Abbots Bromley School for Girls.html



Abbots Bromley School for Girls
Motto	That Our Daughters May Be as the Polished Corners of the Temple
Established	1874
Type	Independent, Single-sex, Day & Boarding
Religious affiliation	Church of England
Headmistress	Mrs Trish Woodhouse
Location	Abbots Bromley Staffordshire WS15 3BW England
LEA	Staffordshire
Ofsted number	SC038721
Staff	21 full time, 16 part time1
Students	2911
Gender	Girls
Ages	4 to 18
School colours	Red & Blue
Website	www.abbotsbromley.staffs.sch.uk

Abbots Bromley School for Girls (formerly known as the School of S. Mary and S. Anne, Abbots Bromley) is an independent, fee-paying school for girls aged 4-18 located in the village of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, England. It is one of the original Woodard Schools — and the first Woodard School for girls — and is therefore an Anglican foundation that historically reflected the Anglo-Catholic ethos of the Woodard Foundation. It is affiliated to the Girls' Schools Association.

History

The School of S. Anne

With the foundation of the School of S. Anne, Nathaniel Woodard's project to provide education for the middle classes was extended to girls. Woodard had been reluctant to start a school for girls, but some of his closest friends strongly disagreed. Edward Clarke Lowe, in particular, believed that university education should be open to women. These friends eventually prevailed upon Woodard and secured his blessing and his enormous fund-raising skills to found the School of S. Anne in 1874. Even after its opening, Woodard continued to express the view that his foundation might be wasting its efforts in promoting the education of women.

The school was established at Abbots Bromley partly because it was near Denstone College, another Woodard school which had been founded a few years before. Its location in the Anglican diocese of Lichfield also helped to secure for it the goodwill of Bishop Selwyn.

Alice Mary Coleridge, Lowe's sister-in-law, played a central role in the evolving vision that led to the foundation of the school. Alice Coleridge, who had been greatly influenced by Anna Sewell and her godmother, Charlotte Yonge, became Lady Warden of S. Anne's in 1878 and instituted a spartan regime and a broadly based curriculum.

The School of S. Mary

Given the missionary ethos of the school's foundation, Alice Coleridge also tried to make some educational provision for girls from families who were unable to afford the fees required by the School of S. Anne. As a result, the School of S. Mary was founded in Abbots Bromley in 1880 to educate more cheaply 'the daughters of clergymen and other professional men of limited means and of the agricultural and commercial classes generally'. The School of S. Mary was built on a site immediately opposite the School of S. Anne.

S. Mary's did not prove to be viable, so the schools were amalgamated in 1921.

The school today

Statistics

The school currently has 300 pupils, of whom fifty-five are boarders.²

The school is not academically selective but achieves academic results that are generally regarded as outstanding for a non-selective school.³

Its academic, social and sporting provision is normal for most independent schools for girls in the UK. However, it does have two specialities in addition to the norm: it has a well-developed equestrian centre, and it incorporates a dance school (Alkins School of Ballet).

The school occupies 53 acres (210,000 m²) split between two sites on either side of the village High Street.

Ethos

Historically, the school was a boarding school, but for some time now the majority of girls have been day pupils. However, the school offers a range of boarding alternatives, including flexi-boarding, occasional boarding and weekly boarding.

Academic teaching takes place from Monday to Friday. There are occasional activities on the weekends that are compulsory for all pupils, including day girls.

In 1991 Roch Preparatory School opened, catering for girls between four and eleven years of age. ⁴

The school strives to elicit excellence from its pupils in academia, sports and the performing arts. However, in addition its ethos is particularly focused on fostering self-confidence in its pupils and a culture of mutual care and concern in the school community.

Houses

St.Mary's:

St.Anne's:

Commemoration Day: "Jerusalem Heights"

Perhaps one of the most enduring images of the school — and one of its most public manifestations — is that of its traditional Commemoration Day Procession, which takes place every Summer Term. The pupils process from the school to the Parish Church of St Nicholas, down the centre of the high street, in height order wearing white veils (officially called "hoods", unofficially called "tea - towels") fringed with light blue, carrying beautifully embroidered banners and singing (unaccompanied) the hymn "Jerusalem my happy home". Members of the school choir wear an additional ankle-length white veil (officially known as "cloaks" and unofficially as "tablecloths"). The service traditionally concludes with the singing of "Forward be our watchword".

Terminology

Colloquial names for the school

The school is often referred to by those who know it as "A.B.". One of the school mottos expresses the wish that "our daughters should be as the polished corners of the Temple", so previous generations of pupils have sometimes referred to themselves as "Polished Corners".

School Slang

Much of the slang used at Abbots Bromley is similar to other public school slang. However, there are numerous terms specific to Abbots Bromley.

• Bird Cage: a lawn predominantly used for assembling during fire alarms
• Cantoria: an elite choir for senior girls, which requires audition
• Cantorini: the junior equivalent of Cantoria
• Congo: congregational hymn practice
• Equi Centre: the equestrian centre
• HPA: House Performing Arts - the inter-house drama competition
• Jacob's Ladder: a set of steps outdoors, joining the Talbot Hall to the Classroom Block
• Perham Society: a discussion group for members of the 6th Form, modelled on the Greek Symposium
• Prep: either homework or, for those not in the 6th Form, supervised period(s) for homework (although this is common amongst many Preparatory and "Public" schools)
• Roch: an alternative name for St.Mary's
• The San: the School Sanatorium
• Zig Zag Corridor: an often unavoidable corridor with many steps
• Talbot Hall: the area outside the school chapel
• Thomson Hall: the large main hall where assemblies take place and where the main stage is located
• Reed Hall: the smaller stage where guild lectures and speech and drama lessons are held
• Perham Hall: the main entrance hall where the school crest is shown on the carpet

Notable Alumnae

• Lady Olga Maitland, Conservative Member of Parliament
• Helen Watts, distinguished contralto singer
• Annie Kevans, born Anne Stevenson, artist
• Sue Nicholls, actress, who most famously plays Audrey Roberts on Coronation Street
• Dame Margery Perham (1895-1982), distinguished academic expert in the field of British colonial history and the first woman to be a Reith Lecturer

See also

• Single-sex education
• Independent school (United Kingdom)

References

External links

• School Website
• Alkins School of Ballet
• Organisation for former pupils: The Guild of S. Mary & S. Anne
• Woodard Corporation Website