Introduction from the Head

2022 has been an important year for Charterhouse. We celebrate the 150th anniversary of our relocation from London to Godalming, we also mark the 100th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone in Memorial Chapel and the 150th birthday of one of Charterhouse’s most distinguished Old Carthusians, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. 2022 also marks the completion of our first year as a fully coeducational School.

Twelve months ago, I wrote in our Development Review about the excitement felt across the campus as we looked forward to welcoming girls into the Under School for the first time. A year on from this important milestone I am incredibly proud of all that has been achieved by our pupils and staff, in enabling a hugely successful move to coeducation. The academic developments, new boarding facilities and social spaces have transformed the campus and the experiences of our pupils, and I am so pleased that many of you have been able to visit during the last twelve months to see the progress for yourselves.

I take this opportunity to extend my warmest and continuing thanks to the growing number of Old Carthusian and parent supporters who have been so generous during the 2021/22 academic year. It is fitting that this important year in the School’s history has also been one of our most successful in terms of donations raised in support of our future ambitions. As you will see across the following pages, philanthropy at Charterhouse is alive and well and will remain critically important to our continued success in the years ahead.

Our move to coeducation is very much the beginning of our plans. We are now turning our attention to developing the structures that will ensure we can continue to offer an all-round education that is highly motivating, relevant, distinctive and will provide pupils with the best possible foundation for their future. Developments in our academic and co-curricular offering and facilities will take place across many areas, including Business and Entrepreneurship, Art, Drama and Music.

The summer of 2022 has seen us begin construction work to refurbish our 200 seat Lecture Theatre and the first phase of plans to create a Business, Leadership and Entrepreneurship Centre at Charterhouse. When completed, the project will be fully funded by donations totalling £2.6m, our community of supporters have shown such kindness in supporting this important project. This summer we have also begun the foundation works for the extension to our Art and Design Centre and I look forward to sharing further progress over the coming months. We have also completed the refurbishment work across all of our science hashrooms, a process which began with the opening of our new Chemistry facility in 2018. Our outreach and public benefit programmes have been revitalised during the last twelve months following their inevitable hiatus during the pandemic. I am very proud of both the institutional and pupil-led impact that has been achieved during the last 12 months. Charterhouse was founded on the principles of service and generosity and it is vital that we continue to embody these today. Furthermore, we remain committed to our bursaries programme, spending in excess of £1.4m on meaningful awards which transform the experiences of those who could otherwise not even begin to consider a Charterhouse education, whilst also adding immeasurably to the overall vibrancy of our School community.

We welcomed 940 pupils to Charterhouse in September 2022, the largest cohort in the School’s history and we remain unflinching in our commitment to preparing them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for the complex and fast-changing society that they will inhabit after completing their studies with us. Academic rigour, developing intellectual curiosity and nurturing in our children the ability and desire to learn independently will remain at the heart of all that we do.

As ever, the broad support and advocacy of our Old Carthusians and parents makes such a huge difference to what is being achieved at School. Your kindness in sharing your professional experiences, your commitment to a range of social and cultural activities, as well as your generosity for our fundraising and volunteering programmes all add significantly to shaping the Charterhouse of today and our ambitions for tomorrow.

Dr Alex Peterken Head