Roedean School

For Roedean School, Johannesburg, see Roedean School (South Africa).
Roedean School
Motto Honneur aulx dignes
("Honour the worthy")
Established 1885
Type Independent day and boarding school
Religion Church of England
Headmaster Oliver Blond
President of Trustees Lady Patten of Barnes
Location Roedean Way
Brighton
East Sussex
BN2 5RQ
England
Coordinates: 50°48′43″N 0°05′06″W / 50.812°N 0.085°W / 50.812; -0.085
Local authority Brighton and Hove
DfE number 846/6006
DfE URN 114616 Tables
Students 493
Gender Female
Ages 11–18
Former pupils Old Roedeanians
Website www.roedean.co.uk

Roedean School is an independent day and boarding school in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex, England for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sussex Downs on a cliff overlooking Brighton Marina. The school incorporates dance studios, plenty of music classrooms, a 320-seat theatre, a heated indoor swimming pool, a golf course, private tunnel to the beach, farm and a chapel, as well as a range of workshops, studios, laboratories and sports pitches. Current school fees are between £5,250 and £13,360 per term,[1] from the youngest day girls to the oldest boarders. This puts Roedean among the most expensive girls' schools in the United Kingdom. Roedean School is a member of the Girls' Schools Association and the Headmasters Conference (HMC). The Good Schools Guide stated that the "School has a healthy spirit and much to offer."[2] The Independent Schools Inspectorate rated Roedean as Excellent in all areas (highest category) in its most recent inspection (March 2016).[3]

History

The school was founded in 1885 as Wimbledon House by three sisters: Penelope, Millicent, and Dorothy Lawrence. Their brother was the lawyer Sir Paul Lawrence of Wimbledon, who helped them considerably, and their Lawrence great aunts had been noted school teachers earlier in the century, mainly in Liverpool. Roedean was founded to prepare girls for entrance to the newly opened women's colleges at Cambridge University, Girton (now co-ed) and Newnham Colleges.[4] 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".[5]

During the Second World War, the students and staff were temporarily evacuated to Keswick, in the north of England. The school buildings in Brighton, Sussex were then used by the Admiralty [6][7] It was used by Navy cadets attending the Mining and Torpedo School (known as the HMS Vernon). Hence Roedean has the rare honour of being one of the few girls' schools in the country with an Old Boys' Association.[8] The artist Percy Shakespeare was killed by a German bomb while serving at Roedean.[9]

St Mary's Hall

Inspired by his friend William Carus-Wilson, who founded Cowan Bridge School, Reverend Henry Venn Elliott proposed for the foundation of 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.[10] Its junior section became Roedean's junior school while many senior girls were transferred to Roedean. The junior school was closed in 2011 as the school administration decided to focus on secondary and sixth form education.[11]

Location

Roedean School is set in 118 acres (480,000 m2) of grounds off Roedean Way, at the top of a cliff on the Sussex Downs overlooking the sea, approximately in line with Brighton Marina.

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 with the reintroduction of numbered house systems. Roedean school has the longest corridor in England.

Upper Three (Year 7) to Six One (Year 12) students are spread out amongst House 1, 2, 3, 4. These are named after the house numbers 1-4 of Lewes Crescent where the School was located prior to moving to its current location in 1898.

Six Twos (Year 13) are admitted to Keswick House, which is detached from the main school building.

In the past, such as 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 VIth form girls, two VI form girls from every numbered house. The School retains a sanatorium wing (now known as a medical centre) to this day.

Admission procedures

Roedean is a selective school, and entry to the school is based upon various examinations, interviews and reports from the girls' previous schools. Entry at 11+ and 13+ is through the Common Entrance Examination or the Schools own entrance exams Applicants of 11+ and 13+ who are unable to take the Common Entrance Examination, those wishing to enter at 12+ and overseas applicants may sit the Roedean entrance examination.[12]

For entry at 14+, places are offered to girls who reach the required standard in the Roedean entrance examination and early application is advised. Late applications will only be considered if places are available for the two year GCSE courses. Sixth Form entry is very competitive, and requires at least 55 points in GCSE or equivalent where A*=8, A=7 etc. and, ideally, a grade A in the subjects (or related subjects) that the candidate proposes to take at AS/A level. Applications are also assessed on the basis of the school's Sixth Form entrance examinations in English and Mathematics, together with either a verbal reasoning test or a non-verbal reasoning test.

Scholarships can be entered for at 11+, 12+, 13+ and upon entrance to the Sixth Form. These are calculated based upon the results of the Upper Five (year 11) end of term exams.

Notable Roedeanians

Past pupils are known as Old Roedeanians and include:

Roedeanians in fiction

References

  1. ↑ Roedean School
  2. ↑ http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk/school/roedean-school.html
  3. ↑ "ISI Inspection 2016". www.roedean.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  4. ↑ History of Roedean
  5. ↑ Parent, Independent School (2013-08-29). "Do you know what your school motto means? | Independent School Parent". Independent School Parent. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  6. ↑ 2nd World War Blog - Keswick Hotel and Roedean
  7. ↑ "obituary:Lieutenant Claude Holloway". Daily Telegraph. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  8. ↑ Roedean Old Boys' Association
  9. ↑ "Percy Shakespeare Collection". Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  10. ↑ St Mary's Hall Association
  11. ↑ Junior School
  12. ↑ "Year 7 and 9 | Roedean School". www.roedean.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  13. 1 2 Milner, Catherine; de Burton, Simon (30 June 2002). "Daisy pulls it off - with a spanner". The Daily Telegraph.

External links

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