Burgess Hill Girls (previously named Burgess Hill School for Girls) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, girls-only

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for girls aged between 2½ and 18 years (full boarding is offered from 11 years), founded in 1906 by Miss Beatrice Goode. The school is located in

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, having moved to its present location in 1928. The school also has boys attending the nursery.

Overview

Burgess Hill School For Girls - geograph

The multi-building school is situated on Keymer Road, in the

town of

, and is a five-minute walk from Burgess Hill railway station, which is on the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

. Coaches and minibuses collect girls from outlying areas in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. The school was last visited in 2014 by the

Independent Schools Inspectorate The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is approved by the Secretary of State for Education – under section 106 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 – to inspect independent schools in England. These schools are members of associations, w ...

. The main findings were that the school met its aims successfully and the achievement and personal development of all pupils was excellent. The school met all the requirements of the Independent School Standards Regulations (2010) but did not meet all the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools (2013). The majority of boarders were found by the report to be from Nigeria and China. Mrs Kathryn Bell (Head 2014–2017) took the place of Mrs Ann Aughwane (Head 2006–2014) in 2014. In September 2015, she rebranded the school, changing its logo, colours, and name. The name changed from Burgess Hill School for Girls to Burgess Hill Girls. After 11 years as Deputy Head, Mrs Liz Laybourn became Head in 2017 until she retired in 2022. In August 2022, Mr Lars Fox became the new Head of Burgess Hill Girls.

Houses

Notable former pupils

Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2009–present) and '' Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 2018–present) alongsid ...

, television presenter *

Caroline Atkins Caroline Mary Ghislaine Foster (; born 13 January 1981) is an English cricket coach and former player. She was a right-handed batter and right-arm medium bowler who appeared in 9 Test matches, 58 One Day Internationals and 19 Twenty20 Interna ...

, cricketer *

Haydn Gwynne Haydn Gwynne is an English actress. She was nominated for the 1992 BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance for the comedy series ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1990–1991), and won the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured ...

, actor *

Funke Abimbola Funke Abimbola MBE is a Nigerian businesswoman and lawyer. She advocates for diversity across UK society with a specific focus on the legal profession. Abimbola attended Newcastle University to study law. Funke Abimbola is a mother of a 19 yea ...

MBE, general counsel for Roche UK *

Pamela Frankau Pamela Sydney Frankau (3 January 1908 – 8 June 1967) was a popular English novelist from a prominent artistic and literary family. She was abandoned by her novelist father Gilbert Frankau at an early age, and she became a prolific writer. S ...

, novelist *

Greta Scacchi Greta Scacchi, OMRI (; born 18 February 1960) is an Italian-Australian actress. She holds dual Italian and Australian citizenship. She is best known for her roles in the films '' White Mischief'' (1987), '' Presumed Innocent'' (1990), '' The Pla ...

, actor

Heads

* Beatrice Goode (1906–1938)- founder of the school * Mary Gillies (1938–1955) * Margaret Morris (1955–1971) * Doreen Harford (1971–1979) * Barbara Webb (1979–1992) * Rosemary Lewis (1992–2001) * Susan Gorham (2001–2005) * Ann Aughwane (2006–2014) * Kathryn Bell (2014–2017) * Liz Laybourn (2017–2022) * Lars Fox (2022–present)https://burgesshillgirls.com/2022/07/28/interview-lars-fox/, title = Interview with Lars Fox,

References

External links

Official websiteISI Inspection 2014
{{Authority control 1906 establishments in England Boarding schools in West Sussex Educational institutions established in 1906 Girls' schools in West Sussex Independent schools in West Sussex Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association

School A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...