In his will, Robert Chaloner left money to establish ‘a free gramar scoole in Amersam’, as well as £40 a year for a schoolmaster. The school was situated in Old Amersham for almost three centuries before moving, with the support of Buckinghamshire County Council, to its present buildings in Amersham-on-the Hill in 1905. At this time, the school embraced the principle of co-education for the first time which, according to the school’s first prospectus in 1906, was ‘practically universal in America’.
By 1937, Challoner's was incorporated into the state system of education and by the early 1950s the school had about 350 boys and girls on roll. However, plans for expansion to 550 pupils were overtaken by rapid population growth in the area and the decision was made to establish a separate school for girls in Little Chalfont, Dr Challoner's High School, which opened in 1962. The two schools continue to maintain very close links.
The continued expansion of the Grammar School to its present size of over 1200 boys saw major building projects in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s. The more recent of these developments have provided the school with some of the most attractive school buildings in the county, complementing the original ‘arts and crafts’ style of the 1905 block which still forms the hub of the school.
In 2002, Challoner's became one of the first Science Colleges in the United Kingdom, committed to continued excellence in the fields of Mathematics and Science alongside its other all round strengths.
Further Reading
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