Merchant Taylors’ was founded in Elizabethan London in 1561, at a time of huge social, economic and technological change. Our founders understood that education should do more than equip young people with a limited set of skills for the world as it stood – it should give them the breadth and agility to meet the world they would inherit.
They created a then-radical school: among the first to pair academic rigour with sport, music, drama and time outdoors, believing that character and humanity should be developed alongside intellect.
I find that founding instinct remarkable, and I think about it often as I walk around the School. More than 460 years later, it feels just as relevant. The pupils arriving at Taylors’ today will make their way in a world shaped by accelerating technological change and real complexity, and I want them to be fully ready for it.
Academic excellence remains absolutely central to what we do, and I’m proud that our pupils go on to some of the best universities and courses in the country. But I don’t believe that is enough on its own. What draws me to this School is the breadth alongside it: 280 acres to explore, and a genuinely close-knit community in which to do it. Together, they let us develop young men who combine real intellectual ambition with humanity, and the confidence to help shape the world they’re inheriting, rather than simply respond to it.
I am new to Taylors’, and very conscious that I have joined a school with an extraordinary history. It is a privilege to become its 33rd Head Master, but my attention is firmly on what comes next: ensuring that our boys leave Taylors’ ready to make the most of the opportunities and challenges ahead.
That ambition is best understood by seeing the School in action: meeting the boys and staff, exploring the campus and getting a sense of life at Taylors’. I very much hope we will have the opportunity to welcome you.
Sam Baldock
Head Master
