Chigwell School

Chigwell School was founded in 1629 by Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York, in his home village of Chigwell on the northern edge of London. Harsnett — who had served as Bishop of Chichester and Norwich before his elevation to York — endowed the school with explicit instructions for the teaching of "Latin, Greek and the writing of Latin verse," alongside Anglican Christian formation. The school is co-educational, ages 4-18, and educates around 1,111 pupils across an integrated Pre-Prep, Prep School, Senior School and Sixth Form. It is a member of the HMC.

Chigwell's 100-acre campus sits in the Epping Forest district of Essex between Epping Forest and Hainault Forest, ten miles from central London. The school's pre-preparatory department was opened in 2013-14, completing the all-through structure. The school is unusually known for the seniority of the headmasters whose careers passed through it before their elevation to England's most senior public schools. Robert James, headmaster from 1939 to 1946, later became High Master of St Paul's School and Headmaster of Harrow School. Anthony Little, headmaster from 1989 to 1996, became Provost of Eton College from 2002 to 2015.

William Henry Monk, the composer of the hymn tune Eventide (universally known as the music to "Abide With Me"), served as music master at Chigwell in the mid-nineteenth century. "Abide With Me" has been sung at every FA Cup Final since 1927 and was a defining hymn of the Allied side of the Second World War; Monk's hymn tune remains one of the most-played pieces of Christian music in the English-speaking world.

The school operates a substantial bursary programme intended to maintain Archbishop Harsnett's 1629 commitment to educational access for the boys and girls of north Essex.