Churcher's College


Churcher's College is a private co-educational fee-charging day school, founded in 1722. Churcher’s College is regarded as a leading private school in the south of England. The senior school is in the market town of Petersfield, Hampshire, and the junior school and nursery are in nearby Liphook. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The College was founded in Petersfield in the 1720s by the will of Richard Churcher to educate local boys in the skills needed for service in the East India Company.
The headmaster is Simon Williams who replaced Geoffrey Buttle in September 2004.
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History

The school was founded under the will of Richard Churcher in 1722. Churcher was a wealthy local philanthropist who had made his fortune through interests in the British East India Company. His will, dated 1722, decreed that the College was to educate: Under the terms of the will, Churcher's College was created from a £3000 gift as a non-denominational foundation, a status it has kept to this day. The original school, built in 1729, is in College Street and is a Grade II* listed building. The school became increasingly popular due to its successes, and in 1881 moved to its present location in Ramshill, accommodating 150 boys, on land donated by the J&W Nicholson & Co family of gin makers.
From 1946 to 1964 Broadlands, opposite the college grounds in Ramshill, was the preparatory school for Churcher's. It was Grade II listed in 1949.
For much of the 20th century Churcher's College operated as a voluntary aided grammar school. In 1979, Hampshire County Council decided to cease to maintain the college, which became an independent fee-paying school. The school's expanding population has necessitated the addition of a number of modern buildings alongside the original 1881 buildings.
Girls were first admitted to the Sixth Form in 1980, and the school became fully co-educational in 1988.
In 1993 the school purchased Moreton House School in Petersfield, which became Churcher's College Junior School. Following an unsuccessful attempt to relocate in Petersfield, the school eventually purchased an existing school campus in Liphook, which from 2003 became the junior school's new site.
Simon Williams has been headmaster since 2004.

Sport and outdoor pursuits

Pupils at the school play rugby, hockey, netball and cricket. The College was the first school to affiliate to the Hampshire RFU in 1924. OC Frank Guy was responsible for the founding of local rugby union club Petersfield R.F.C. in 1927. In 2015, Churcher's won the NatWest Schools Cup under-18 Vase with 13-5 victory over SEEVIC College, the first Hampshire school to do so.
The school has equestrianism, tennis, hockey, rugby, swimming, athletics and recently football teams and events and competes in contests such as the Ten Tors, and Ten peaks Churcher’s College won Ten Tors in both 2014 and 2015, the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon, and the Charlton Chase and annually sponsor/host the Butser Hill Challenge events.
There are Combined Cadet Force and Duke of Edinburgh Award programmes, as well as the World Challenge and First Challenge expeditions for the 4th and 5th and 6th form students.

Notable alumni