Saint Felix School Explained

Saint Felix School
Motto Translation:	Happiness Through Strength
Postcode:	IP18 6SD
Country:	England
Other Names:	-->
Former Names:	-->
Type:	Private, day and boarding school
Founder:	Margaret Isabella Gardiner
Urn:	124868
Headmaster:	Matthew Oakman
Age Range:	2–18
Enrolment:	301 (2018)^[1]
Capacity:	319
Houses:	^[2]
Colours:	Green Blue Gold
Accreditations:	-->
Affiliations:	-->

Saint Felix School is a 2–18 mixed, private, day and boarding school in Reydon, Southwold, Suffolk, England. The school was founded in 1897 as a school for girls but is now co-educational.

History

The school was founded in 1897 as a girls' school by Margaret Isabella Gardiner.

By September 1902, the present site of the school had been purchased and the first four boarding houses and teaching block completed.^[3] In 1909 Lucy Mary Silcox took over as headmistress from the founding head. The student roll grew and in 1910, the Gardiner Assembly Hall and a Library were built and Clough House followed in 1914.^[4]

Silcox was able to bring leading thinkers and artists to the school and money was found to buy sculpture^[5] and paintings. The modernist paintings inspired pupils like the artist Gwyneth Johnstone who remembered seeing work by Chistopher Wood at the school.^[6] Silcox directed the girls in ancient Greek plays. The students knew she was President of the local National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies as she gave talks in surrounding villages in support of women gaining the vote. The school continued during the 1914-18 war and during the 1916-1917 school year there was an outpost of the school at Penmaenmawr as some parents were worried about their students' safety.^[7] The whole school was evacuated three times and the school took in some Serbian refugees.^[8]

Today

The school accommodates babies and toddlers in the St Felix Nursery, and children up to the age of 18 in the Sixth Form. The school offers boarding throughout the term, weekly, or 'flexi' boarding.^[9] The current head is Mrs Annie Hardcastle

Notable former pupils

• Griselda Allan – artist
• Jane Benham MBE – artist and sailor who worked to preserve Thames sailing barges
• Dorothea Braby – artist and illustrator
• Dorothy Elizabeth Bradford – painter
• Stella Browne – feminist and abortion law reformer
• Natalie Caine – woodwind player^[10]
• Constance Coltman – the first woman ordained to Christian ministry in Britain^[11]
• Katherine Laird Cox – model, magistrate
• Nora David, Baroness David – politician and life peer^[12]
• Phyllis Gardner – artist and dog breeder
• Nick Griffin – Former BNP leader and MEP for North West England (1999–2014)^[13]
• Lilias Rider Haggard MBE – daughter of Sir Henry Rider Haggard and an author in her own right^[14]
• Norman Heatley OBE – biochemist^[15]
• Gwyneth Johnstone – painter
• Emily Beatrix Coursolles Jones – novelist
• Nancy Lyle – tennis player
• Violet Helen Millar, later Countess Attlee, wife of Clement Attlee
• Mother Maribel of Wantage – Anglican nun and artist^[16]
• Anna Russell – singer and comedian^[17]
• Enid Russell-Smith DBE – civil servant^[18]
• Mary Snell-Hornby – translation scholar
• Constance Tipper – metallurgist and crystallographer^[19]
• Hannah Waterman – actress
• Dame Barbara Woodward – diplomat

Notable staff

• Lucy Mary Silcox, headmistress from 1909 to 1926^[20]
• Anne Mustoe, headmistress from 1978 to 1987^[21]
• Ivey Dickson, pianist^[22]

See also

• List of schools in Suffolk

External links

• • Profile, Independent Schools Council

Notes and References

1. Web site: Saint Felix School . Get information about schools . Government of the United Kingdom . 30 January 2019 .
2. Web site: The House System . Saint Felix School . 30 January 2019.
3. Web site: History . St Felix School . 3 June 2019.
4. Web site: St. Felix School Historical Notes. www.blythburgh.net. 2020-03-26.
5. Web site: Silcox, Lucy Mary (1862–1947), headmistress and feminist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/53822. 2020-03-26.
6. News: Harrod. Tanya. Gwyneth Johnstone obituary. 2011-01-06. The Guardian. 2020-03-26. en-GB. 0261-3077.
7. January 2020. PENMAENMAWR. Old Felicians. 32.
8. Web site: Southwold boarding school to offer places to Syrian refugees. Ryan. George. Lowestoft Journal. en. 2020-03-26.
9. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/08/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/935_6007.stm Saint Felix School
10. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/feb/17/obituary-natalie-caine Natalie Caine
11. Elaine Kaye, Coltman, Constance Mary (1889–1969), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
12. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/6753796/Baroness-David.html Baroness David
13. News: Toolis . Kevin . Race to the right . 3 June 2019 . . 20 May 2000.
14. HAGGARD, Lilias Margitson Rider, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 5 Jan 2013
15. Web site: Eric . Sidebottom . Heatley, Norman George (1911–2004) . . . January 2011 . online . 4 January 2013 .
16. Sister Janet, Mother Maribel of Wantage Published by SPCK, London (1973) pg 10
17. ‘RUSSELL, Anna’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 5 Jan 2013
18. Jonathan Bradbury, ‘Smith, Dame Enid Mary Russell Russell- (1903–1989)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 5 Jan 2013
19. Anna Leendertz Ford, Tipper, Constance Fligg (1894–1995), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 5 Jan 2013
20. Web site: Silcox, Lucy Mary (1862–1947), headmistress and feminist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/53822. 2020-03-26.
21. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/6790125/Anne-Mustoe.html Anne Mustoe
22. 'Ivey Dickson', obituary in The Daily Telegraph, 20 November 2014, p. 33