Harrow School

Focus 

Courage, honour, humility, fellowship

Boarding fees 2025/26 

$86,400 

Term dates

• Term 1: 2 September to 6 December 2025
  
• Term 2: 5 January to 28 March 2026
  
• Term 3: 20 April to 27 June 2026

Ages

13-18

Pupil count

837

Spear’s Review

Educating the sons of prominent families since 1572 when it received its charter from Elizabeth I, Harrow is a school full of idiosyncratic slang, games and customs. The fellow-feeling growing up on its campus continues into adult life, with Old Harrovians using the OH Connect platform to find each other, arrange dinners and sing the Harrow songs.

Academic results are as strong as the camaraderie – a balanced curriculum is supplemented by a challenging and inspiring ‘super-curriculum’ that ‘widens and enriches boys’ knowledge and understanding’. Here boys engage in reading, debate, public speaking, research, competitions, lectures, study trips and a programme of unexamined elective courses that allow students to follow their academic passions.

Sport, arts and culture also have an important role at the school: there are nearly 30 different sports and a number of clubs and societies to choose from.

Academics

In 2025, 65 per cent of grades at A-Level were at A* or A. More than 40 per cent of GCSE results were grade 9, with two-thirds grade 9 or 8. 

School Profile

Harrow School was founded in 1572 under a royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. It soon became one of the greatest schools in the country, attracting pupils from all over the world. This distinguished history enriches the daily life of our entire community. From the boys’ distinctive dress and the carving of their names onto boards in the houses, to our own unusual form of football, archaic slang and the communal singing of Harrow songs, these customs develop a strong corporate spirit and a sense of belonging to something bigger than oneself.

Today, a Harrow education is founded on the four values of courage, honour, humility and fellowship. As stewards of many cherished traditions, Harrovians follow in the footsteps of ‘the Giants of Old’, united by strength of character, lasting friendships and the desire to be of good influence.

Through the boarding model, we are able to use the whole day productively: the timings of games and lessons change with the seasons and the available light; groups and societies meet after prep and at weekends; and extra subjects find room around the timetable. Although we never pretend that single-sex schooling is the only way to educate someone, it does help to prolong childhood in a very healthy way, enabling children to express themselves intellectually, emotionally and creatively without feeling self-conscious. Our all-boys boarding environment is key to what makes Harrow, Harrow.

Harrow’s 324 acres comprise six conservation areas, a registered park, a nine-hole golf course and even a working farm. Coupled with its buildings of special architectural and historic interest, the school has the quality of a village. Positioned as we are on the Metropolitan Line, 20 minutes from Baker Street on a fast train, we enjoy the best of both worlds – a spacious boarding community within easy reach of the vibrancy of the capital.

Head teacher

Alastair Land attended Manchester Grammar School. He took a first in natural sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. After completing his PGCE at Cambridge, he began his career at Eton as a teacher of biology. Land then spent nine years at Winchester and was deputy head master at Harrow for nearly four years, from 2012, before he moved to Repton as headmaster. He returned to Harrow as head master in 2019.

University and college destinations

Ten students from the class of 2025 have taken up places at Oxford or Cambridge; a further 16 secured places at Ivy League schools.  

Admissions

Year 9 and Year 12 are the main entry points at Harrow, with places occasionally available at the beginning of Year 10. According to the school, applications are welcomed from boys who will thrive in a full-boarding environment; will make a positive contribution the school; are talented in their academic studies, or in sport, the arts or in other areas; and have a good behavioural record and the potential to show leadership. Applicants will sit a variety of exams, assessments and interviews before being offered a place.

Notable alumni

There are numerous ‘Old Harrovians’ of note; among them diplomats, royalty, politicians, authors and artists. They include:

• Sir Winston Churchill
  
• Benedict Cumberbatch
  
• Lord Byron
  

Accessibility 

Heathrow Airport: 30 minutes

Location

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