Abbots Bromley School for Girls
Encyclopedia
Abbots Bromley School for Girls (formerly known as the School of S. Mary and S. Anne
, Abbots Bromley) is an independent, fee-paying school for girls aged 3–18 located in the village of Abbots Bromley
, Staffordshire
, England. It is one of the original Woodard Schools
— and the first Woodard School for girls — and is therefore an Anglican foundation that historically reflected the Anglo-Catholic ethos of the Woodard Foundation. It is affiliated to the Girls' Schools Association
.
, Nathaniel Woodard
's project to provide education for the middle class
es was extended to girls. Woodard had been reluctant to start a school for girls, but some of his closest friends strongly disagreed. Edward Clarke Lowe
, in particular, believed that university
education should be open to women. These friends eventually prevailed upon Woodard and secured his blessing and his enormous fund-raising skills to found the School of S. Anne in 1874. Even after its opening, Woodard continued to express the view that his foundation might be wasting its efforts in promoting the education of women.
The school was established at Abbots Bromley partly because it was near Denstone College
, another Woodard school which had been founded a few years before. Its location in the Anglican diocese of Lichfield
also helped to secure for it the goodwill of Bishop Selwyn
.
Alice Mary Coleridge, Lowe's sister-in-law, played a central role in the evolving vision that led to the foundation of the school. Alice Coleridge, who had been greatly influenced by Anna Sewell
and her godmother, Charlotte Yonge, became Lady Warden of S. Anne's in 1878 and instituted a spartan regime and a broadly based curriculum
.
ethos of the school's foundation, Alice Coleridge also tried to make some educational provision for girls from families who were unable to afford the fees required by the School of S. Anne. As a result, the School of S. Mary was founded in Abbots Bromley
in 1880 to educate more cheaply 'the daughters of clergymen and other professional men of limited means and of the agricultural and commercial classes generally'. The School of S. Mary was built on a site immediately opposite the School of S. Anne.
S. Mary's did not prove to be viable, so the schools were amalgamated in 1921.
S. Mary's has currently been reopened for the Upper Six Boarders of Abbots Bromley School of Girls, as a Boarding House.
The Upper six is using the upper floor of the Building, which has been refurnished in summer 2010, it is ment to give them a closer feeling of what their Life's are going to be like at University.
The school is not academically selective but achieves academic results that are generally regarded as outstanding for a non-selective school.
Its academic, social and sporting provision is normal for most independent schools for girls in the UK. However, it does have two specialities in addition to the norm: it has a well-developed equestrian
centre, and it incorporates a dance school (Alkins School of Ballet
).
The school occupies 53 acres (214,483.6 m²), split between two sites on either side of the village High Street.
, but for some time now the majority of girls have been day pupils. However, the school has restored its boarding ethos which offers a range of boarding alternatives-full, weekly, flexi and occasional boarding
Academic teaching takes place from Monday to Friday. There is a full range of activities on the weekends for all boarders.
In 1991, Roch House Preparatory School opened, catering for girls between three and eleven years of age.
The school strives to elicit excellence from its pupils in academia, sports and the performing arts. However, in addition its ethos is particularly focused on fostering self-confidence in its pupils and a culture of mutual care and concern in the school community.
St.Anne's:
, which takes place every Summer Term. The pupils process from the school to the Parish Church
of St Nicholas, down the centre of the high street, in height order wearing white veil
s (officially called "hoods", unofficially called "tea - towels") fringed with light blue, carrying beautifully embroidered banners and singing (unaccompanied) the hymn "Jerusalem my happy home". Members of the school choir wear an additional ankle-length white veil (officially known as "cloaks" and unofficially as "tablecloths"). The service traditionally concludes with the singing of "Forward be our watchword".
Saint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
, Abbots Bromley) is an independent, fee-paying school for girls aged 3–18 located in the village of Abbots Bromley
Abbots Bromley
Abbots Bromley is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is famous for the annual Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. It is also the home of one of the Woodard Schools, Abbots Bromley School for Girls...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, England. It is one of the original Woodard Schools
Woodard Schools
Woodard Schools is a group of Anglican schools affiliated to the Woodard Corporation which has its origin in the work of Nathaniel Woodard, an Anglo-Catholic clergyman....
— and the first Woodard School for girls — and is therefore an Anglican foundation that historically reflected the Anglo-Catholic ethos of the Woodard Foundation. It is affiliated to the Girls' Schools Association
Girls' Schools Association
The Girls' Schools Association is the professional association of the heads of independent girls' schools in the UK and overseas and is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council .-History:...
.
The School of S. Anne
With the foundation of the School of S. AnneSaint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
, Nathaniel Woodard
Nathaniel Woodard
Nathaniel Woodard was a priest in the Church of England. He founded 11 schools for the middle classes in England whose aim was to provide education based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith...
's project to provide education for the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
es was extended to girls. Woodard had been reluctant to start a school for girls, but some of his closest friends strongly disagreed. Edward Clarke Lowe
Edward Clarke Lowe
Edward Clarke Lowe was an English educator and a key participant in the foundation and development of the Woodard Schools.-Early life and education:...
, in particular, believed that university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
education should be open to women. These friends eventually prevailed upon Woodard and secured his blessing and his enormous fund-raising skills to found the School of S. Anne in 1874. Even after its opening, Woodard continued to express the view that his foundation might be wasting its efforts in promoting the education of women.
The school was established at Abbots Bromley partly because it was near Denstone College
Denstone College
Denstone College is an independent, coeducational boarding school in Denstone,Staffordshire, England and a member school of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is also a Woodard school and as such has a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. It has continued to show impressive academic...
, another Woodard school which had been founded a few years before. Its location in the Anglican diocese of Lichfield
Diocese of Lichfield
The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers 4,516 km² The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England...
also helped to secure for it the goodwill of Bishop Selwyn
George Augustus Selwyn
George Augustus Selwyn was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. He was Bishop of New Zealand from 1841 to 1858. His diocese was then subdivided and Selwyn was Primate of New Zealand from 1858 to 1868. He was Bishop of Lichfield from 1868 to 1878...
.
Alice Mary Coleridge, Lowe's sister-in-law, played a central role in the evolving vision that led to the foundation of the school. Alice Coleridge, who had been greatly influenced by Anna Sewell
Anna Sewell
Anna Sewell was an English novelist, best known as the author of the classic novel Black Beauty.-Biography:Anna Mary Sewell was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England into a devoutly Quaker family...
and her godmother, Charlotte Yonge, became Lady Warden of S. Anne's in 1878 and instituted a spartan regime and a broadly based curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
.
The School of S. Mary
Given the missionaryMissionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
ethos of the school's foundation, Alice Coleridge also tried to make some educational provision for girls from families who were unable to afford the fees required by the School of S. Anne. As a result, the School of S. Mary was founded in Abbots Bromley
Abbots Bromley
Abbots Bromley is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is famous for the annual Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. It is also the home of one of the Woodard Schools, Abbots Bromley School for Girls...
in 1880 to educate more cheaply 'the daughters of clergymen and other professional men of limited means and of the agricultural and commercial classes generally'. The School of S. Mary was built on a site immediately opposite the School of S. Anne.
S. Mary's did not prove to be viable, so the schools were amalgamated in 1921.
S. Mary's has currently been reopened for the Upper Six Boarders of Abbots Bromley School of Girls, as a Boarding House.
The Upper six is using the upper floor of the Building, which has been refurnished in summer 2010, it is ment to give them a closer feeling of what their Life's are going to be like at University.
Statistics
The school currently has 300 pupils, of whom over eighty five are boarders.The school is not academically selective but achieves academic results that are generally regarded as outstanding for a non-selective school.
Its academic, social and sporting provision is normal for most independent schools for girls in the UK. However, it does have two specialities in addition to the norm: it has a well-developed equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
centre, and it incorporates a dance school (Alkins School of Ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
).
The school occupies 53 acres (214,483.6 m²), split between two sites on either side of the village High Street.
Ethos
Historically, the school was a boarding schoolBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, but for some time now the majority of girls have been day pupils. However, the school has restored its boarding ethos which offers a range of boarding alternatives-full, weekly, flexi and occasional boarding
Academic teaching takes place from Monday to Friday. There is a full range of activities on the weekends for all boarders.
In 1991, Roch House Preparatory School opened, catering for girls between three and eleven years of age.
The school strives to elicit excellence from its pupils in academia, sports and the performing arts. However, in addition its ethos is particularly focused on fostering self-confidence in its pupils and a culture of mutual care and concern in the school community.
Houses
St.Mary's:| House | Colour |
|---|---|
| Argyle | Green |
| Benets | Red |
| Duttons | Yellow |
| Stretton | Blue |
St.Anne's:
| House | Colour |
|---|---|
| Coleridge | Mustard Yellow |
| Heywood Rice | Lilac |
| KSB | Black or Orange |
| Meynell Lowe | Red/Blue |
| Selwyn | Light Blue |
| Talbot | Dark Green |
Commemoration Day: "Jerusalem Heights"
Perhaps one of the most enduring images of the school — and one of its most public manifestations — is that of its traditional Commemoration Day ProcessionProcession
A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...
, which takes place every Summer Term. The pupils process from the school to the Parish Church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of St Nicholas, down the centre of the high street, in height order wearing white veil
Veil
A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...
s (officially called "hoods", unofficially called "tea - towels") fringed with light blue, carrying beautifully embroidered banners and singing (unaccompanied) the hymn "Jerusalem my happy home". Members of the school choir wear an additional ankle-length white veil (officially known as "cloaks" and unofficially as "tablecloths"). The service traditionally concludes with the singing of "Forward be our watchword".
Notable former pupils
- Hazel DollingHazel DollingHazel Dolling was the châtelaine of Lissan House, a stately home near Cookstown, Northern Ireland. Lissan is said to be the oldest plantation house in Northern Ireland to be lived in by the descendants of its original builders, one of whom was Sir Robert Ponsonby Staples, known as "the barefoot...
- Annie KevansAnnie KevansAnnie Kevans is an English artist. She was named number 19 in Harper's Bazaar magazine's Forty Under 40 chart of hot new British talent, September 2007 and was named number 32 in New Woman magazine’s Brit Hit List and was described as the "new Tracey Emin"...
, artist - Lady Olga MaitlandLady Olga MaitlandLady Helen Olga Hay , better known as Lady Olga Maitland, is a former British Conservative politician.-Family and education:The daughter of Patrick Maitland, 17th Earl of Lauderdale, she was educated at St. Mary and St...
, ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament - Sue NichollsSue NichollsSusan Frances Harmar Nicholls is an English actress, best known today for her long-running role as Audrey Roberts in British soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:...
, actress - Dame Margery Perham, expert in the field of British colonial history and the first woman to be a Reith LectureReith LectureThe Reith Lectures is a series of annual radio lectures given by leading figures of the day, commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service....
- Anna RichardsonAnna RichardsonAnna Clare Richardson is an English presenter, television producer, writer and journalist, as well as author of four books.Richardson was born in Shropshire...
, television presenter - Helen WattsHelen WattsHelen Watts CBE was a Welsh contralto. She was born at Wales in Milford Haven and educated at the School of S. Mary and S. Anne, Abbots Bromley and the Royal Academy of Music. She began her career with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and was a regular broadcaster on the Welsh Home Service...
, contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
singer - Kelly England, former international model and publisher of Guide to Life Magazine Hong Kong