Roedean School Explained

Roedean School
Coordinates:50.812°N -0.085°W
Motto:Honneur aulx dignes
("Honour the worthy")
Established:1885
Type:Private day and boarding school
Religious Affiliation:Church of England
Head Label:Headmistress
Head:Niamh Green
Chair Label:President of Trustees
Chair:Lady Patten of Barnes
Address:Roedean Way
City:Brighton
County:East Sussex
Country:England
Postcode:BN2 5RQ
Local Authority:Brighton and Hove
Urn:114616
Dfeno:846/6006
Enrolment:600
Gender:Female
Lower Age:11
Upper Age:18
Houses:6
Colours:Blue and White
Free Label 1:Former pupils
Free 1:Old Roedeanians

Roedean School is a private boarding and day school founded in 1885 in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex, England, and governed by Royal Charter. It is for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sussex Downs, on a cliff overlooking Brighton Marina and the English Channel. It is widely regarded as the "Eton College" of all-girls boarding schools in the United Kingdom.[1] [2]

The school incorporates dance studios, music classrooms, a 320-seat theatre, a heated indoor swimming pool, a golf course, a private tunnel to the beach, a farm and a chapel, as well as a range of workshops, studios, laboratories and sports pitches. It is also well-provisioned with a variety of classrooms.

Roedean School is a member of the Girls' Schools Association and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). The Good Schools Guide stated that the "School has a healthy spirit and much to offer."[3] The Independent Schools Inspectorate rated Roedean as Excellent in all areas (highest category) in its most recent inspection (March 2016).[4]

In the 2023 A-Levels, the school saw 55.2% of its candidates score A*/A.[5]

History

The school was founded in 1885 as Wimbledon House by three women: Penelope Lawrence and her step-sisters Millicent and Dorothy Lawrence.[6] Their brother was the lawyer Sir Paul Lawrence of Wimbledon who became unable to support them.[6] Their Lawrence great aunts had been noted school teachers earlier in the century, mainly in Liverpool. In its early years, Roedean was favoured by wealthy parents - many of whom were Nonconformists[7] - to prepare girls for entrance to the newly opened women's colleges at Cambridge University, Girton (now co-ed) and Newnham Colleges[8] where Penelope had studied.[6] In 1898, the school moved to its present site, occupying new buildings designed by the architect Sir John Simpson. A sister school, also called Roedean School and co-founded by the youngest Lawrence sister, Theresa, in 1903, is located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The school motto, Honneur aulx dignes, is in Norman French, and means "Honour the worthy". When pronounced, it sounds like "Honour Roedean".[9]

In 1924 the Lawrence sisters were replaced by Emmeline Mary Tanner who became the new head. She had been poached from Bedford High School by Penelope Lawrence as their successor.[10]

During the Second World War, the students and staff, including classics teacher Mary Creighton Bailey,[11] [12] were temporarily evacuated to Keswick, in the north of England. The school buildings in Brighton, Sussex were used by the Admiralty.[13] [14] They adapted it for use by Navy cadets attending the Mining and Torpedo School (known as HMS Vernon (R)). Roedean is one of the few girls' schools in the country to have an Old Boys' Association.[15]

The artist Percy Shakespeare was killed by a German bomb while serving at Roedean.[16]

Absorption of St Mary's Hall

Inspired by his friend William Carus-Wilson, who founded Cowan Bridge School, Reverend Henry Venn Elliott proposed to found a similar school for the county. St Mary's Hall was opened in 1836 and was the second-oldest girls' school in the United Kingdom before it was closed in 2009.[17] At that time, its junior section became Roedean's junior school while many senior girls transferred to Roedean. The junior school was closed in 2011 as the school administration decided to focus on secondary and sixth form education.[18] [19]

Location

Roedean School is set in 118acres of grounds off Roedean Way, at the top of a cliff on the Sussex Downs overlooking the sea, approximately in line with Brighton Marina.

Academic results

In 2023, the school achieved 55% of all A-Level grades A*-A and 74.3% of GCSE grades 9-7.[20]

Houses

The school community is divided into houses.

The Lawrence and Tanner House (with Senior and Junior wings) system, introduced in 2005, was reversed starting in 2010. A numbered house system was reintroduced. Roedean school has the longest corridor in England.

Year 7 to Year 11 students are spread out amongst Houses 1, 2, 3, and 4. These are named after the house numbers 1–4 of Lewes Crescent, where the School was located prior to moving in 1898 to this campus built for it.

Sixth form (Years 12–13) are admitted to Keswick House and Lawrence House, which are detached from the main school building.

In the 1960s, the houses were:Junior House;House Number 1;House Number 2;House Number 3;House Number 4;and a Sanatorium. In 1966 part of the Sanatorium was made into rooms for 6th form girls, two 6th form girls from every numbered house. The School retains a sanatorium wing (now known as a health centre) to this day.

Admission procedures

Roedean is a selective school, and entry to the school is based upon the School's own entrance examinations, interviews and reports from the students' previous schools.[21]

Notable alumni

Old Girls are known as Old Roedeanians and include:

Arts

Business

Healthcare and education

Journalism and literature

Military and sport

Politics and activism

Science

Theatre, television, and film

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Salman . Sandra . 1979-07-07 . English Girls Have Their Eton, Too . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-05-14 . 0362-4331.
  2. Web site: StudyLink . Britannia . 2019-09-09 . Top Girls Boarding Schools In The UK (Updated 2023) . 2023-05-14 . Britannia StudyLink Malaysia: UK Study Expert . en-GB.
  3. Web site: The Good Schools Guide to choosing a school. Which school? Independent, state, public, private, prep, junior, senior, primary, special, private and public schools and educational and SEN - the Good School Guide . 2008-10-13 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090422021601/http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk/school/roedean-school.html . 22 April 2009 . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: ISI Inspection 2016. roedean.co.uk. 1 July 2016.
  5. Web site: Roedean School: Reviews, Rankings, Fees, And More. 1 July 2023.
  6. Lawrence, Penelope (1856–1932), a founder of Roedean School, Brighton. 2021-03-25. 2004. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/48570. 978-0-19-861412-8.
  7. Web site: Crawford . E. . Woman and Her Sphere - 'Painting Days at School of Art are perfect bliss: the manuscript diary (1892-1914) of Sarah Madeleine Martineau, art student and craft worker'. . Woman and Her Sphere . 3 January 2024 . Lena Martineau and her sister Lucy, [daughters of [[Martineau family|David Martineau (died 1911)]]] who was three years older, had been boarders at Roedean school in Sussex, which, recently founded, was much favoured by the daughters of the wealthy non-conformist middle class. When Lena begins her diary in an exercise book in January 1892 one of the first entries relates that Barbara Shore Smith, who had been a contemporary at Roedean....
  8. http://www.roedean.co.uk/senior-school-history-of-roedean/ History of Roedean
  9. News: Do you know what your school motto means? independent school Parent. Parent. independent school. 29 August 2013. independent school Parent. 15 November 2016.
  10. Tanner, Dame Emmeline Mary (1876–1955), headmistress and educational reformer. 2020-10-05. 2004. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/52247. 978-0-19-861412-8.
  11. Web site: Senechal . Mr . Our History: 1960-1974 . langtonsixthform.co.uk . Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School . 5 December 2023 . 2023. (PDF version)
  12. Book: England and Wales Register, for Keswick, Cumbria . 1939 . H.M. Government . London. subscription . 2 . 9 December 2023 . Bailey, Mary C., born 19 Sept '13., single, schoolmistress.
  13. Web site: WW2 – The Second World War: Keswick Hotel during the Second World War.
  14. News: obituary:Lieutenant Claude Holloway. The Daily Telegraph. 16 May 2012. 16 May 2012.
  15. http://www.roedean.co.uk/roba/ Roedean Old Boys' Association
  16. Web site: Percy Shakespeare Collection. https://web.archive.org/web/20120919223507/http://www.dudley.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-galleries/dudley-museum-art-gallery/collections/fine-art-collections/percy-shakespeare-collection/?assetdet406089=6735. dead. 19 September 2012. Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. 3 November 2012.
  17. Web site: St Mary's Hall Association. 12 December 2009. 125 years of Roedean. https://web.archive.org/web/20091212172947/http://www.roedean.co.uk/smha/. 12 December 2009. dead. 28 March 2018.
  18. http://www.roedean.co.uk/junior-school/ Junior School
  19. Web site: Roedean Junior School. 2 June 2012. roedean.co.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20120102104955/http://www.roedean.co.uk/junior-school/. 2 January 2012. dead. 28 March 2018.
  20. Web site: 2023-08-07 . Roedean School: Reviews, Rankings, Fees, And More . 2023-10-02 . Britannia UK . en-GB.
  21. Web site: Entry Process - Roedean School . www.roedean.co.uk . 26 September 2022.
  22. 10.1093/ref:odnb/49549. Abbatt, Marjorie.
  23. Web site: Obituary: Barbara Calder, pioneering yachtswoman. scotsman.com. 10 April 2018.
  24. News: Daisy pulls it off – with a spanner . Milner . Catherine . de Burton . Simon . . 30 June 2002 .
  25. Web site: Roedean past of '11-plus hater' MP. Kate. Devlin. 16 September 2018. Express.co.uk.

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