Watford Grammar School for Girls (commonly abbreviated WGGS) is an academy for girls in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

in Hertfordshire, UK. Despite its name, it is only a partially selective school, with 25% of entrants admitted on academic ability and 10% on musical aptitude. Its GCSE results were the highest achieved by non-

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

state schools State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

in England in 2007.

History

The school and its brother school,

Watford Grammar School for Boys Go Forward with Preparation , established = 1884 ( Single-sex) , type = partially selective academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Ian A. Cooksey , r_head_label = , ...

, descend from a free school founded as a

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

for boys and girls by

Elizabeth Fuller Elizabeth Fuller (1644–1709) founded a Free School for boys and girls in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Watford schools At the end of the 17th century there was already an existing Free School at Watford, which Mrs Elizabeth Fuller of Watfor ...

in 1704 and refounded as a secondary school in 1884. The school has occupied its present site in central Watford since 1907. The name Watford Grammar School for Girls dates from 1903. Although the school ceased to be a

tripartite system The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944 and th ...

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 1975, it retains some features of the grammar school tradition. The school site is divided in two by a public footpath, with a footbridge spanning the path to connect the two parts. The northern part includes a former private house, Lady's Close now used as the English block. Also in the northern part is the PE block and Fuller Life Gym (with a swimming pool), open to members of the public in non-school hours. A new building, Hyde House, is also situated in the northern part. Except during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when it was taken over by the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

as an auxiliary hospital, the building served as the school's preparatory department until that department was closed in 1944. Since then it has served as the home of the entry form to the school.

The school today

Watford Girls has been partially selective since 1995, though the proportion of selection has been reduced over this period. The school also gives priority to sisters of current pupils at the school. Prior to 2008 it also gave extra consideration during the selection process to sisters of pupils of

. Its admission area reaches out about , including some northern parts of the London boroughs of Harrow and

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civ ...

. In comparison with the national average, its intake has significantly higher academic attainment, greater ethnic diversity and fewer children receiving

free school meal A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

s., Ofsted. An inspection in 2007 by the

Office for Standards in Education The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, includ ...

rated the school as outstanding in all categories. It has long been near the top of performance tables for comprehensive schools, but when the key measure at GCSE was changed in 2007 to include English and mathematics the school moved to the top position. The then-headmistress, Dame Helen Hyde, attributed part of their success to De Bono Thinking Tools, for which the school was one of the first in the United Kingdom to receive accreditation as a national training school.

Notable former pupils

* Claire Hallissey, British distance runner *

Geri Halliwell Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...

(pop singer and former Spice Girl) attended the school up to GCSE. *

Liz Kendall Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010. Kendall was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where she read history. From 2011 to 2 ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Leicester West from 2010 onwards. * Rebecca Saire, actress *

Rita Simons Rita Joanne Simons (born 10 March 1977) is an English actress and singer from London. She is best known for playing Roxy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 2007 to 2017, when her character was killed-off, alongside her on screen ...

, actress in '' EastEnders'' *

Emma Wiggs Emma Clare Wiggs, (born 14 June 1980) is a British paracanoeist and former sitting volleyball player, who competes in the KL2 classification of paracanoe. She won gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the KL2 category, gold and silver at the ...

, canoeist, and Paralympic gold medallist *

Sarah Wollaston Sarah Wollaston (born 17 February 1962) is a British former Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Totnes from 2010 to 2019. First elected for the Conservative Party, she later served as a Change UK and Liberal ...

, Member of Parliament from 2010 until 2019 * Priti Patel, Member of Parliament (2010-present) and self-proclaimed

Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character and general style of manag ...

. There is notable uncertainty around the legitimacy of Patel's attendance to WGGS, as well as a vagueness on Patel's own account. Among locals, it is believed she attended the school for the duration of her

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 ...

studies, having previously attended Westfield academy.

Headmistresses

(since the founding of the secondary school in 1884) * 1884 Louise Walsh * 1884–1895 Julia Anne Kennaby (married name Rogers from 1893) * 1895–1913 Ann Coless * 1913–1938 Grace Fergie * 1938–1956 Jean Davidson * 1957–1973 Jessie Tennet * 1974–1987 Margaret Rhodes * 1987–2016 Dame Helen Hyde * 2016–2017 Clare Wagner * 2017–present Sylvia Tai

Forms

*7A - Red *7B - Yellow *7C - Blue *7D - Purple *7E - White *7F - Pink *7G - Green

References

External links

Watford Grammar School For Girls
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1704 1704 establishments in England Schools in Watford Academies in Hertfordshire Girls' schools in Hertfordshire Secondary schools in Hertfordshire