Orley Farm School

Orley Farm School is one of the largest coeducational preparatory day school in the London borough of Harrow, at the foot of Harrow Hill on South Hill Avenue. It was founded as the preparatory school for the nearby Harrow School in 1850 but is now a fully private school in its own right and leavers continue to other private schools. The school grounds cover over . History Orley Farm has evolved since September 1850 from a boarding school for boys preparing for Harrow, to a co-educational, day school. In 1984 the Official Grant of Arms was awarded. The arms and crest have three historical sources: (1) the stag holding an oak leaf is the Trollope family crest; (due to the renaming of the school in 1862 to that of the book of the same name written by Anthony Trollope describing the buildings owned by the family and occupied by the school) (2) crossed arrows and a silver laurel wreath are included on the Harrow arms, and (3) the “Hurst” of oak trees on the shield and sprig of oak in the badge refer to the Gardner family. The motto, Haec cogitate., “think on these things”, comes from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Orley Farm was originally a traditional boarding prep school similar to the likes of Ludgrove and Heatherdown Preparatory Schools. During the 1980s by about 1983, boarding was phased out after over 130 years and the dormitories were converted into classrooms. In 1994, the school administration made the landmark decision of admitting girls for the first time. The pre-prep department had opened by 1992 when boys aged rising 5 were admitted.