Our Ethos
We are committed to giving every St Christopher’s pupil the best possible start to their education and development whilst supporting our families through their child’s early years of education.
Our school and nursery is a happy, creative and stimulating setting, which provides every child with a broad and challenging education within a caring and secure family environment. We encourage mutual respect and understanding, co-operation and tolerance of others, and place strong emphasis on high standards of manners and good behaviour.
The happy atmosphere of the School promotes excellent relationships between staff, pupils and parents making for a warm, supportive and lively community.
St Christopher’s is a member of the Independent Schools Association and is accredited by the Independent Schools Council.
Our aim is for our children to leave St Christopher’s as independent, highly motivated and engaged learners.
Our approach is based on our values of excellence, empathy and endeavour.
Our values are supported by the pillars of respect, kindness, integrity, creativity, courage and resilience.
We do this by:
- By providing a happy, safe, and stimulating environment where our diverse community thrives
- By carefully planning each stage in our young children’s development
- By building effective partnerships with parents and guardians, visitors, and outside agencies through clear and careful communication
- By providing an ambitious, creative and inspirational curriculum and co-curriculum which enable our children to become successful lifelong learners
- By ensuring equality and equity of opportunity are a driving force to ensure all the needs of our young children are met.
St Christopher’s was founded in 1938 and established as a charitable trust in 1965. It is administered by a board of governors, who are committed to providing pupils with the best possible start to their education.
Miss P Critchell Moody and Miss K M Angus Paterson founded St Christopher’s. The School first opened with just eight pupils and was based at 38 Ashley Road, Epsom. The numbers increased quickly, growing to 40 by 1939.
By 1942 larger premises were needed and the school was moved to its present building, a large Edwardian house, at 6 Downs Road, Epsom. By 1943 there were 100 pupils.
In the words of Miss Moody, one of the two founders, “The name ‘St Christopher’s’ was chosen so that the school was to be a bridge between the shelter of home and the wider life which the children would encounter.”
The school’s founding aims were:
There must be a solid foundation, but the children must be treated as individuals, and responsible behaviour is expected from pupils at an early age. This will give them pride in achievement and a feeling of belonging to a community. Children are expected to work hard and they do this best in a homely atmosphere in which they can feel secure and enjoy themselves.
St Christopher’s remains committed to these enlightened founding aims.
In 2007/8, when the school celebrated its 70th Anniversary, we were delighted to welcome back 29 pupils from the class of 1957 for a celebratory lunch. In return, they presented the school with a book showing the many and varied lives former pupils can live, together with their memories of St Christopher’s.
In 2012/13, when the School celebrated its 75th anniversary we enjoyed a year of celebrations which included the publication of a Poetry Book with original contributions from all 180 children. Staff and Governors were also delighted to provide their favourite poems together with a short note about why each one held a special memory.
The School celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2018 with 80th themed events throughout the year. In the Summer term the whole school enjoyed an outing to Ladyland Farm where we joined together for fun and education and toasted the School’s anniversary with a special picnic lunch.
From the archives…
In 1941 an “Invasion Notice” was given to parents which stated:
“Should the threat of an invasion materialize the School will close for one week. Should we be invaded during school hours the children will not be allowed to return home until they are fetched.”
St Christopher’s continues to thrive with 190 boys and girls receiving the best possible start to their education. The School cherishes its tradition and independence whilst seizing and embracing the best new ideas and innovations to ensure its pupils are fully equipped for life in the 21st century. We continue to invest heavily in our beautiful setting, the continual professional development of our talented staff, making the latest technology available to every pupil and ensuring we are able to deliver a wide-ranging curriculum offering a wealth of opportunities for pupils to learn and achieve.
Courage is celebrated and rewarded in our weekly Merit Assemblies and our annual Cup Assembly and we feel that the founders would be proud of this maintained tradition for, when faced with the outbreak of war in 1939 the handwritten instructions to all parents confirm the traditional robust approach:
“routine as usual and do not give in to the minor irritations of war”.
Everyone has happy memories of their time at St Christopher’s. Pupils, their families and our staff form life-long friendships and we are always delighted to welcome them back to our community.