Nottingham High School - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The school's coat of arms was granted in 1949 by the College of Arms, the full blazon being:

Ermine, a lozenge argent charged with three blackbirds rising proper. On a chief gules, an open book also proper, garnished or, between two ducal coronets of the last. And for the crest, on a wreath argent and gules, a squirrel sejant gules holding between the paws a ducal coronet or. Mantling, argent and gules. Motto "Lauda Finem".

These arms incorporate those of the school's founder: the Mellers' family arms were three blackbirds (or merles – an example of canting arms) on a white field; Dame Agnes, being a woman, would have displayed these on a lozenge rather than a shield. In 2007 the school introduced a new 'logo' for more general use, a modified version of the shield which omits the lozenge and the ermine field. Whilst this breaches laws of English heraldry, action is rarely taken in such matters.