The Harvey Grammar School was founded in 1674 by the family of Dr William Harvey – credited as the first to clearly explain the circulation of the blood.
The school was established to serve “20 poor boys of Folkestone”.
Holding true to these founding principles, the school continues to serve the brightest young men in Folkestone and Hythe from all backgrounds. The entrance test is designed to give every pupil a fair chance of gaining entry, regardless of background or circumstances.
Originally situated in Rendezvous Street, the school started out as a single classroom 35ft long and 20ft wide.
There were 20 boys on the school roll, with just one master employed to teach them reading and writing.
In 1882 the school moved to its third building (the second having been rebuilt on the site of the original building in 1846). This time the school found itself in Foord Road,
By this time there were 55 boys, the master held a degree and the first assistant master was appointed. By 1890, the school had a staff of four in addition to the headmaster.
The main school building at the school’s current home on Cheriton Road was built in 1913. By this time, the school roll had grown to 149. Thereafter, the School grew rapidly and, by 1937, the number of boys attending had risen to over 500.
Between 1940 and 1944 the School was evacuated to Merthyr Tydfil and, on return from Wales after the war, the School prospered in its newly-designated role as a County Secondary Grammar School.
Over the years more and more buildings have been added to the Cheriton Road site as the curriculum offered to the ever increasing number of pupils has been developed and extended.
Today’s school community of over 900 pupils enjoy the full range of modern education facilities, including the most recent addition of the Wright Building – a 12 classroom teaching block, opened in 2015.
For further information about the school, go to the Harvey Grammar School
Rare books for sale from the OHA archive.
OHA archivist, Jon Hulme, is in the process of cataloguing the many items we have accumulated over the years, which will be recorded in a separate section of the website in due course.
Jon has uncovered a quantity of some now rare books and postcards. Copies of these will of course remain in the archive, but it has been decided that the remainder can be offered to members who might like to purchase them.
The books sketch the history of our school, from its founding to fairly recent times, and the postcards are aerial views of the school, we believe probably taken around the middle to the end of the fifties.
Details are below::
Hardcover book, 24.5cm x 16cm comprising 240 pages, from the school founding until 1962
A History of the Harvey Grammar School by the Rev. J. Howard Brown
£20 (plus £3 p&p if to be posted)
Paperback, 21cm x 15cm comprising 148 pages
A History of the Harvey Grammar School 1962 – 2000
£15 (plus £3 p&p if to be posted)
Black and white postcard
An aerial view of the Harvey Grammar School c.1950’s
£10 (including p&p if to be posted)
Copies can only be ordered from Jon Hulme.
Contact Jon Hulme by:
email: Jon.hulme@sky.com
mobile: 07876 574257
post: 129 New Dover Road, Capel-le-Ferne CT18 7JL
Payment can be made by bank transfer to:
Account name: Old Harveians Association Sort Code: 52-41-42 Account number: 08620075
Or by cheque made payable to: Old Harveians Association
(Please add your name and reference ‘archive’ and indicate with your order how payment has been made.)
There is a limited number of each item available so please register your order as soon as possible. Allocation will be strictly by ‘first come, first served’.
