The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School

Overview

The school was founded in 1690 by a Royal Charter granted to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers to establish a hospital for twenty boarders with £32,000 from the legacy of Robert Aske (£4,300,000 in today's money). The school relocated from the premises of the old hospital in 1903 and presently occupies 104 acres of greenbelt parkland in Elstree. At its centre is Aldenham House, a Grade 2* listed building, formerly home to Vicary Gibba and bought from Baron Aldenham. Upon joining the school, boys are sorted into one of six school houses, each house having their own 'house colour' used on the standard and house ties worn by students. he school also continues to thrive on the American university front, with unconditional offers received from Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University in 2013. In the past decade the school has seen unconditional offers from other top American institutions including Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Unique Points

In 1997 the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail named Haberdashers' the best school in the country, and in 2001 was the Sunday Times independent school of the year. In 2012, it was also the top independent boys' school in the country. Approximately one fifth of the student body goes on to study at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, putting the school at 19th in the country in terms of Oxbridge admissions. The comedians David Baddiel, Sacha Baron Cohen and Matt Lucas are old boys.

Entry Requirements

Haberdashers’ Askes’ Boys’ School is an academically selective school.  Selection is primarily based upon academic merit which is assessed through an entrance examination, an interview at the school and references from the candidate’s previous school. Candidates take an entrance examination in January in English, Mathematics, Science (Chemistry, Physics and Biology), General Humanities (this is a source based not a syllabus based paper), French and Latin (for those boys who have studied Latin).A number of boys are called forward for interview on the basis of their performance in the written examinations and, amongst these boys, offers of places are subsequently made.