Dame Alice Owen's School (DAOS, or simply Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's) is an 11–18 co-educational, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the Dame Alice Owen's Foundation; its trustees are the Worshipful Company of Brewers.
It was founded in Islington as a boys' school for 30 students in 1613, which makes it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, and is named after its founder, the 17th-century philanthropist Alice Owen. Over time, the boys' school expanded. A girls' school was built in 1886, and the two schools were merged in 1973; the mixed school moved to its current location at Dugdale Hill Lane in Potters Bar in stages between 1973 and 1976. Until the merger the boys' school was just known as Owen's School.
The school is one of the highest performing state schools in England and Wales in terms of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and GCE Advanced Level (A-Level) results, and is considered one of the best schools in the UK. In 2016, it was named the State Secondary School of the Year by The Sunday Times in the newspaper's rankings for the 2016–17 school year, and also received praise from Tatler and The Daily Telegraph. In 2020, it was named Regional State School of the Decade for the South East of England by The Sunday Times.
History Foundation: pre–1613
Dame Alice Owen's School was founded in 1613 by the English philanthropist Alice Owen (née Wilkes; 1547 – 26 November 1613). Owen decided to found a school to thank God for saving her when she was a child after she narrowly avoided being struck by an arrow, which passed through her hat, in the fields in Islington; the exact nature of this event is disputed.
The death of her third husband (the judge Thomas Owen) in 1598 caused Alice Owen to be free to carry out her plans. On 6 June 1608, she acquired a licence to purchase of ground in Islington and Clerkenwell, on which to build a hospital for 10 poor widows, and to confer power over that land (and some other land; in total, it was worth £40 a year) to the Worshipful Company of Brewers (her first husband, Henry Robinson, had been a member of the company). The site had been called the "Hermitage" field. In 1609, Owen officially gave authority over the charity she had founded to the Brewers' Company; by indentures dated in that year, she had given the company an annual payment of £25 to support her almshouses.
After founding the almshouses in 1608 on the site, which was on the east side of St John Street, in 1610 Owen obtained the right to build a school and chapel in the same location. It was built between 1610 and 1612 and probably opened in 1613. Three iron arrows were fixed into a gable in the building, to commemorate the time when she was almost hit by an arrow; Owen also erected a free chapel there. On 20 September 1613, she made rules for her school (and the almshouses); notably, the school was to take thirty boys – twenty-four from Islington and six from Clerkenwell – and be inspected by the Brewers' Company once a year.
The rules also stated that the school's headmaster was to be paid five pounds every three months and be given a house to live in for free; he was to teach writing, mathematics and bookkeeping. Her will (which was dated 10 June 1613), directed the yearly purchase of land worth £20 in order to pay the headmaster's salary. The first man to hold the position was William Leske, who held the position until 1614 before resigning. Samuel Lewis Jnr writes that according to John Stow's Survey of London, building the school and almshouses, as well as purchasing the land, cost £1776. To provide her charity with an income, the executor of Owen's will, Sir Thomas Rich, bought a farm in Orsett in Essex for £22.
Traditions The school has maintained many traditions from the time of its founding, such as the giving of a small amount of "beer money" to every pupil. This is a reminder of the school's long-standing close association with the brewing industry and the Worshipful Company of Brewers. Pupils in Year Seven receive a special five-pound coin in a ceremony at Brewers' Hall in London, while the older years are given money at school by the Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers on the last day of the academic year.
Early years and expansion: 1613–1886
William Smith, who held the position of headmaster between 1666 and 1678, was dismissed because of alleged involvement in the Popish Plot. In 1731, Thomas Dennett, who had been the headmaster since 1717, ran away.
In 1818, the Charity Commission found that there were 55 boys at the school – the 30 specified by Owen, and 25 private pupils (several of whom boarded with Alexander Balfour, who served as headmaster from 1791 to 1824). Only the private pupils learned French and Latin (the other children had the opportunity to learn Latin, but none took it). At the time, the headmaster earned £30 a year. The value of the trust estates in Islington and Clerkenwell had grown to £900 a year by 1830. The school was rebuilt and a new almshouse was built in 1840 or 1841 on a new site in Owen Street, Islington (near their previous location), at a cost of about £6,000, because the old buildings had fallen into disrepair; the original buildings were demolished.
The school was expanded when new classrooms were built in 1846 and 1860. In 1842, there were 85 boys attending the school – one-fifth (17) of them were from Clerkenwell while four-fifths (68) were from Islington – though the new school was intended to be for 120 boys. That number of pupils had been reached by 1865 when there were 100 boys from Islington and 20 from Clerkenwell at the school (all aged between 7 and 14).
A new project received royal assent on 14 August 1878; this scheme enabled the school to expand into two schools – one for 300 boys, and the other for that many girls. The almshouse was demolished so that a playground could be built (the former inhabitants of the almshouse received pensions). The front of the boys' school was rebuilt on a larger scale at this time. The girls' school was opened in Owen's Row in 1886; its first headmistress was Emily Armstrong.
Two independent schools in Islington: 1886–1951 The boys' school was expanded further in 1895–96 so that 420 boys could go there; a new wing was built, which included a library and science laboratories. In 1897, a memorial to Alice Owen (in the form of a statue) was commissioned; this statue is still located in the modern school. A building used for lunch as well as art and woodwork was built in 1904. During Robert Chomeley's time as headmaster (1909–27), the boys' school obtained playing fields in Oakleigh Park and he built several huts there, which were used for lessons. An assembly hall was added to the boys' school during his tenure; it was built in 1927.
The schools were evacuated to Bedford during the Second World War, in which the schools' buildings were badly damaged. The girls' school was mostly destroyed by bombing in 1940 and had to be rebuilt; on 15 October 1940, 143 people were sheltering in the basement when a parachute mine hit the building, causing a pipe to flood the basement and killing 109 of the occupants. (A memorial to the people who died in the bombing was unveiled in 2005 at City and Islington College, at the former site of Dame Alice Owen's School's playground). Temporary huts were initially used when the students returned in 1945; a new five-storey girls' school building was built between 1960 and 1963.
Two voluntary aided schools in Islington: 1951–1976
In 1951, Dame Alice Owen's took voluntary aided status, while retaining its separation into two single-sex schools. Both schools were in Goswell Road, facing each other across the boys' playground.
In 1963, there were over six hundred boys in the boys' school, of whom more than a hundred were in the sixth form. That year, the boys' and girls' schools celebrated the 350th anniversary of the foundation; this involved various celebrations, including sporting events and concerts. The first official history of the school, by Reg Dare, was also published that year; there was also a Thanksgiving Service at St Paul's Cathedral on 30 April. A new building, part of the girls' school, was opened in October. Funds were raised to purchase a residential centre for both of the schools to use. Pupils stayed there for periods of several days and learned there; the centre, which was located outside London, was called Harrock House. It opened in May 1965, and closed in 1985 due to the cost of maintaining it.
The two schools merged in 1973 and were run as a mixed school while pupils were transferred in stages to the school's current location in Potters Bar in Hertfordshire between 1973 and July 1976. Reasons for the move included the restrictions of the site in Islington and a decline in the number of pupils in the area. It is also noteworthy that, at that time, the road junction around The Angel Islington was subject to design review, with several potential designs, the smallest of which would have resulted in a roundabout that would have required demolition of the rear of the cloisters (the oldest section at the rear of the boys' school building).
As it transpired, none of the plans was ultimately implemented, and The Angel road junction remains substantially unchanged to date (2024) The new school was opened on 8 June 1976 by Princess Anne.
The former boys' school building has now been demolished; the girls' school building is now part of City and Islington College.
Mixed school in Potters Bar: 1976–present On 2 November 1990, the Duke of Edinburgh visited the school and opened a new building for physics and information technology that also houses a library, called the Edinburgh Centre. On 25 November 1997, Princess Anne opened a building for the sixth form and modern languages called the Bernard Ryan Centre. Five other buildings have been added to the site since 1976.
In 2011, the school became an academy; it had previously been a voluntary-aided school. In January 2019, the school received a grant of £50 000 from Hertsmere Borough Council to refurbish an astroturf sports pitch. Later that year, a new teaching block known as the "Brewers Education Centre" was completed, after over a year of construction. The building was formally opened in 2021 in a ceremony with the Worshipful Company of Brewers. The building cost approximately £5 million, with funding coming from the UK government and the Brewers' Company. The Bernard Ryan Centre was due to undergo extensive renovation in 2023.
400th anniversary (2013)
To commemorate the school's quatercentenary in 2013, the school established a 400th Anniversary Committee chaired by the musician Gary Kemp (with Peter Martin, the chair of governors, as vice-chairman), which organised several events. Kemp is an Old Owenian (former student) who met most of the future members of his band (with the exception of his brother, Martin) Spandau Ballet at the school. Construction was set to start in February 2013. By November 2013, more than £840 000 had been raised. In 2014, Lord Winston unveiled the new block. Staff and volunteers made a cake at the school, large enough for all the staff, students and parents to share; this marked the beginning of the celebrations. The film director and producer Sir Alan Parker (also an Old Owenian) directed a Celebration Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2013, (it was planned to take place on 23 April 2013) featuring performances by various groups of students, as well as members of Spandau Ballet (including Kemp). A Thanksgiving Service was held at St Paul's Cathedral on 30 April 2013; it was meant to be held a week after the concert. In November, the train company First Capital Connect named a Electric multiple unit (321409) "Dame Alice Owens 400 years of learning" to honour the occasion.