Friday 17 September saw much excitement at Churcher’s College as the 300th anniversary celebrations began, with a whole school drone photograph featuring everyone lining up in formation as an enormous '300' on the rugby pitch. The image includes all 1,234 pupils from Nursery, Junior, Senior and Sixth Form from both campus sites in Liphook and Petersfield, not forgetting the 240 staff as well!

Simon Williams, Headmaster of Churcher’s College, said: “It is always lovely to have a birthday and even more so when you can have a party. I think being around for 300 years gives us every excuse to celebrate and we will be doing that in so many exciting ways over this anniversary year. The tercentenary also gives us the catalyst to reconnect and reinforce relationships with Old Churcherians and the town of Petersfield, our home. Richard Churcher is inevitably ever present in spirit at least, but, more importantly, we commemorate the connection he made between philanthropy and education. It is entirely appropriate that we link yesteryear with today and we kick off our celebrations in conjunction with the school that the children of Churcher’s founded and support in Nepal”.

Ffion Robinson, Head Teacher of Churcher’s College Junior School & Nursery, added “Our children were very excited getting on the coaches to come to the senior school and knew that this was an extraordinary event. History can be a difficult concept to grasp for little ones, but this unique opportunity to be part of such an historic moment and understand the story behind our school is very special indeed.”

Churcher’s College was established in 1722 following a bequest of £3,000 from Richard Churcher in his will to provide an education for ten or twelve boys from Petersfield. Continuing in our benefactor’s footsteps, the school set up the Richard Churcher Foundation to provide bursary awards to families whose children would otherwise be unable to benefit from a Churcher’s education. 

In this 300th year of celebration, there will be several events which will raise funds for the Richard Churcher Foundation to continue the philanthropic beginnings of our school.