Sutton High School (London)

Sutton High School

Motto	Fideliter, Fortiter, Feliciter (faithfully, bravely, happily)
Established	1884
Type	Independent, GDST
Head	Mrs Katharine Crouch
Location	55 Cheam Road Sutton Greater Londona[›] SM1 2AX England Coordinates: 51°21′39″N 0°11′51″W / 51.360880°N 0.197612°W / 51.360880; -0.197612
Local authority	Sutton
DfE URN	103022 Tables
Gender	Girls
Ages	3–18
Houses	Dora Black, Frances West, Henrietta Stanley, Phyllis Mudford King
Colours	purple
Website	www.gdst.net/suttonhigh

Sutton High School is an independent school for girls aged 3–18 in Sutton, Greater London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST).

It was founded in 1884 by the then Girls' Public Day School Trust (GPDST), and was a direct grant grammar school (some pupils having their fees paid by the local authority as in a state grammar school) until this system was abolished in 1976. The first headmistress was Miss Margaret Whyte, and there were 80 pupils on the opening day, 17 January 1884. It has been listed in "Top 100 Independent School" Sunday Times Parent Power Guide, November 2011.^[1]

Buildings

The oldest buildings: Park House, white, surrounded by the 1886 extensions

The school's accommodation includes a mix of the purpose-built and the converted from a range of periods, and its oldest building predates the school's foundation in 1884.

The school opened in a residential property, Park House, in Cheam Road, which was rented by the Girls Day School Company. By 1886 this had been extended on both sides. This group of buildings is still at the core of the school. In the period between the world wars the buildings were extended westward along Cheam Road, and in 1932 Suffolk House was acquired. The assembly hall was built in 1935, linking Suffolk House to the existing buildings. In 1930 Homestead House in the parallel Grove Road was acquired, to be followed by Hayes House and its neighbour, so that the school's grounds extended between the two streets. The Library was built in 1938, to the south of the core, and in 1959 the Lilian Charlesworth Room, named after a former headmistress, was added above it. A new science and language block was opened in 1971 and a swimming pool in 1972. In the 1990s a new "Garden Building" was built, and the former Dene Hotel was bought and converted into a sixth form unit.^[2]

Notable former pupils

• Dora Russell (born Dora Black, 1894-1986), author, feminist and progressive campaigner
• Phyllis Mudford King (1906-2006), Wimbledon ladies doubles winner 1931^[3]
• Joan Hutt (1913–85), artist
• Susan Howatch (born 1940), author
• Ruth Kelly (born 1968), politician

House system

Since 2009 the school has had a house system.^[4] The four houses are named after women connected to the school:

• Dora Black (1894-1986), author, feminist and campaigner, former pupil; granddaughter-in-law of Henrietta Stanley
• Phyllis Mudford King (1905-2006), tennis player, former pupil
• Henrietta Stanley (1807-1895), campaigner for women's education and one of the founders of the GDST; grandmother-in-law of Dora Black
• Frances West (1875-1969), the first SHS pupil known to have attended university (Somerville College, Oxford), and later headmistress of St Winifred's and Raven's Croft schools in Eastbourne.^[5]

References

Notes

• ^ a: "Greater London" is not part of the postal address. The school lists its postal address as "55 Cheam Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 2AX", reflecting the pre-1965 county boundary. The correct postal address as given by the Royal Mail is "55 Cheam Road, SUTTON SM1 2AX"
  

External links

• Official website
• "Inspection Report 2011". Independent Schools Inspectorate. 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.