The Coat of Arms

From 1883 the school was accustomed to use as coat of arms the version of the Wilson shield used by Edward Wilson (as seen above the main door of the old school building). Very many coats of arms associated with the name Wilson have a wolf salient as the main feature (salient means that the animal is shown leaping up with both hind paws on the ground). Different members of the Wilson family introduced various objects above the wolf, such as a row of three mullets (five-pointed stars). The version of the shield used by the Founder (though probably without any proper authority) was that of a Wilson from Didlington in Norfolk; Edward Wilson distinguished his coat of arms by replacing the three mullets with a silver fleur-de-lys and two bezants (gold coins, originally of Byzantium).

In 1985 the then Chairman of Governors, Lt. Col. W. R. Bowden, obtained a Grant of Arms from the College of Arms. The new officially authorised shield introduces a silver bar between the wolf and the objects above and a gold border around the edge of the shield; a crest is added above the helm in the form of a black wolf holding a silver fleur-de-lys in his paws with a black and gold mantle. The blazon reads as follows:

Arms: Sable a Wolf salient Or and a Barrulet enhanced Argent in Chief a Fleur de Lys also Argent between two Bezants all between a Bordure Gold. And for the Crest upon a Helm with a Wreath Or and Sable a demi Wolf salient Sable holding between its paws an Ogress charged with a Fleur de Lys Argent Mantled Sable doubled Or.

Motto: NON SIBI SED OMNIBUS ('Not for self, but for all': sadly Wilson's cannot claim a monopoly on this maxim as it is used by several other schools and institutions.)