A MESSAGE

Latymer is a unique place - a high achieving, friendly and welcoming school. I hope that this website will encourage you to come and meet our pupils and their teachers, and discover what it is that makes Latymer so special.

Latymer is first and foremost a learning environment. We prepare young people for a happy, confident entry into the adult world. This means building their confidence and belief in themselves, helping them to make good friends and to develop a wide range of interests and skills as well as inspiring them to achieve academic excellence.

Latymer is friendly, lively and energetic, full of choice and opportunity; a happy, caring community in an exciting urban setting. We pride ourselves on being both outward and forward-looking. Our pupils come from diverse backgrounds and schools, and we are proud to reflect the cosmopolitan mix of London. We are not just tolerant of difference, we value it, and our move to full co-education now means that all can benefit from Latymer's unique education. We firmly believe that co-education is the best and most natural preparation for adult life.

Founded in 1624, Latymer Upper School was established on its present site in 1895 and The Latymer Prep School (previously a Department of the Upper School since 1951) was created in 1995. Both Schools are part of The Latymer Foundation at Hammersmith.  The Latymer Foundation exists to provide an academic education of the highest quality to pupils of ability, regardless of background, and the Governors in their commitment to equality of opportunity provide many Bursaries and Scholarships to make this possible.

We continue to offer the education envisaged by our founder, Edward Latymer, who wanted to provide educational opportunity to 'poore boyes of Hammersmith'.  We now, of course, extend this to girls as well. We have exceptionally close links with our local community, and the majority of our pupils live within four miles of the School.

We are a big school these days: over one thousand pupils in the Upper School and 160 in the Prep School. Our Sixth Form, with around 350 students, is one of the biggest in London. But we keep small what needs to be kept small: teaching groups of approximately 20 and significantly fewer in the Sixth Form. All pupils have both a Form Tutor and a Head of Year to look after them and oversee their progress and well-being. The School's extended community is strong with more than 6,000 former pupils in regular contact with the School. There is an active parents' group, the Parents' Gild, which offers valuable time in support of the School, and whose financial contributions have assisted many projects.

What attracts such large numbers of pupils to Latymer is the breadth of choice and opportunity available, as well as the magnificent facilities which make this possible. We believe that children learn best when they are happy, secure, stimulated and challenged, both academically and through extra-curricular pursuits.

The two Schools share extensive facilities and resources which include sports fields at Wood Lane (near the BBC) as well as the many facilities on the site in Hammersmith, stretching from King Street to the River Thames. There are two playgrounds, one north and one south of the A4, and a private underpass leads from the Upper School on the north side to the sports hall and Prep School on the south side. The facilities on this site include a large sports hall with a fitness suite and equipment for a range of indoor sports and cricket nets. A 50 metre swimming pool adjoins the sports hall.  Our boathouse overlooks the Thames and houses our large collection of boats.

On the north side of the site the Arts Centre takes pride of place. A modern and fully-equipped theatre, art display atrium, coffee shop and music rooms were opened in 1998 by Sir Richard Eyre.  And in April, a wonderful new Performing Arts Centre was opened in the main piazza, providing a 100 seat recital hall, music practice rooms, a dance and drama studio and sixth form teaching rooms.

Work has now started on the next phase of building - a state of the art Science Building and Library Resource Centre, to be built on an existing site in the School.  Demolition of the existing old physics block has started and it is expected the new building will be on stream from September 2010.

You can find out more about Latymer by browsing the website.  But the only way to feel the Latymer buzz is to visit. Do come and tour the facilities and meet the staff - but above all come and meet the young people who work and play here. They are our finest ambassadors, and they will speak eloquently of what Latymer means to them.

I look forward to meeting you.