Dame Alice Owen's School
The school's logo.
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| Motto | In God is all our trust. |
|---|---|
| Established | 1613 |
| Type | Partially selective academy |
| Religion | None |
| Headteacher | Mrs Hannah Nemko |
| Deputy Head | Currently vacant (as of October 2016) |
| Chair of Trustees | Peter Martin |
| Founder | Dame Alice Owen |
| Location |
Dugdale Hill Lane Potters Bar Hertfordshire EN6 2DU England Coordinates: 51°41′27″N 0°12′26″W / 51.69076°N 0.20719°W |
| DfE number | 919/5407 |
| DfE URN | 136554 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Staff | 190 (as of November 2015) |
| Capacity | 1416 |
| Students | 1472 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Red and black |
| Publication | The Arrow |
| Website | Dame Alice Owen's |
Dame Alice Owen's School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It was founded in what is now the London Borough of Islington.
The school was founded in 1613 by Dame Alice Owen and has maintained many unique traditions from that time, such as the giving of a small amount of "beer money" to every pupil. The gift is now a limited edition five pound coin in mint condition, having previously been beer, a reminder of the school's long-standing close association with the brewing industry and the Worshipful Company of Brewers.
Having narrowly missed being struck by a wayward arrow in Islington, earlier in her life, while milking a cow, Dame Alice Owen founded a school – originally for 30 boys – to thank God for saving her. Arrows feature prominently on the school's crest, which is in itself largely identical to the crest of the Worshipful Company of Brewers; other motifs include barrels and hops.
By the death of her third husband in 1598, Mistress Owen was left free to carry out her long-cherished plans. On 6 June 1608, she obtained a licence to purchase at Islington and Clerkenwell eleven acres of ground, whereon to erect a hospital for ten poor widows, and to vest the same and other lands, to the value of £40 a year, in the Brewers' Company. The site had previously been known as the 'Ermytage' field. There she erected a school, a free chapel, and almshouses, on the east side of St. John Street, which stood till 1841. Three iron arrows were fixed in to one of the building's gables, as a memorial of the childhood event previously described. By indentures dated in 1609, she gave to the Brewers' Company a yearly rent-charge of £25, in support of her almshouses. On 20 September 1613, she made rules and orders for her new school. She had, by her will dated 10 June 1613, directed the purchase of land to the amount of £20 a year for the maintenance of its master.
By 1830, the value of the trust estates in Islington and Clerkenwell had grown to £900 a year. In 1841, the school and almshouses were rebuilt, at a cost of about £6,000, on a new site in Owen Street, Islington, a little distance from the old.
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