Heathfield St Mary's School

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Heathfield St Mary’s School
Motto The Merit of One is the Honour of All
Established 1899
Type Public Boarding School
Religious affiliation Church of England
Headmistress Mrs Margaret McSwiggan
Chairman of Council Mr Tom Cross Brown
Location Ascot
Berkshire
SL5 8BQ
England Flag of England
Gender Girls
Ages 11 to 18
Houses Austen, de Valois, Seacole, Somerville
Former pupils HOGS & SMOGS
Website HSM Website

Heathfield St Mary's School is a girls' private school in Ascot, Berkshire. Previously known as Heathfield School, the establishment has merged with St Mary's School, Wantage at the Heathfield site in Ascot. Heathfield St Mary’s School draws on the strengths of both schools.


Contents

[edit] The School

Heathfield Saint Mary's School is a full-boarding school for girls from 11-18 years. Fees are currently £22,890 a year. Christian values are central to the school.

The school's grounds cover 36 acres situated in Ascot, providing easy access to London, major airports, the M3 and M4 motorways as well as the surrounding countryside.

It provides an environment which encourages academic success and prepares girls for the realities of the outside world[citation needed].

The school is equipped with teaching, sporting and leisure facilities. Following the merger of Heathfield School and St Mary’s Wantage in 2006, a development plan was launched which will deliver new facilities. Phase one of redevelopment, enlarging of the main Library, has now been completed. Phase two, consisting of a new Cookery building and Performing Arts Centre, has commenced. The Cookery building is now complete and construction of the Performing Arts Centre commenced in March 2008. Small classes and a focus on individual learning help to maintain excellent academic standards.

The school also faces significant competition in the form of nearby girl's boarding schools. The highly academic Wycombe Abbey School in High Wycombe, the equally reputable Catholic St Mary's School, Ascot (also in Ascot) and the "sloaney" Downe House School in Cold Ash are not far away. However, the high quality of pastoral care ensures that Heathfield St Mary's School remains a popular choice with parents.


[edit] Heathfield Ascot

Heathfield School was founded by Eleanor Beatrice Wyatt in 1899 when she moved the girls from her London school, Queen’s Gate, to the fine Georgian house at Ascot. Although extended over the years, much of the school is still housed and taught within the one building. Miss Wyatt declared: “My girls come here not only to learn their lessons, but to learn how to live as well.”


[edit] St Mary's Wantage

Reverend W J 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 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 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”.


[edit] Notable Alumnae

[edit] External Links


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