St Mary's School, Wantage
Encyclopedia
St Mary's School was an Anglican private girls' school located in Wantage
, Oxfordshire
, England
, between 1873 and 2007, when it merged with Heathfield School to become Heathfield St Mary's
. The school was popular with the British aristocracy.
The school was run by the sisters of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin
and was based in the Queen Anne house on Newbury Street. Sister Ellen was the first Sister-in-Charge and Sister Juliana succeeded her in 1887. Sister Juliana had studied at Cambridge and set a high standard for the girls, entering them for the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations.
Sister Annie Louisa joined the school in 1898 and started a guide movement called Scout Patrols in 1899 before Boy Scouts had even begun. She succeeded Sister Juliana as Headmistress in 1903. Sister Annie Louisa was responsible for the chief structural improvements at St Mary’s including a science wing and the conversion of an old barn into a gymnasium. By the time Sister Annie Louisa left in 1919, St Mary’s was recognised as a “public school with an unusually high standard of scholarship”.
St Mary's was sited just outside the town of Wantage. The buildings were purchased for around £15m by the property developer Anton Bilton and his company, Raven Mount, in 2005. The move was said to be necessary to increase the size of the school and modernise facilities. However, in 2006 it was announced that the school would be merging with the Heathfield School in Ascot
, to form a new school, Heathfield St Mary's. The Wantage site was closed at the end of the summer term 2007.
Old girls of St Mary's Wantage are known as 'SMOGs'.
Wantage
Wantage is a market town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. The town is on Letcombe Brook, about south-west of Abingdon and a similar distance west of Didcot....
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, between 1873 and 2007, when it merged with Heathfield School to become Heathfield St Mary's
Heathfield St Mary's
Heathfield School is a girls' independent boarding school in Ascot, Berkshire. In 2006, the school merged with St Mary's School, Wantage at the Heathfield site in Ascot...
. The school was popular with the British aristocracy.
History
The Reverend William John Butler became Vicar of Wantage on 1 January 1847. His main aims were, first, to revive the religious life in England and second, to improve education. He hoped to achieve these aims by setting up an order of teaching sisters, but he faced many disappointments and spent 25 years trying to improve various day schools in the parish before St Mary’s School was founded in 1873.The school was run by the sisters of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin
Community of St. Mary the Virgin
The Community of St Mary the Virgin is an Anglican religious order founded in 1848 by the vicar of Wantage, William John Butler.Its current Superior is the Reverend Mother Winsome CSMV, a former Baptist Christian, who converted to Anglicanism in order to become a nun.-William John Butler :A High...
and was based in the Queen Anne house on Newbury Street. Sister Ellen was the first Sister-in-Charge and Sister Juliana succeeded her in 1887. Sister Juliana had studied at Cambridge and set a high standard for the girls, entering them for the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations.
Sister Annie Louisa joined the school in 1898 and started a guide movement called Scout Patrols in 1899 before Boy Scouts had even begun. She succeeded Sister Juliana as Headmistress in 1903. Sister Annie Louisa was responsible for the chief structural improvements at St Mary’s including a science wing and the conversion of an old barn into a gymnasium. By the time Sister Annie Louisa left in 1919, St Mary’s was recognised as a “public school with an unusually high standard of scholarship”.
St Mary's was sited just outside the town of Wantage. The buildings were purchased for around £15m by the property developer Anton Bilton and his company, Raven Mount, in 2005. The move was said to be necessary to increase the size of the school and modernise facilities. However, in 2006 it was announced that the school would be merging with the Heathfield School in Ascot
Ascot, Berkshire
Ascot is a village within the civil parish of Sunninghill and Ascot, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting...
, to form a new school, Heathfield St Mary's. The Wantage site was closed at the end of the summer term 2007.
Old girls of St Mary's Wantage are known as 'SMOGs'.
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