Wallington High School for Girls is an all-girls selective

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in the London Borough of Sutton, England, specialising in

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

subjects and

Languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

Admissions

It is a grammar school, with Richard Booth as the Headmaster since September 2016. The school is also twinned with

Wallington County Grammar School Wallington County Grammar School (WCGS) is a selective state boys' grammar school with a coeducational Sixth Form located in the London Borough of Sutton. From 1968 to the mid-1990s the school was known as Wallington High School for Boys. One ...

for Boys, in many events due to both the schools being in the same area as each other. Girls can join the boys' school's sixth form. Around 2000 girls each year apply for 210 available places. The school is in Woodcote Green on the A237, around a half-mile north of the A2022 crossroads, at th
junction
of Sandy Lane South, Woodmansterne Lane, an
Woodcote Road
(A237). It is near the southern edge of the borough of Sutton, and the western edge of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. It is only one mile north-east of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, specifically

Woodmansterne Woodmansterne is a village in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, bordering Greater London, England. It sits on a small plateau of and a southern down slope of the North Downs and its ecclesiastical parish borders continue to span old ...

History

Wallington High School for Girls was established in 1888 by a collective of nuns. The school building has since changed many times, and now accommodates an estimated 2310 students with 210 in each year group, as well as a

Sixth Form College A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

. It was originally on Stanley Park Road in

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton ...

, known as Wallington County Grammar School for Girls, the Wallington County School for Girls, Wallington County School, or the County School for Girls, Wallington. This site is now Bandon Hill primary school. WHSG

It moved to Woodcote Road in 1965, the same year it changed its administration from Surrey County Council to the borough of Sutton. In the late 1970s it had around 750 girls with 150 in the sixth form. In the 1990s it became grant-maintained school.

Headteachers

Agnes Mark
(1928–2005) from 1964 to 1980, later Head of

Croydon High School Croydon High School is an Independent school (UK), independent day school for girls located near Croydon, London, England. It is one of the original schools founded by the Girls' Day School Trust. History The school was founded in 1874 in Welles ...

from 1980 to 1990 * Amy Bull CBE (1902–1982) from 1937 to 1964, President from 1960 to 1962 of the Association of Headmistresses *Dr Dorothy Atkinson *Miss Margaret Edwards *Barbara Greatorex BSc *Jane Burton BSc *Richard Booth

Church

Although the school itself is non-religious, Springfield Church uses the school premises for its worship every Sunday at 10.30. The school lies in the parish of Wallington Holy Trinity, with the nearest church being Wallingto
St Patrick
and lies on the boundary with

Roundshaw Roundshaw is a housing estate and park in south Wallington and Beddington on the eastern edge of the London Borough of Sutton. Grid Ref . History Roundshaw was built on the site of the former Croydon Airport which once occupied the building ...

The Houses

Wallington has seven different forms in each year group. Each form is a member of one of the seven different houses, each named after an influential woman. Each house has two Year 11 House Captains, who are responsible for organising the annual fete and events and activities for their house. An extra house was added at the start of the academic year of 2012/2013 and this new house is called Curie with the house colour of Cerise. This is due to the school needing to expand in order to accommodate the growing number of primary school students leaving primary education without a place in a secondary school.

Uniform and house names

The school uniform consists of a navy and green kilt; a baby blue shirt (these may be short or long sleeved);a green v-neck jumper or cardigan and a navy blazer. However, students that joined the school before 2006 will not have blazers as these items were not on the school uniform regulations as of that time. Blazers also have the school logo and house name on the left-breast pocket. Socks are to be white, black or navy and ankle, knee-high or over-knee in length. Navy, black or beige tights (plain knit only). No socks to be worn over tights. * Athena (Blue): named after the Greek goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

. * Seacole (Green): named after

Mary Seacole Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu E.N. (2012) Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up t ...

. * Brontë (Orange): named after

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

Anne Brontë Anne Brontë (, commonly ; 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (born Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish cl ...

. * Johnson (Red): named after

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records duri ...

. * Sharman (Purple): named after

Helen Sharman Helen Patricia Sharman, CMG, OBE, HonFRSC (born 30 May 1963) is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit ...

. * Pankhurst (Yellow): named after

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

. * Curie (Cerise): named after

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

Notable former pupils

* A. L. Barker, author *

Emily Benn Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989) is an English politician. She was an unsuccessful Parliamentary candidate in both the 2010 and 2015 UK general elections. At the 2014 local elections, Benn was elected to the West Thornton ward o ...

, the Labour Party's youngest ever parliamentary candidate * Deborah Bosley, travel writer, partner of

Richard Ingrams Richard Reid Ingrams (born 19 August 1937 in Chelsea, London, Chelsea, London) is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satire, satirical magazine ''Private Eye (magazine), Private Eye'', and founding editor of ' ...

in the 1990s *

Pauline Boty Pauline Boty (6 March 1938 – 1 July 1966) was a British painter and co-founder of the 1960s' British Pop art movement of which she was the only acknowledged female member. Boty's paintings and collages often demonstrate a joy in self-assured ...

, artist and actress, 1938–66. *

Karen Bridge Karen Beckman (Bridge) (1960 – June 2020) was a female badminton player of England. Career She won a bronze medals at the 1980 IBF World Championships in women's doubles with Barbara Sutton. She represented England and won a gold medal in th ...

, badminton player, competed at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

* Marjorie Doggett (1921–2010), Singaporean animal rights advocate, architectural photographer and heritage conservationist. * Linda Lennon (''nee'' Smith) CBE, Chief Executive since 2015 of the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford district of London. It is located in the Lower Lea ...

, from 2012 to 2015 of

The Royal Parks The Royal Parks of London are lands that were originally used for the recreation, mostly hunting, of the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown, now managed by The Royal Parks Limited, a charity which manages ...

, and from 2009 to 2012 of the

Parole Board for England and Wales The Parole Board for England and Wales () was established in 1968 under the Criminal Justice Act 1967. It became an independent executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) on 1 July 1996 under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The ...

* Shelley Newman (''nee'' Drew), discus thrower, won bronze at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games *

Lucy Porter Lucy Donna Porter (born 27 January 1973) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Brighton Festival and many clubs around Britain. She is also a regular voice on BBC Radio 4 in various panel sh ...

, comedian, attended the school from 1984 to 1991 *

Katie Pratt Katie Pratt is an artist and abstract painter living and working in London. Born in Epsom, UK, 23 May 1969, she is most recognised for large paintings with heavy volumes of oil paint that combine geometric and organic detail in diagrammatic comp ...

, artist *

Rebecca Romero Rebecca Jayne Romero, MBE (born 24 January 1980) is an English sportswoman, a former World Champion and Olympic Games silver medallist at rowing, and a former World champion and an Olympic champion track cyclist. Early life and education Romero ...

MBE, rower and cyclist, silver medal winner in the quadruple sculls at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, and

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

winner in the individual pursuit at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

, who attended from 1991 to 1998 * Ruth L. Saw, Professor of Aesthetics from 1961 to 1964 at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

, and President from 1969 to 1970 of the

British Society of Aesthetics The British Society of Aesthetics (BSA) is a philosophical organization founded by Herbert Read in 1960 to promote the study of aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and tast ...

, and from 1965 to 1966 of the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squar ...

* Prof. Margaret Scott-Wright, Professor of Nursing Studies from 1972 to 1976 at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

– the UK's first professor of nursing''Times'' obituary
/ref> *

Joanna Taylor Joanna Taylor (born 24 July 1978) is an English actress and former model. Early life and career Born in Tooting, South London, Taylor was a student at the Guildford School of Acting. Her big break came in 1999, when she won the role of Geri H ...

, actress who played

Geri Hudson Geri Hudson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Joanna Taylor. She first appeared in 1999 before leaving in 2001 after two years in the show. Storylines Geri arrived as a fresher at Hollyoaks C ...

in ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' in the late 1990s, now married to footballer Danny Murphy

References

External links

Wallington High

Springfield Church

Pictures of former school site

EduBase
{{authority control Girls' schools in London Educational institutions established in 1888 Academies in the London Borough of Sutton Grammar schools in the London Borough of Sutton 1888 establishments in England Specialist language colleges in England