New Hall School is a Catholic co-educational

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 ...

boarding and day school in the village of

Boreham Boreham is a village and civil parish, in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast from the county town of Chelmsford. History Boreham is listed i ...

in the

City of Chelmsford The City of Chelmsford () is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named after its main settlement, Chelmsford, which is also the county town of Essex. On 1 June 2012 Chelmsford was granted city status to mark the Diamond Jub ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was founded in 1642 in the Low Countries, now

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, by sisters of the Catholic order Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre and moved to its current location, the former Tudor Palace of Beaulieu in Essex, in 1799. It is the only Catholic Independent school in the Brentwood diocese, and one of the oldest and largest in the country.Catholic provision
/ref> The school operates the "

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

" model format. Up until the end of

Year 6 Year 6 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It is usually the sixth year of compulsory education and incorporates students aged between ten and eleven however some chil ...

and in the

Sixth Form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

, the children are taught in co-educational classes. In years 7 to 11, students are taught in single sex classes. The school is a member of Catholic Independent Schools Conference and ISA, and the school principal is a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

History

The school was founded in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, now part of

in 1642 by Susan Hawley, who also formed the English Community of the

Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre The Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre (CRSS), or ''Sepulchrine Canonesses'', are a Catholic female religious order first documented in 1300. They were originally the female branch of the ancient religious order of that name, the Canons Reg ...

. The founding Religious Order, the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, is one of the most ancient in the Church and was established in Europe long before the English Religious Community was founded in 1642. The school expanded considerably in size and scope from 1770 under the leadership of

Mary Dennett Mary Coffin Ware Dennett (April 4, 1872 – July 25, 1947) was an American women's rights activist, pacifist, homeopathic advocate, and pioneer in the areas of birth control, sex education, and women's suffrage. She co-founded the National ...

. The school began to offer a Catholic education to girls who were denied this in England in the Post-

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

period and to girls from other countries too. In 1794, the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

forced the nuns to leave the Low Countries. The school reopened on its present site in 1799. In 1994, the Preparatory Divisions were re-established on the campus at New Hall. Opening with 40 pupils, the school grew rapidly over the following years. In 1995, the Preparatory Divisions welcomed its first boarders and the boarding programme was later extended to boys as well. In 2001, New Hall appointed its first lay principal, Mrs Katherine Jeffrey. In April 2005, the administration made a landmark decision to go fully co-educational, ending over 360 years of

single-sex education Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

. The announcement was made that the Senior Divisions would be embarking on a period of further expansion, with the establishment of a separate Boys' Division (11–16) and a co-educational Sixth Form. The Senior Divisions now accepts boys throughout the 11–18 age range and there are two boys' boarding houses fully established, in addition to the two girls' boarding houses. The move towards co-education using the " diamond model" has proved extremely successful. New Hall was commended by judges at the 2011 Independent School Awards for the "ambitious and pioneering move" and won the award for "outstanding strategic initiative". In 2016 New Hall was voted TES Independent School of the Year. The New Hall School Trust (NHST) was established as a new registered charity (1110286) and limited company in 2005. The principal objective of the NHST, as set out in the Memorandum and Articles, is ‘to advance the Roman Catholic religion by the conduct of a Roman Catholic School’. In 2012 New Hall was invited to become the first independent school in the country to sponsor a state primary school that was seeking to become an Academy under the new Government scheme. The new academy formally opened in September 2013, forming the New Hall Multi Academy Trust (NHMAT), a partnership between New Hall School and Messing Primary School.

Buildings

Sir Thomas Boleyn inherited New Hall from his father Sir William in the late 1400s and in 1517, the estate was acquired by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

, who greatly enlarged and enhanced the building and called it Beaulieu. The Royal Arms of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

are now to be seen in the school Chapel. For many years the home of Mary Tudor, New Hall was subsequently granted to the

Earl of Sussex Earl of Sussex is a title that has been created several times in the Peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The early Earls of Arundel (up to 1243) were often also called Earls of Sussex. The fifth creation came in the Peera ...

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

later procured the estate for 5

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s. Having fallen into disrepair and been somewhat pillaged, the house was bought by a Dutch trader John Olmius in 1738 who refashioned the north wing as a self-contained house with a new entrance and bay windows, interior plasterwork and panelling. Under the reign of George III, he became the 1st Baron Waltham of Philpstown.

Houses

There are six vertical houses named after figures venerated in the Catholic church: * Acutis House * Augustine House * Bahkita House * Miki House * Romero House * Teresa House The Preparatory Divisions Houses are named after the Four Evangelists, the saints who wrote the

Four Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

: * St Matthew (Red) * St Mark (Yellow) * St Luke (Green) * St John (Blue) The Boarding Houses are named as follows: * Earle Wing, Petre House * Hawley House * Petre House * Dennett House * Campion House

Academic

New Hall has a strong academic record and regularly tops the exam results table for

county. In the 2021 A Levels, it achieved a 97% pass rate at grades A*-B and 75% at A*/A. At

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

, 79% of grades were 7+ (A*/A). The curriculum is broad and well balanced, tailored to the needs of the individual. Specialist subject provision starts in the Preparatory Division with science, modern and classical languages and politics. New Hall has the largest politics department and the largest theology department of any school in the country; subjects such as psychology, business and economics are three of the 20+ options at A Level, while the thriving Classics department offers both Latin and Greek at GCSE and A Level. School clubs also cater for a diverse range of co-curricular interests such as robotics and coding, astronomy, Chinese language and culture, and History of Art. Around 85% of students gained places at their first-choice university in 2021, 60% of which are in the Russell Group.

Pastoral care

Pupils are required to attend regular chapel services. Practising Catholic pupils may choose to actively participate in spiritual activities such as Bible studies and the annual

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...

. The school chapel runs weekly Sunday mass which is open to the public and serves the Parish of St Augustine of Canterbury, Springfield. Pupils and staff often serve as musicians, choristers, altar servers,

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretals ...

s and

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Co-curricular activities

Sport

Students compete at county, regional, national and international level in a wide range of sports and have met with success. In recent years, there has been a significant investment in the sports facilities on campus. The first-class provision now includes: The Waltham Centre 25m 6-lane indoor swimming pool; a national standard athletics track and floodlit Astroturf; 10 floodlit tennis/netball courts; two sports halls; Parsons Hall dance studio; junior and senior cricket wickets and indoor training nets; hockey, rugby and football pitches. New Hall also has well-established links with a local riding school and a golf club. The more popular sports are cricket, hockey, netball, rugby, and tennis. There is a wide variety of other sports, including aerobics & pilates, athletics, badminton, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, riding, swimming, volleyball and triathlon.

Performing arts

The Walkfares Performing Arts Centre is the home of thriving Music, Dance and Drama Departments. Performances, from Shakespeare to modern plays and musicals, give students the opportunity to develop their confidence and creative talents. All students are encouraged to participate in the English Speaking Board (ESB), Trinity or London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) programmes. Students take individual lessons in orchestral instruments, piano, singing, drums and electric guitars. A growing number of students take lessons on the newly restored Norman & Beard organ in the chapel. There is a host of performing groups, including senior and junior choirs, chamber choirs, a chapel choir, a senior orchestra, a strings academy, wind bands, a guitar ensemble, and chamber groups. Students are also encouraged to form jazz and pop bands and specialist support and facilities are available. Regular performances are given by students in assemblies, lunchtime recitals and formal concerts. Students take part in regional and national musical festivals and competitions, and groups tour regularly to perform in major venues in Europe. New Hall School Choir has performed at St. Peters, Rome, St. Marks, Venice, Westminster Cathedral, London as well as on BBC Television. The choir sings a wide range of music from sacred to secular, classic to modern. The Dance Company was founded in September 2003 to facilitate the increased demand from students who wanted more opportunities to train and perform. The company has students from Year 10 upwards. The company has taken part in a variety of events in and around Chelmsford and has an important role in supporting the Dance Department within the School. Drama forms a significant part of student activity at New Hall. Each year the Senior School produces a large scale production just before Christmas during which many students experience the exhilaration of being part of this tradition. Recent productions have included 'Footloose', 'Shakespeare in Love', 'Oliver', 'Othello' and 'West Side Story' and students from all age groups play the leading parts. Other notable productions are provided by the Drama and Theatre Studies students whose productions have included Woyzeck, Waiting for Godot, Teechers, Arabian Nights and Grimm Tales. Students have the option to do

and

A Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

drama. The Eaton Theatre, equipped with lighting and sound technology, provides a traditional performance venue whilst in Walkfares, two well equipped, versatile studios provide the environment for both teaching and for a range of performances. The nearby Jubilee Hall also was fitted with lights and retractable seating and is where weekly assemblies are held. The new outdoor Walkfares Canopy, erected in 2020, allowed New Hall to resume theatrical and musical performances and events as soon as practically possible in the covid pandemic.

Past headmistresses and principals

At Liege and then in England it can be assumed that the Prioress was also in charge of the school. At some unknown stage a First Mistress became a quasi-Headmistress in the school under the Prioress. The term headmistress was first used in 1942 and the term principal from 2005.

Acclaimed former pupils

Former pupils are known as "Old Fishes" or "New Hallians". The term Old Fishes was used for former pupils from as early as 1799. At the time of Catholic persecution in mainland Europe, the founding Religious Community were forced to leave the Low Countries and to move to England. Whilst they were seeking a suitable venue in England, the nuns used the word "Fishes" as a code word for students and the term eventually stuck. *

Christiane Amanpour Christiane Maria Heideh AmanpourStated on '' Finding Your Roots'', 22 January 2019 (; fa, کریستیان امان‌پور, Kristiane Amānpur; born 12 January 1958) is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chie ...

, chief international correspondent for CNN *

Cindy Buxton Lucinda Catherine "Cindy" Buxton FRGS (born 21 August 1950)Debretts1769.comBuxton of Alsa, Barony of retrieved 9 June 2022 is a British wildlife film-maker, photographer and author. Background and education The third of the six children of Lor ...

, wildlife film-maker *

Joanna Scanlan Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in British series such as ''The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), '' Getting On'' (2009–2012), ''Puppy Love'' (2014), and ''No Offence'' ( ...

, actor and writer *

Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of ...

, surrealist artist *

Anya Hindmarch Anya Susannah Hindmarch, (; born 1968) is an English fashion accessories designer who founded an eponymous company. Career Hindmarch was born into an entrepreneurial family and attended New Hall School, an independent school in Chelmsford, ...

, fashion accessories designer *

Denise Holt Dame Denise Mary Holt, DCMG (née Mills; born 1 October 1949, Vienna, Austria) was British Ambassador to Mexico (2002–05) and Spain and Andorra (2007–09). She is currently the Chair of Council at the University of Sussex. A Non-Executive Dir ...

, diplomat *

Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fir ...

, British politician, former Home Secretary *

Emma Gilbey Keller Emma Gilbey Keller (b. ca. 1961) is an author and journalist, based in New York City. She specializes in writing about women and women's issues. She has written two books: ''The Lady: The Life and Times of Winnie Mandela'' (Jonathan Cape, 1993) a ...

, author and journalist * Sarah Ferguson, investigative journalist, writer *

Felicity Landon Felicity Landon is a British freelance journalist specialising in global maritime, industry and logistics. She is based near Stowmarket, in Suffolk. Landon works as a feature writer, reporter, columnist and editor. She has worked in the maritime ...

, freelance journalist * Amanda Stretton, racing driver and motoring journalist *

Virginia Maskell Virginia Elizabeth Maskell (27 February 1936 – 25 January 1968), was an English actress. Biography Virginia Maskell was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, daughter of William Eric Brands Maskell, of Little Down, Duncton, Sussex. After the ou ...

, English actress *

Gina Rippon Gina Rippon (born 1950) is a British neurobiologist and feminist. She is a professor emeritus of cognitive neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University, Birmingham. Rippon has also sat on the editorial board of the '' International ...

, professor of cognitive neuroimaging and author *

Rose Glass Rose Glass is an English film director and screenwriter. She made her feature film debut with the 2019 psychological horror film '' Saint Maud'', which was nominated for two awards at the 74th British Academy Film Awards. In 2020, Glass was nam ...

, film & TV writer/ director * Dom Morris, Saracens rugby player *Sarah Clarke, Queen's Counsel *

Theo Stevenson Theodore John Stevenson is a British actor who as a child rose to fame for portraying Horrid Henry in '' Horrid Henry: The Movie'' and as Craig in the family sitcoms ''Millie Inbetween'' and '' Flatmates'', and Toby in the sci-fi drama ''Humans ...

, actor *Kayleigh McEvoy, soprano *

Sascha Williams Sascha Williams (born 14 May 1980 in Chelmsford, Essex) is a British journalist and newsreader employed by ITV News. Sascha started her broadcasting career at ITV Anglia, working on ''ITV News Anglia'' as a production journalist from June 2003 un ...

, TV presenter *Oli Morris, Worcester Warriors rugby player *Tomiwa Agbongbon, Leicester Tigers rugby player *Ella Lambert, founder of the Pachamama Project (fighting period poverty) *Nathan Hubble, actor and writer *Jessica Tappin, GB heptathlete *Connor Worsdall, golfer *Emma Parry, founder of Help for Heroes *Kate O'Sullivan, contemporary fine artist *Chloe Hurst, actress *Amy-Beth Ellice, cook and author *Nathan Lambert, musician

Notable staff

Nasser Hussain Nasser Hussain (born 28 March 1968) is a British cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1999 and 2003, with his overall international career extending from 1990 to 2004. A pugnacious right-ha ...

, cricket *Jennifer Rice, international swimmer *Matilda Callaghan, cricket

References

External links

New Hall School website

Profile
on the

ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

website
Profile
on the HMC website
Profile
on the

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and independent. Overview The guide is compiled by a team of editors which, according to the official website, "''comprises some 50 editors, writers, researchers and contri ...

{{authority control Educational institutions established in the 1640s Independent schools in Essex Catholic boarding schools in England Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Roman Catholic independent schools in the Diocese of Brentwood Boarding schools in Essex Diamond schools 1642 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Boreham