Wimbledon High School
Encyclopedia
Wimbledon High School is an independent girls' school in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
, South West London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust
Girls' Day School Trust
The Girls' Day School Trust is a group of 26 independent schools - 24 schools and two Academies - in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each year...
and celebrated its 130th birthday on November 9 2010, having been founded by Edith Hastings in 1880. WHS educates girls between the ages of 4 and 18.
The motto is "Ex Humilibus Excelsia" meaning "From humble beginnings, greatness". Another motto coined by the school is "stepping in, striding out".
The four school houses, Arnold (green), Scott (yellow), Meredith (red) and Hastings (blue) are named after the first girls to join the school. The current headmistress is Mrs. Heather Hanbury.
The Good Schools Guide called the school an "Academic school with good results," stating that the "Strengths of the school [are] drawn from the atmosphere and friendships."
Key Information
- Headmistress: - Ms. Heather Hanbury
- Junior School Headmistress - Ms. Kate Mitchell
- Established: - 1880
- Location: - Wimbledon, LondonWimbledon, LondonWimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
- Website: - http://www.wimbledonhigh.gdst.net/
History
The school was founded when Mary Gurney, a member of the Girls' Public Day School Trust, was asked by a friend to start a GPDST school in Wimbledon. The 'Public' was later dropped. When the school was founded in 1880, it had twelve girls. They included Meg and Margaret Arnold, Mildred Hastings, Violet Scott-Moncrieff and Sophie Meredith. By 1887, there were more than 100 girls and so the school expanded its site along Mansel Road. Edith Hastings was the first headmistress from when the school opened to 1908.The first lesson taught was on the subject of the apple. Soon after, the fruit was used as the emblem of the school. Every year on the school's birthday in November, pupils and staff eat apple-green cakes in memory of this.
On a Saturday in February 1917, fire broke out. Nearly all the school's documents and papers were burnt and the library was destroyed.
The school playing grounds in Nursery Road, Wimbledon, used to be home to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships until 1923 when it moved to its current setting a mile away. Nowadays, a number of the Year 9 and 10 girls are selected to be ball girls
Ball Boy
Ball Boy is a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano and also the name of the main character. It first appeared in issue 1735, dated 18 October 1975. It features a five-a-side football team that includes:* Ball Boy - the captain of the team, Ball Boy bears resemblances to The Dandy's Owen Goal...
at the Championships each year.
The School Song
The school song was written by a former pupil and later teacher of Wimbledon High School, The Duchess of Atholl, Kitty Ramsay. It is the tradition to sing this on the school's birthday and at the end of the school year when the sixth formers are leaving.The words are:
From year to year, our onward course we take,
Through strife and victory, through weal and woe,
Making new friends, ne'er losing those we love,
So onwards, ever onwards let us go.
Above us loom new fields to conquer still,
Behind us are the heights already gained
By those who bore the fiercest of the fight,
That brave small band who to so much attained.
Those who have led and those among the ranks,
Who did true yeoman service with their might,
All those we love and strive to emulate
Keeping their memory ever clean and bright.
Onward we go, cheered by our happy past,
Stong in our union of loyalty and love
To this our school its memories and aims
Still onward to the unconquered peaks above.
The school hymn is Praise My Soul The King of Heaven. It is sung on special occasions in the school.
The School Houses
The four senior houses are Arnold (Green), Hastings (Blue), Meredith (Red), and Scott (Yellow). The houses were named after four of the twelve first students to attend Wimbledon High School. Each house has its own house committee consisting of a house captain and deputy house captain elected by the girls, and then Music, Art, Sports and Drama captains and a secretary elected by the house captain. Throughout the year there are several house events such as The Big Draw, The Interhouse Music Competition, Junior Drama and Off-timetable Day. Housepoints are also awarded by teachers in recognition for academic excellence and good deeds around school.The junior houses are Austen (Red), Garrett-Anderson (Green), Hepworth (Yellow) and Somerville (Blue). The houses were named after famous and influential women.
Previous Headmistresses
- Miss Edith Hastings (1880-1908)
- Miss Ethel Gavin (1908-1918)
- Miss Mabel Lewis (1918-1939)
- Miss Kathleen Littlewood (1940-1949)
- Miss Marguerite Burke (1949-1962)
- Mrs Anne Piper (1962-1982)
- Mrs Rosemary Smith (1982-1992)
- Mrs Elizabeth Baker (1992-1995)
- Dr Jill Clough (1995-2000)
- Mrs Pamela Wilkes (2001-2008)
- Mrs Heather Hanbury (2008-present)
Notable former pupils
- Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl (born 1874)
- Sylvia PayneSylvia PayneSylvia Payne was one of the pioneers of psychoanalysis in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Born as Sylvia May Moore in Marylebone, London, the daughter of Rev. Edward William Moore and his wife Letitia. Her father was incumbent of Brunswick Chapel and an adherent of the Higher Life movement, being...
(born 1880); psychoanalyst - Margaret RutherfordMargaret RutherfordDame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
(born 1892); actress - Gladys Sandes (born 1897); consultant surgeon to Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton, and to the Mothers' Hospital, London
- Dame Mary Smieton (born 1902); civil servant and Secretary to the Ministry of Education
- Jean AitchisonJean AitchisonJean Aitchison is a Professor of Language and Communication in the Faculty of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford....
- Professor Emeritus of Language & Communication - Michelle PaverMichelle PaverMichelle Paver is a British-based novelist and children's writer, author of the six-book series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, set in the pre-agricultural Stone Age.- Biography :...
(born 1960); author, famous for The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness - Samira AhmedSamira AhmedSamira Ahmed is a British freelance journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 4's PM, The World Tonight and Sunday. She also presented two Proms for BBC Four in 2011. Ahmed's writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent and on The Spectator magazine Arts...
(born 1968); News Presenter, Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel... - Sara Nathan, OBE - first female Editor of a British Network News Programme (Channel 4 News)
- Amara KaranAmara KaranAmara Karan is an English actress who made her film début as the love interest in Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. The film premièred at the 2007 Venice Film Festival...
(born 1984); actress (St. Trinian's) - Georgina SherringtonGeorgina SherringtonGeorgina Sherrington is an actress best known for her portrayal of the character of Mildred Hubble in the children's series The Worst Witch , as well as the spin-off series Weirdsister College- The further Adventures of The Worst Witch , a British/Canadian co-production between ITV and TV Ontario,...
(born 1985); actress (The Worst Witch); winner of Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress - Lizzy PattinsonLizzy Pattinson- Career :Lizzy has performed with the UK dance act Aurora and German duo Milk & Sugar, for which she was lead vocalist on the latter's No. 1 Billboard Hot Dance Club Play track "Let The Sun Shine". She has had three Top 20 hits in the UK....
; singer
Notable Former Teachers
- Nellie DaleNellie DaleEllen "Nellie" Dale was a British school teacher who created one of the earliest books on teaching reading....
was a teacherTeacherA teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
at Wimbledon who created her own basic reading program that used phonological awarenessPhonological awarenessPhonological awareness refers to an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of spoken words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much research.- Overview :Phonological...
and phonicsPhonicsPhonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...
. She created a series of popular instruction manuals and primers based on her method.