St Leonards School

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St Leonards School
Image:StLeonards.jpg
Motto Ad Vitam
Established 1877
Type Independent Boarding School
Founder Louisa Lumsden
Headmaster Michael Carslaw, BSc, PhD, MBA
Location St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Website www.stleonards-fife.org

St Leonards School and Sixth Form College, formerly St Leonards School for Girls, is an independent school, founded by the University of St Andrews in the nineteenth century.

It is located in St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, today situated on one site in private grounds, just South of the town's historic cathedral.

Although originally established in 1877 by Dame Louisa Lumsden amid the increased demand for women's education, the school is now fully co-educational, taking boys and girls from from the ages of 4 to 18, with the option of boarding from the age of 12.

In 2005, The Sunday Times named St Leonards its "Scottish Independent School of the Year".[1]

Contents

[edit] Overview

St Leonards has approximately 450 pupils between the ages of 4 and 18.[2] Pupils are assigned to one of the four teams, which replaced the traditional house system. Each team is named after a Scottish Hebridean island:

Harris Lewis Mull Skye
Yellow Red Green Blue

The Sixth Form College was one of the first in Scotland to offer the IB Diploma Programme.

[edit] History

St Leonards and St Katharines School for Girls was founded in 1877 by Louisa Lumsden in the belief that "a girl should receive an education that is as good as her brother's, if not better."[3] In 1999 St Leonards Sixth Form and St Katharines Prep School opened their doors to boys for the first time; the school soon became completely co-educational.

[edit] St Katharines and St Leonards-New Park

St Katharines School was the original prep school of St Leonards, making full use of the campus and facilities while retaining a degree of autonomy. However, in March 2002 it was announced that the prep school would be relocated to the main building and renamed St Leonards Junior and Middle Schools.[4] Following a further announcement in March 2005 [5], St Leonards junior and middle schools merged with New Park School, also located in St Andrews, operating as one unit under the name St Leonards-New Park.

[edit] Lacrosse at St Leonards

The school is believed to be the first in the world to have played women's lacrosse.[6]

[edit] St Leonards Governing Council

The school's administration is overseen by a group of citizens (some of whom include business leaders and British nobility.) This Council makes primary financial and major personnel decisions (headmaster/headmistress.)

Current Members of the Governing Council

Mr James Murray, MA LLB (CHAIRMAN)
Mr Hamish Allridge, MA Dip Ed Cert Ed
Mr Robert M Burns
Mr Roy de C Chapman, MA
Mrs Philippa Davie, BSc
Lady Fraser of Carmylie, MSc
Mr Bruce Johnstone CA
Dr Brian Lang, MA
Mr James Ogilvy, MA MBA
Mr Martin Passmore, MA FRSA
Mrs Carol Smith
Mr Aubyn Stewart-Wilson, BSc

[edit] Headmistresses and Headmasters

For the first 124 years, (when the school was an all-girls school) the Head of St Leonards was always a woman.

  • 1877 – 1882 Dame Louisa Lumsden
  • 1882 – 1896 Dame Frances Dove
  • Mrs Bentinck Smith
  • Dr Janet Macaulay
  • Miss Martha Hamilton (Mrs Robert Steedman)
  • 1988 – 2000 Mrs Mary James[7] (Mrs Lawrence James)
  • 2001 – June 2003 Mrs Wendy Bellars
  • August 2003 – April 2008 Mr Robert A J Tims [8]
  • April 2008 – Dr Michael Carslaw[9]

[edit] Curriculum

St Leonards has largely followed the English, rather than the Scottish education system. Pupils take GCSEs rather than Scottish Standard Grades. Sixth Form College students follow the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme.

St Leonards is an IB World School, one of only three schools in Scotland to have attained this status.[10]

[edit] Notable seniors

See also St Leonards Seniors.

Former Pupils of St Leonards are known as St Leonards School Seniors[11], as is the style at the sister schools Wycombe Abbey [12] and Benenden School[13].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links