Jilly Blackman

Harrow School

Harrow School is one of the world's most well-known schools. Founded in 1572 by a local yeoman farmer, John Lyon, under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I, it is located on a 324-acre estate encompassing much of Harrow on the Hill in north-west London. Around 840 boys aged 13 to 18, from all over Britain and across the world, live in the School's 12 boarding houses. There are about 120 teaching staff and over 500 non-teaching staff, working together in a friendly community. All members of staff at the School work to a single, uniting purpose: to prepare boys with diverse backgrounds and abilities for a life of learning, leadership, service and personal fulfilment. Our statement of purpose has Harrow's boys at its heart and is borne out through our various areas of activity – teaching that helps boys achieve their best academically, pastoral care that matures them both emotionally and spiritually, and an extra-curricular programme that develops their characters and interests. Harrow is part of a much larger family, which is made up of John Lyon's Foundation, the Harrow International Schools, and the Harrow Club (a centre for sport and education for young people in Notting Dale that the Foundation helped to establish). John Lyon's Foundation is made up of a Charter Corporation comprising Harrow School, John Lyon School (a nearby day school for boys) Quainton Hall School, and John Lyon's Charity (a grant-giving charity that gives over £10 million a year to schools and other organisations in the boroughs of north-west London).