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  • Schools of the Girls' Day School Trust
  • Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association
  • Blackheath, London
  • 1880 establishments in England
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    Blackheath High School

    From Wikipedia - Reading time: 7 min
    For Blackheath High School chapel, see Church Army Chapel, Blackheath.

    Blackheath High School
    Address
    Map
    Vanbrugh Park

    Blackheath
    ,
    London
    ,
    SE3 7AG

    England
    Coordinates51°28′40″N 0°00′56″E / 51.4777°N 0.0155°E / 51.4777; 0.0155
    Information
    TypePrivate day school
    Motto"Inspiration, curiosity, distinction"
    Established1880
    FounderPrincess Louise
    Local authorityGreenwich
    Department for Education URN100756 Tables
    HeadmistressNatalie Argile
    GenderFemale
    Age3 to 18
    Enrolment680~
    Websitehttp://www.blackheathhighschool.gdst.net/

    Blackheath High School is a private day school for girls in Blackheath Village in southeast London, England. It was founded in 1880 as part of the Girls' Day School Trust; the Senior School occupied a purpose-built site in Wemyss Road for over 110 years.

    History

    [edit]

    The school was set up in 1880 by the Girls' Public Day School Company. Sarah Allen Olney was the founding head. During her short leadership the school's role grew by a factor of four. Olney resigned in 1886 to found a "more socially exclusive" school with her sister Rebecca.[1]

    Having established The Kingsley School, Florence Gadesden was moved by the GPDSC in 1886 from Leamington to Blackheath.[2] The Times would later comment that her appointment was an act of "incalculable wisdom".[3] The school then had 300 girls[2] and Gadesden made a strong positive impression on many of them.[3] She served as head for over thirty years and she retired in 1919.[3] It was a state-funded direct grant grammar school from the late 1940s until 1976 when it became independent during the phasing out of direct grant schools.

    Location

    [edit]

    The Senior Department (Years 7-13) is located in the former Church Army Wilson Carlile Training College (opened in 1965) in Vanbrugh Park after moving from the Wemyss Road site in Blackheath in 1993/4. The school building in Blackheath village then became the Junior department, for girls aged 3-11. The Vanburgh Park site includes the Church Army Chapel, a locally listed building (designed by architect Ernest Trevor Spashett) now used as a music room and dance studio.

    School motto

    [edit]

    The school's motto is "Blackheath High School – a place to grow, a place to excel". Previously it had been "Knowledge no more a fountain sealed": a reference to the days when girls had poor access to schooling, as was the case in the early years of the school.

    Notable former pupils

    [edit]
    See also: Category:People educated at Blackheath High School
    • Sophie Aldred, actress
    • Isabel Appio, assistant music editor from 1986 to 1991 of Time Out
    • Zeng Baosun, Chinese feminist, writer, and educator
    • Prof Wendy Barclay, professor of influenza virology since 2007 at Imperial College London
    • Phyllis Barclay-Smith CBE, ornithologist
    • Lucy Boynton, actress
    • The Reverend Prof Sarah Coakley (née Furber), theologian, Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity since 2007 at the University of Cambridge
    • Jean Cooke, artist
    • Saffron Coomber, actress
    • Evelyn Denington, Baroness Denington (née Bursill), chairman from 1966 to 1980 of Stevenage Development Corporation
    • Prof Alison Finch, professor of French from 2000 to 2003 at the University of Oxford, and acting master of Churchill College, Cambridge in 2012
    • Jessica Fellowes, author and journalist
    • Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington[4]
    • Prof Elizabeth Jeffreys, Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature from 1996 to 2006 at the University of Oxford
    • Deborah Lawrenson, novelist
    • Helen Lederer, comedian
    • Liv Little, founder of gal-dem
    • Fiona Maddocks, wife of Tom Phillips, chief music critic from 1997 to 2002 and since 2008 of The Observer, and founding editor from 1992 to 1997 of BBC Music Magazine
    • Hilary Miller, artist
    • Margaret Popham CBE, principal from 1937 to 1953 of Cheltenham Ladies' College[5]
    • Mary Quant, fashion designer
    • Prof Anne Stevens, professor of European studies from 1998 to 2008 at Aston University, and from 1991 to 1998 at the University of Kent
    • Dora Turnbull (née Elles), wrote under the pen-name Patricia Wentworth
    • Lesley Vickerage, actress
    • Charlene White, journalist
    • Beth Willis (producer)
    • Diane Yeo, UK director from 2001 to 2003 of UNHCR, and director from 2003 to 2005 of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign

    Published histories

    [edit]
    • Malim, Mary Charlotte; Escreet, Henrietta Caroline (1927), The Book of Blackheath High School, Blackheath: Blackheath Press.
    • Watts, K M (1980), A History of Blackheath High School, Impart.
    • Allen, Dr Hillary (2005), Brief History of Blackheath High School GDST 1880–2005[permanent dead link‍]. Retrieved 21 May 2008.

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ "Olney, Sarah Allen (1842–1915), headmistress". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52261. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 1 August 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
    2. ^ a b Sondheimer, Janet (23 September 2004). "Gadesden [Gadsden], Florence Marie Armroid (1853–1934), headmistress". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48569. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
    3. ^ a b c Kamm, Josephine (16 October 2013). Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of the Girls' Public Day School Trust. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-53167-7.
    4. ^ Dillon, Jo (4 June 2000). "Lady Jay stands accused of telling lies out of school". The Independent. Retrieved 9 August 2009.[dead link‍]
    5. ^ "Margaret Evelyn Popham - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
    [edit]
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