teaching staff in the college have been divided into a number of different houses. All houses names are associated with the history of the college or the town. The current six houses are: Denne – after a local area of Horsham; Mercers’ – after the Mercers' Company, a livery company based in London, a member of which founded the original school; Pirie – After William Pirie, a previous headmaster at the college, who served for 46 years and raised standards significantly in the college. There is a small square in the town centre known as Pirie's Place, with a sculpture of Pirie in a horse-drawn cart, commemorating the achievement of the headmaster; Richmond – After a road bordering the college; St Leonard's – After the forest to the east of Horsham; Whittington – After a member of the Mercer's company. Former house names include Collyer's, Hurst, Garnett, Duckering, and Weald. Headmasters The following list of the headmasters from the school's opening until 1965 was provided in the history of the school that was published in that year. 1541–1546 Richard Brokebanke 1546–1548 Nicholas Bayne 1549–1562 John Fowler 1563–1567 Thomas Hodeles 1567–1617 James Alleyn 1617–1629 Richard Nye (OC) 1629–1631 Edmund Pierson 1631–1639 Thomas Robinson 1640–1644 Rev. John Sefton 1644–1647 Rev. Thomas Smith 1647–1648 Rev. Alma Hogglebin 1648–1684 John Nisbet 1684–1685 Rev. Peregrine Peryham 1686–1699 Rev. James Wickliffe 1699 Rev. Ralph Grove 1700–1706 Rev. Alexander Hay 1706–1712 Rev. Thomas Pittis 1712 Rev. Peter Stockar 1712–1722 Rev. John Reynell 1722–1773 Rev. Francis Osgood 1773–1806 Rev. William Jameson 1806–1821 Rev. Thomas Williams 1822–1868 William Pirie 1868–1883 Richard Cragg (the younger) 1883–1890 James Williams 1890–1917 Rev. Dr. George Thompson 1917–1922 William Major 1922–1926 Rev. Canon Wilfrid Peacock 1922–1956 Philip Tharp 1956–1964 Douglas Coulson 1964–1966 Vernon Davies (acting head) 1966–1983 (Eldred) Derek Slynn Principals In 1976, the title was changed from Headmaster to Principal. Since then the college's principals have been: 1983–1999 David Arnold 1999–2004 Michael Marchant 2004–2014 Dr. Jacqueline Johnston 2014–2020 Sally Bromley 2020–present Dan Lodge Academic performance After recovering from a country-wide low point in schooling in the eighteenth century, headmasters from William Pirie to George Thompson successively raised standards, such that in 1904, when the school had 110 pupils, six OCs held open awards at Oxford or Cambridge, and another was a City and Guilds scholar. By 1962, university education also having been made free to students, the school sent 55 students out of