Overview
- A student vote saw 1,054 of 1,764 participants back seeking a new figurehead for Pepys House.
- The reassessment followed new transcriptions by historian Guy de la Bédoyère that detail abusive behaviour toward women in Pepys’s diary.
- Associate principal Femi Solano and history teacher Tom Wheeley led the review, citing alignment with values of respect, equality and kindness.
- The process was moderated by Chip Colquhoun, and the school will now develop a shortlist of alternative figureheads.
- Some parents and alumni criticized the move as erasing history, but the school says it will keep the Pepys Building and Pepys Stairs and maintains its historical association with Pepys.