Wimbledon High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.
Wimbledon High School is an independent all-girls school in Wimbledon, southwest London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust and celebrated its 125th birthday on November 9 2005, having been founded by Edith Hastings in 1880. WHS educates girls between the ages of 4 to 18.
The motto is "ex humilibus excelsa" meaning "From humble beginnings to great things". 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 Ms Pamela Wilkes.
Contents |
[edit] Key Information
- Headmistress: - Ms. Pamela Wilkes
- Established: - 1880
- Location: - Wimbledon, London
- School Colours: - Navy and Green
- Website: - www.gdst.net/wimbledon
- Current Headgirl: - Holly Braine
[edit] History
The school was founded when a woman called Mary Gurney, who was a member of the Girls' Day School Trust, was asked by a friend to start a GDST school in Wimbledon. When the school was founded in 1880, it had twelve girls. They included Margaret Arnold, Mildred Hastings, Violet Scott-Moncreif 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 school playing grounds, known as Nursery Road, 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 ballgirl at the Championships each year.
[edit] The First Lesson
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. There is also said to be a large apple tree in the centre of the school grounds yet it bears no fruit.
[edit] The School Song
The school song was written by a former pupil and later teacher of Wimbledon High School. It is tradition to sing this on the school's birthday and at the end of the school year when the sixth formers are leaving. The first line is: "From year to year, our onward course we take".
[edit] The Fire of 1917
On a Saturday in February in 1917, fire broke out. Nearly all of the school's documents and papers were burnt and the library was destroyed.
[edit] 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-)
[edit] Associated People
[edit] Famous former pupils
- Michelle Paver - Author of (most famously) the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness - Children's book
- Samira Ahmed - News Presented for Channel 4
- Margaret Rutherford - Actress
- Georgina Sherrington - "The Worst Witch" ; Winner of Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress
- Juliet Stevens - Nobel Prize winner 2002
- Jean Aitchison - Professor Emeritus of Language & Communication
- Rosie Millard - Journalist & Broadcaster
In fiction
- Lara Croft Fictional character on the computer game Tomb Raider, later made into a film
[edit] Former Teachers
- Nellie Dale was a teacher at Wimbledon who created her own basic reading program that used phonological awareness and phonics. She created a series of popular instruction manuals and primers based on her method.
