St. Clement Danes School

Headteacher: Josephine Valentine BSc, PhD

The History of St. Clement Danes School

In 1551, the churchwardens of St. Clement Danes Parish purchased the St. Clement Danes Holborn Estate, a piece of land on the north side of Holborn. The income from the estate was to be devoted to charitable purposes. In 1844 part of the funds from the Holborn Estate Charity were allocated to founding a Grammar School, and in 1862, the School was opened in Houghton Street, London, WC2.

The School remained in Houghton Street until 1928, when it transferred to a new site in Du Cane Road, London W12. where it flourished as a grammar school until 1975. In that year, under an agreement between the Governing Board of the School and Hertfordshire, it was re-established in its new premises in Chorleywood, as a Voluntary-Aided Mixed Comprehensive School. In April 1994 the School was incorporated as a Grant Maintained School.

St. Clement, after whom the school is named, was Bishop of Rome some time during the first century of the Christian era. He was known personally to St. Paul, who mentioned him in the Epistle to the Philippians as one of his "fellow labourers". He suffered martyrdom during the persecution of the Christians by the Roman Emporor Trajan about 100 A.D. Legend has it that the Emperor ordered the execution of Clement, who had been banished from Rome to the Crimea, and he was thrown into the Black Sea with an anchor tied round his neck.

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