We take a closer look at Merchant Taylors’ School, from its illustrious history, to the many ways it has embraced innovation in the 21st century
Merchant Taylors’ School is one of the country’s ‘Great Nine’ schools, founded in 1561 by the Merchant Taylors’ Company. It continues to have strong links with the City of London through the Merchant Taylors’ Company and holds its Triennial Service of Commemoration at St Paul’s Cathedral. The school is academically highly successful, but is also well-known for its exceptional extra-curricular provision, especially in music and sport, and its unique tutorial system with each boy assigned a tutor who looks after him throughout his time at the school.
The school focuses on developing the intellectual strengths of its pupils in an atmosphere that is both challenging and enjoyable, with the aim of giving every boy the opportunity to find several things at which he, personally, can excel. There is also an excellent Careers Service which enables boys to start detailed career planning and secure valuable work experience, especially through tapping into the large network of alumni.
The school has invested heavily in new technologies to assist the boys in their learning and there is a strong emphasis on innovation. Computing is taught to all pupils in the Lower School, but IT is now widely used across the different subject areas. The new Edward Evans Geography Building has a dedicated Virtual Reality room as well as an Augmented Reality longform wave projector which aids pupils in the study of different terrains. In the Design Centre there are a number of 3D printers and industry-standard CAD software which powers a full range of computer-numerical controlled machinery that rivals the resources available in top universities. This enables boys studying engineering or product design at university to have the very best preparation. The Computing department works with the Design & Technology department to offer a robotics club which also allows boys to enter competitions in VEX Robotics – one of the school teams was Division World Champions last year and several others have excelled nationally.
The school is situated on a stunning campus of 285 acres with exceptional facilities and a new cricket centre is due to open in early 2024. The centre’s nets will have specific lanes for different types of bowling and it will be a training base for Middlesex (men’s) and Sunrisers (women’s) cricket teams. The school lakes also offer unrivalled opportunities for water sports.
The school is easily accessible; it is close to Moor Park station on the Metropolitan line, Rickmansworth station on the Chiltern overground line and runs an extensive coach network from inner London to the home counties.
Find out more at mtsn.org.uk
