Whitgift deputy head Stephen Coyne set out to document a typical week at his secondary school. But, he says, “it turned out to be pretty exceptional”. The school was founded in 1600 by John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury during Elizabeth I’s reign - and in the week of the annual founder’s day ceremony, the under-15 rugby team celebrated the school’s 399th birthday by winning the Daily Mail Cup at Twickenham. The 1,100 pupils share their site with a variety of wildlife, including eight peacocks, two of them rare white peacocks, and take part in a wide variety of curricular and extra-curricular activities, as this set of pictures shows. Dr Coyne says the school always seems to be busy; wherever you look “there’s always something happening”.

SNAPS BY Stephen Coyne and Geoff Hewlett * Out and about: Year 9‘s geography field trip to the Ashdown Forest

* Charles Tweed, Y8, on the founder’s day parade.

* Plucky performance: Stephen Lewsi, Y13.

* Sander: Tim Farrow, Y11.

* Check mates: Murtaza, Y9 and Matthew, Y11.

* D amp; T: Dhivant Patel, Y12.

* Loud and proud: one of the school’s peacocks.

* Play up: Sarah, Andy and Tim, Y12-13 rehearse ‘Old Tom’.

* Every one a winner: the victorious U-15 rugby team.