A Choir School for Poor Clergy
St John's was founded in 1851 by the Reverend Ashby Haslewood, vicar of St Mark's in St John's Wood, north London. His purpose was practical rather than grand: he wanted to educate the sons of poor clergymen and, at the same time, provide a choir for his large church. The school opened as St John's Foundational School, took in its first boys, and for its early decades remained essentially a charity school with strong musical roots.
The school moved three times before settling in Leatherhead in 1872, taking over a site that has since grown to 50 acres. Under the headmastership of Arthur Rutty from 1883 to 1909, St John's transformed from a modest charitable foundation into a school with the character and ambitions of a public school. The shift was deliberate: Rutty introduced competitive sport, expanded the curriculum, and raised academic standards without abandoning the school's founding commitment to pastoral care.
Notable Old Johnians
St John's has produced an eclectic group of alumni. Anthony Hope wrote The Prisoner of Zenda in 1894 – one of the most popular adventure novels of the Victorian era – after leaving the school. Richard Rogers, later Baron Rogers of Riverside, attended in the 1940s before going on to design the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyd's building in London. The architectural connection is fitting – the school's own campus, with its mix of Victorian, Edwardian, and modern buildings, is a small history of English institutional design.
The School Today
St John's went fully co-educational in 2012, with around 800 pupils today. It sits close to the centre of Leatherhead, within easy reach of London, Guildford, and the M25. The school's music tradition – rooted in Haslewood's original choir – remains strong, with a chapel choir that performs regularly at cathedrals and concert venues. Drama and sport are equally well-supported, and the school consistently achieves solid results without the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the most academically selective institutions.
