Ricards Lodge High School is a single-sex comprehensive secondary school for girls aged 11 to 16, located on Lake Road in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

. The school's headteacher has been Alison Jerrard since 2005. It was judged as an Outstanding school by Ofsted in November 2017.

History of the site

The manor of Wimbledon was presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury by Edward the Confessor in the 12th century. The property remained in the possession of his successors until the reign of Henry VIII when it was re-possessed by the crown. It was sold again by

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 ...

to Sir Christopher Hatton, and from him in turn to Sir Thomas Cecil. Queen Elizabeth was not interested in the property whilst it was in her possession but was later entertained there on several occasions. A new manor house was built in 1588, where today's Arthur Road and Home Park Road meet. The manor was purchased by Sir Theodore Janssen in 1717. Sir Theodore Janssen was unfortunate enough to be made the scapegoat of Prime Minister

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leade ...

's relief plan and hence stripped of his properties. Following the confiscation of Janssen's estates, Wimbledon Manor was purchased in 1725 by

Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (née Jenyns, spelt Jennings in most modern references; 5 June 1660 (Old Style) – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of th ...

. The Duchess decided to build herself a new manor house with a northward view. To achieve this, she cleared away completely the remains of the old Cecil manor house. The Duchess died in 1744 and left the estate to the 1st Earl Spencer. John Spencer died in 1783 and was succeeded by his only son, George John. At Easter 1785, the house was burnt down. A new Wimbledon Park House was commissioned from Henry Holland, built between 1795 and 1801 and demolished in 1949. Both the Marlborough house and the Spencer house stood within the current school playing fields, with the Cecil house just beyond that, at the top of Home Park Road. An underground brick-lined tunnel, which had linked the Duchess' house to her

servants' quarters Servants' quarters are those parts of a building, traditionally in a private house, which contain the domestic offices and staff accommodation. From the late 17th century until the early 20th century, they were a common feature in many large ...

, still exists.

History of the school

The Wimbledon Day Commercial School for girls opened in 1924 and was originally housed in the technical college in Gladstone Road. Girls entered at 14, which was then the minimum school leaving age, followed by a two-year course in business studies and general subjects. The numbers were limited to 120 girls and under the enthusiastic leadership of the first mistress, Humphrey, the school became so well known all over Surrey that the competition for places became keen. Humphrey died suddenly in 1930 and the following year Turnbull was appointed in her place and became the youngest headmistress in Surrey, with the smallest school. In 1934 a one-year course in secretarial work for girls was started along with plans to provide the school with better accommodation. The plans were thwarted by the coming of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. The school was forced to move to limited accommodations in Morden Farm School, then to Morden

Junior School A Junior school is a type of school which provides primary education to children, often in the age range from 8 and 13, following attendance at Infant school which covers the age range 5–7. (As both Infant and Junior schools are giving Primary ...

, and finally to rooms in the new arts school in Merton Hall Road. The war years were difficult ones for the school. Some girls left for safer areas, lessons often had to be given in the air raid shelters, and some girls walked miles to get to school. The

head girl Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

walked six miles daily. At the end of the war, efforts were made to relocate the school, and Ricards Lodge was found. Alterations to the school uniform were made and the girls started navy blue jumpers, white shirts, black trousers. This had been the school's colour from the beginning. A red polo shirt, navy blue shorts with initials sowed on. knee high red socks PE shirt was worn until a recent uniform update. In 1965, the year of the first CSE examinations, Wimbledon became part of the new London borough of Merton, and Surrey County Council ceased to be responsible for education in the area. In 1975 the school moved into what is now the old part of the current school building, which includes the lodge, the current gym, the manor house and the language department. The current technology department was added after 1975 but before the "park" block, which is joined by a link and contains the current

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

departments. The new block is composed of two floors, while the old contains four. The two buildings are linked, and two pedestrian walkways one is a sheltered walkway that you go through to the 2 storey building on the ground floor as well as a bridge that joins the second floor corridor. The school also has a sports hall extended from the old

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

as well as joins the main hall and the special needs department continues through to the dining hall but you have to exit the gym building then turn right up the path to the canteen, seven

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s, Astroturf and an open field with a huge tree in the middle where

sports day Sports days (British English) or field days (American English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes. Though they are often h ...

s were held. The construction of 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 ...

meant that two of the tennis courts had to be removed. Ricards Lodge is a comprehensive arts school, teaching drama, dance and music. The school hosted the regional performances of "Stand up for Shakespeare" in 2009. The cast of "

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was p ...

" went on to perform at the

Courtyard Theatre The Courtyard Theatre was a 1,048 seat thrust stage theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratfo ...

in May 2009. The school has four values:

Trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

Equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

, Resilience and Aspiration. Until a few years ago, the (on average) 1200 pupils in the school were split into tutor classes: R, C, A, D, S, L, G and E within different years. However now the tutor groups are called by their year group, the letters spell out the schools name (Ricards Lodge). They are put on sets (R, C, A, D, S, L, G and E) according to their levels. In their inspection by Ofsted in November 2017, Ricards Lodge was judged to be an Outstanding school. Co-educational sixth form provision is provided in partnership with

Rutlish School Rutlish School is a state comprehensive school for boys, formerly a grammar school with the same name originally located on Rutlish Road, Merton Park, and relocated in 1957 on nearby Watery Lane, Merton Park, in southwest London. History The sc ...

for boys, known as RR6. Facilities are split and located at the premises of both schools; students are expected to have a schedule at both schools, with a variation of both courses. This aims to combine both the arts award at Ricards and the specialist maths and ICT skills of Rutlish to give the students a better opportunity at all subjects.

External links

Official site

RR6 official sub-site

Ofsted report
{{authority control Girls' schools in London Secondary schools in the London Borough of Merton Community schools in the London Borough of Merton Buildings and structures in Wimbledon, London

History of the site

History of the school

See also

External links