Sydenham High School is an independent school for 4- to 18-year-old girls located in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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 ...

. Sydenham High School was founded by the Girls’ Public Day School Trust in 1887. Since then, the original school roll of 20 pupils has grown to 724 girls. The school is separated into the senior and prep schools, each with a separate site on Westwood Hill in

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

History

The school was created by the Girls’ Public Day School Trust in 1887 with an initial school roll of twenty and Ms I Thomas as the founding head. Sydenham High School's first building in 1900 In 1901 the mathematics graduate Helen Sheldon became the school's second head teacher. She created the school's first orchestra. She introduced the idea of senior girls becoming prefects and she divided the school into houses. Sheldon's family had left her money and she used some of this to offer her school interest free loans. A minor addition was a school pavilion that was created from an old tram, but the major additions was to the school grounds. Using the money she lent to the school the campus was increased by the purchase of adjoining land. In 1910 Sheldon obtained permission for the school's buildings to be increased by the use of two former residential houses. Sheldon retired in 1917. In April 1934, the school moved to Horner Grange, a former house built for diamond magnate William Knight in 1884, where he lived until his death in 1900. The premises subsequently became a hotel before the school bought the freehold. It was damaged by fire in 1997, but the building was restored. The school's original Anglo Saxon motto, ''Nyle ye drede'', means "fear nothing" and is adopted by the school as a whole. As distinct cohorts within a shared community, the school actively encourage pupils to step outside their comfort zones, developing both independence of mind and the courage to take risks. 2022 marks the school's 135th anniversary and has refreshed its straplines for each of the three sections of the school: "Flourish and Fly" (Prep), "Use Your Voice" (Senior) and "Own Your Future" (Sixth) whilst alumnae "Lead The Way".

Headmistresses

* Miss Irene Thomas, 1887-1901 * Miss Helen Sheldon, 1901-1917 * Miss Sanders, 1917-1930 * Miss Smith, 1931-1941 * Miss Yardley, 1942-1966 * Miss Hamilton, 1966-1987 * Mrs Baker, 1988-1999 * Dr Lodge, 1999-2002 * Mrs Pullen, 2002-2016 * Mrs Woodcock, 2017-2022

Notable former pupils

G. E. M. Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, ...

, philosopher * Elly Jackson, lead singer with pop group

La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album '' La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles su ...

Emily Joyce Emily Sian Joyce (born 12 April 1969) is an English actress best known for playing the role of Janet Dawkins in the BBC comedy series '' My Hero'', between 2000 and 2006. Early life Joyce is the youngest of three sisters, all of whom are in ...

, actress * Gertrude Leverkus (1899–1976), architect *

Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, Order of the British Empire, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes (1938 ...

(1916-1990), actress *

Sophie McKenzie Sophie McKenzie is a British author of books for young adults. Many of her novels have won several awards, the most famous being '' Girl, Missing''. Others include '' Blood Ties'' and ''The Set Up''. McKenzie writes full-time and lives in Lond ...

, author of books such as '' Blood Ties'' *

Khadijah Mellah Khadijah Mellah (born 2000) was the first hijab-wearing jockey in a competitive British horse race. Despite being new to horse-racing, she won the Magnolia Cup on her mount Haverland. Mellah's story was the subject of the TV documentary ''Riding ...

(b.2000) first competitive jockey to wear the

hajib A ''hajib'' or ''hadjib'' ( ar, الحاجب, al-ḥājib, to block, the prevent someone from entering somewhere; It is a word "hajb" meaning to cover, to hide. It means "the person who prevents a person from entering a place, the doorman". The ...

and winner of the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood * Sandy Powell, BAFTA-winning costume designer *

Florence Rawlings Florence Rawlings (born 26 September 1988) is an English singer from South London, England. She first met Dramatico Entertainment chairman Mike Batt when she was 13 years old. He was auditioning female vocalists, and two of them stood out to him ...

, musician *

Kathleen Shackleton Kathleen Shackleton MBE (5 February 1884 – 10 July 1961) was an Irish portrait painter and journalist. Biography Kathleen Shackleton was born in Dublin on 5 February 1884. Her family moved to Sydenham, London shortly after she was born. Shack ...

(1884-1961), artist

Notes and references

External links

Sydenham High School
{{authority control Independent girls' schools in London Educational institutions established in 1887 Independent schools in the London Borough of Lewisham Schools of the Girls' Day School Trust 1887 establishments in England Sydenham, London