188/Matthew-Gregory-Lewis |title=Matthew Gregory Lewis (English writer) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855), lost his right arm at Waterloo, C-in-C in the Crimea who is honoured with a statue in Dean's Yard
• Rev George Augustus Middleton (c. 1791 - 1848), colonial chaplain of New South Wales, Australia, and the first north of the Hawkesbury River
• John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878), Prime Minister
• Augustus Short (11 June 1802 – 5 October 1883), the first Anglican bishop of Adelaide, South Australia
• Harry Robert Kempe (1852–1935), electrical engineer, author and editor.{{cite ODNB |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/37630|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37630 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 }}
• A. A. Milne (1882–1956, QS), author and journalist{{acad |id=MLN900AA |name=Milne, Alan Alexander}}
• Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos (1893–1972), Cabinet Minister during World War II, chairman of the National Theatre Board
• Hossein Ala' (1882–1964), former Prime Minister of Iran
• Sir Adrian Boult (1889–1983), conductor
• Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian (1889–1977) Nobel prize winner
• Charles William Anderson Scott (1903–1946), pioneer aviator
• Sir John Gielgud (1904–2000, GG), actor and director{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/233344/Sir-John-Gielgud |title=Sir John Gielgud (British actor and director) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith (1909–1981), historian{{Cite book |url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/chambbd/gibbs_smith_charles_harvard |title=Chambers Biographical Dictionary |year=2007 |publisher=Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd |access-date=26 May 2011}} Hosted by Credo Reference.
• Kim Philby (1912–1988), high-ranking member of British intelligence, one of the Cambridge Five and NKVD/KGB double agent
• Sir Norman Parkinson (1913–1990), portrait and fashion photographer
• Richard Stone (1913–1991), winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics{{Cite journal |doi=10.1111/1468-0297.00511 |volume=110 |title=Life and Work of John Richard Nicholas Stone 1913-1991 |year=2000 |journal=The Economic Journal |pages=146–165 |last1=Pesaran |first1=M. H.|issue=461 }}
• Roger Kidner (1914–2007), publisher and railway photographer{{Cite web |date=5 October 2007 |title=Obituary: RW Kidner |url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/oct/06/obituaries.guardianobituaries |access-date=1 December 2022 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
• Sir Andrew Huxley (1917–2012), Nobel prizewinning physiologist
• Sir Peter Ustinov (1921–2004), actor, writer, director and raconteur{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/620440/Sir-Peter-Ustinov |title=Sir Peter Ustinov (British actor, author, and director)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• John Cole (1923–1995), fashion photographer
• Tony Benn (1925–2014), politician{{Cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1209497.stm |work= BBC News |title=Tony Benn: End of an era |date=10 March 2001 |access-date=6 April 2010}}
• Peter Brook (1925–2022, LL 1937–1938), theatre director
• Nigel Lawson (1932–2023, WW 1945–1950), former Chancellor of the Exchequer, father of Nigella Lawson
• Simon Gray (1936–2008, WW 1949–1954), playwright and diarist{{Cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/242639/Simon-Gray |title=Simon Gray (British dramatist) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=26 April 2012}}
• Jonathan Fenby (born 1942, LL 1956–1960), journalist, author and former Editor of The Observer and South China Morning Post
• Sir Martyn Poliakoff (born 1947) Professor of Chemistry and narrator of The Periodic Table of Videos{{Citation |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CK4WHElb4Q | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/4CK4WHElb4Q| archive-date=7 November 2021 | url-status=live|title=In the footsteps of Tizard – Periodic Table of Videos |work=The Periodic Table of Videos | date=13 March 2013|publisher=The University of Nottingham |access-date=28 May 2013}}{{cbignore}}
• Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948, QS 1960–1965), composer and producer{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/5760400/Shining-a-light-on-the-magic-of-the-coronation-in-Westminster-Abbey.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/5760400/Shining-a-light-on-the-magic-of-the-coronation-in-Westminster-Abbey.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Shining a light on the magic of the coronation in Westminster Abbey |first=Charles |last=Moore |date=6 July 2009 |access-date=6 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}
• Stephen Poliakoff (born 1952, WW 1966–1970), director, playwright and television dramatist{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/nov/28/stephen-poliakoff-interview-nicholas-wroe |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=A life in drama: Stephen Poliakoff |date=28 November 2009 |access-date=6 April 2010 |first=Nicholas |last=Wroe}}
• Chris Huhne (born 1954), disgraced Liberal Democrat politician
• Dominic Grieve (born 1956), former attorney-general and pro-European politician
• Jon Crowcroft (born 1957), Professor at the University of Cambridge
• Shane MacGowan (1957-2023, AHH 1972–1973), musician
• Adam Boulton (born 1959), journalist, broadcaster and author
• Andrew Graham-Dixon (born 1960), art critic and writer
• Edward St Aubyn (born 1960), author and journalist{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jan/08/fiction.edwardstaubyn |title=Interview: Edward St Aubyn |last=Cooke |first=Rachel |date=8 January 2006 |website=the Guardian |language=en |access-date=16 May 2018}}
• Timothy Winter (born 1960), Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University
• David Heyman (born 1961), film producer{{Cite news |author=Interview by Michael White – 16 July 2009 00:00 EDT |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aMu4Nu.caxAM |title='Harry Potter' Producer Ignored First Rowling Book: Interview |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |date=16 July 2009 |access-date=30 August 2011}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.thehour.com/story/471973 |title=Making Harry Potter magic – Norwalk News – The Hour – Norwalk's Newspaper |publisher=The Hour |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930062542/http://www.thehour.com/story/471973 |archive-date=30 September 2011 }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-ae.mo.potter17jul17,0,3585263.story |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719082814/http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-ae.mo.potter17jul17,0,3585263.story |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 July 2012 |title=His Wizard Connection |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=17 July 2011 |access-date=30 August 2011}}
• Alexander Beard (born 1963), arts administrator
• Matt Frei (born 1963, RR 1978–1981), broadcaster{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/matt-frei-aiming-for-the-white-house-834276.html |work=The Independent |location=London |title=Matt Frei: Aiming for the White House |date=26 May 2008 |access-date=6 April 2010}}
• Ian Bostridge (born 1964), classical tenor
• Gavin Rossdale (born 1965), musician, songwriter, and lead singer with rock band Bush
• Michael Sherwood (born 1965), banker
• Lucasta Miller (born 1966), writer and critic
• Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966, LL 1982–1984), actress{{Cite web |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018966/bio |title=Helena Bonham Carter Biography – Yahoo! Movies |publisher=Yahoo! |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628201600/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018966/bio |archive-date=28 June 2011 }}
• Jason Kouchak (born 1967), pianist and composer
• Noreena Hertz (born 1967, CC 1983–85), economist and campaigner
• Nick Clegg (born 1967, LL), Liberal Democrat leader, MP for Sheffield Hallam, former Deputy Prime Minister{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article4748815.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517001146/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article4748815.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2009 |work=The Times |location=London |title=Nick Clegg may send sons to private school |date=14 September 2008 |access-date=6 April 2010 |first=Jonathan |last=Oliver}}
• James Robbins (1968–1972, GG), broadcaster
• Ruth Kelly (born 1968, DD 1984–86), cabinet minister{{Cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6241685.stm |work= BBC News |title= Profile: Ruth Kelly |date=24 September 2008|access-date=6 April 2010}}
• Afshin Rattansi (RR 1981–83), journalist
• Marcel Theroux (born 1968), novelist and broadcaster{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/marcel-theroux--more-than-just-a-family-affair-665759.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519012336/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/marcel-theroux--more-than-just-a-family-affair-665759.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 May 2009 |work=The Independent |location=London |title=Marcel Theroux – More than just a family affair |date=16 August 2001 |access-date=6 April 2010}}
• Joe Cornish (born 1968), broadcaster, director and screenwriter
• Adam Buxton (born 1969), comedian
• Giles Coren (born 1969, RR 1982–1988), journalist
• Lucy Walker (born 1970), documentary film-maker{{Cite web|url=https://www.westminster.org.uk/about/our-history/notable-oww/|title = Notable OWW}}
• Louis Theroux (born 1970), broadcaster
• Jonathan Yeo (born 1970), artist
• Dido Armstrong (born 1971, WW, 1987–1989), British musician under the name "Dido"
• Polly Arnold (born 1972) Director of the Chemical Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Martha Lane Fox (born 1973), head of Digital Public Services{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/664210.stm |work= BBC News |title=Martha my very dear |date=2 March 2000 |access-date=6 April 2010}}
• James Reynolds (born 1974), BBC News presenter
• Conrad Shawcross (born 1977), artist
• Pinny Grylls (born 1978, HH 1994–1996), documentary film-maker
• Benjamin Yeoh (born 1978), playwright
• Christian Coulson (born 1978), Harry Potter actor
• Simon Ambrose (born 1979), Chairman of the London Contemporary Orchestra
• Alexander Shelley (born 1979), conductor
• Anna Stothard (born 1983), novelist
• Michael Penniman (born 1983), musician under the name "Mika"
• Jack Farthing (born 1985), actor
• Grace Chatto (born 1985), cellist in the band Clean Bandit
• Alfred Enoch (born 1988), Harry Potter actor
• Alexander Guttenplan (born 1990), captain of winning University Challenge team 2010
• Jack Aitken (born 1995), racing driver
• Blondey McCoy (born 1997), artist and model

File:Westminster School Monument.jpg, situated in the Sanctuary, next to the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey]]

Six pupils of Westminster have been awarded the Victoria Cross:

• Edmund Henry Lenon (1830–1893, at Westminster June 1851 – 1855)
• William George Hawtry Bankes (1836–1858) (at Westminster April 1850 – 1856)
• Sir Nevill Maskelyne Smyth (1868–1941, at Westminster June 1882 – 1885). He served in the First World War
• Arthur Martin-Leake (1874–1953; at Westminster June 1888 – 1891), one of only three to receive twiceWestminster School Development Office, (2005), The Elizabethan Newsletter 2004/2005, page 4, (Westminster School)
• William Hew Clark-Kennedy (1879–1961, at Westminster June 1893 – 1896)
• Richard Wakeford (1921–1972, at Westminster June 1934 – 1940)

• List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom
• List of the oldest schools in the world
• Old Westminsters F.C.
• Schools' Head of the River Race
• The Old Boys' Network

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• {{Cite book |title=The Old Boy's Network |publisher=Short Books |year=2009|author= John Rae}}
• {{Cite book |title=A Guide to the Literature of Westminster Abbey, Westminster School and St. Margaret's Church 1571–2000 |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2005 |author=Tony Trowles}}
• {{Cite book |title=Delusions of Grandeur: A Headmaster's Life |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1994|author=John Rae |author-link=John Rae (educator)}}
• {{Cite book |title=The Nonsense Club: Literature and Popular Culture, 1749–1764 |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-19-812859-5 |location=Oxford |author=Lance Bertelsen |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nonsenseclublite0000bert}}
• {{Cite book |title=The King's Nurseries: The Story of Westminster School |publisher=James & James |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-907383-01-7 |author=John Field|edition=2nd }}
• {{Cite book |title=Westminster School: A History |publisher=R. Hart-Davis |year=1965 |author=John Dudley Carleton|edition=revised }}
• {{Cite book |title=Westminster School: A History |publisher=Country Life |year=1934 |author=Lawrence Edward Tanner}}
• {{Cite book |title=Handbooks to the Great Public Schools: Westminster |publisher=George Bell & Sons |year=1902 |author=Reginald Airy}}
• {{Cite book |title=Annals of Westminster School |url=https://archive.org/details/annalswestminst03sarggoog |publisher=Methuen |year=1898 |author=John Sargeaunt}}
• {{Cite book |title=Westminster School: Past and Present |url=https://archive.org/details/westminsterschoo00fors |publisher=Wyman & Sons |year=1884 |author=Frederic Forshall}}
• [http://intranet.westminster.org.uk/almanack/index.asp Westminster School Almanack]

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{{commons category|Westminster School}}

• {{Official website|https://www.westminster.org.uk/}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Schools and colleges in Westminster}}

{{Public schools in England}}

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Category:1170s establishments in England

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Category:Educational institutions established in the 12th century

Category:Grade I listed buildings in the City of Westminster

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