King Edward VI High School for Girls (KEHS) is an all-girls public school located in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. It was founded in 1883 and occupies the same site as, and is twinned with the King Edward's School (KEHS; boys' school).

History

KEHS was founded in 1883 with Edith Creak, who was one of the first women admitted to a degree in London University, as the founding head. The school occupied part of the 1838 New Street boys' school (

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was an English architect best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

, architect). In 1887, when the adjacent Hen & Chickens Hotel was known to be closing the governors considered acquiring it. In 1888, KEHS moved to the recently vacated, and almost brand new (1885), Liberal Club in Congreve Street (a site now covered by the lending section of the

Birmingham Central Library Birmingham Central Library was the main public library in Birmingham, England, from 1974 until 2013, replacing a library opened in 1865 and rebuilt in 1882. For a time the largest non-national library in Europe, it closed on 29 June 2013 and was ...

) under a short lease. Meanwhile, plans for a new school on the Hen and Chickens site were being drawn up by the foundation's architect, J. A. Chatwin. In 1892, land behind the hotel was bought with the intention of building the girls' school off the main road. The New Street school opened in 1896. It moved, along with the boys' school, to its present location opposite the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in 1940 to new buildings designed by Holland W. Hobbiss. At this time a new, green uniform was introduced. The New Street site was bought by the Prudential Assurance Company and leased for the Odeon cinema. Over one of the entrances is the motto ''Trouthe Schal Delyvere'' from a poem ''Truth'' by

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

Ethos of the school

KEHS hosts approximately 560 girls, 80 per year (four forms) with entrance exams taking place in late January. Students engage in various extra-curricular activities and community service. Each year, forms elect a charity to support and later raise funds through such activities as cake sell hosting, car washing and the like. Unlike state secondary schools and in common with many independent schools, KEHS does not use modern year group names, e.g. Year 11, Year 12, etc. The table below attempts to clarify the names of forms used for the different years:

Music and drama

The school works in partnership with the adjoining boys' school in many orchestras, choirs, and drama productions. During the course of the year there are several plays in which both schools participate. There are generally two separate plays for the junior and senior members of the school. In recent years the two schools have cooperated on productions such as ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

'', ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' and '' 13 Mathering End''. Towards the end of the year, Upper Sixth-Form attendees from both schools organise and rehearse a Syndicate play, which is usually performed in the last week of term. Previous productions have included '' Fame'' and ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

''. In December, the school holds two Christmas Concerts in its newly built Performing Arts Centre. In March every year there is an Orchestral and Choral concert and then a Summer Concert, usually in Symphony Hall, to which all the 'new' girls for the following September are invited with their families. The school year finishes with the Syndicate Concert, planned, rehearsed and performed by students about to leave the two King Edward's Schools. Throughout the year there are six Lunchtime Concerts, held on Thursdays in the Concert Hall of King Edward's School. These concerts give the musicians, both girls and boys, the opportunity to perform in front of a smaller audience. The boys' school and KEHS now share the newly finished Performing Arts Centre (PAC), completed in July 2012. It offers a wide range of facilities, including multiple drama studios and tiered seated hall for assemblies and orchestra performances. In May 2018, KEHS pupil and pianist Lauren Zhang won the prestigious award of BBC Young Musician 2018.

Sports and outdoor activities

Activities are run during the lunch hour but some may also take place after school when both training and matches take place. As well as staff within the department organising teams, the school also has a number of external coaches. KEHS runs a Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme where girls can gain Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. It now runs a residential activities week for all of the first years at

Condover Hall Condover Hall is a Grade I listed three-storey Elizabethan sandstone building, described as the grandest manor house in Shropshire, standing in a conservation area on the outskirts of Condover village, Shropshire, England, four miles south of ...

. Each year the school plans to offer students in year 8 the opportunity to take part in Voyager expeditions whilst in year 9 students will be able to take part in First Challenge expeditions. Cycling Tours and Ski Trips are offered throughout the year, and weekly Climbing and Cross Country clubs add to the already large range of outdoors activities on offer. Activities on offer during the course of the year are: *

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

* Athletics *

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Lifesaving Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue; however, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical servic ...

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

*Dance *

Rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a cylindrical end. The players score b ...

Fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

* Ultimate Frisbee *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Notable alumnae

* Margaret "Peggy" Bacon, BBC radio and television producer and radio presenter * Celia Barlow, Labour MP and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

home news editor * Reeta Chakrabarti, BBC political correspondent * Lindsay Duncan, actress * Gillian Evans, philosopher * Karthi Gnanasegaram, BBC presenter * Winifred Hackett, guided weapons and early computer engineer * Anita Harding, neurologist *

Natalie Haynes Natalie Louise Haynes (born 1974) is an English writer, broadcaster, Classics, classicist, and comedian. Early life Haynes was born in Birmingham, where she attended the private King Edward VI High School for Girls. She grew up in Bournville. ...

, comedian and writer *

Annie Homer Annie Homer (12 March 1882 – 1 January 1953) was a biochemist at Newnham College, Cambridge, University of Toronto and the Lister Institute. She developed improved methods for large-scale production of antitoxin sera during World War I. Pers ...

, biochemist * Joanne Johnson, polar scientist * Sally Jones, TV presenter * Olga Kevelos, Motorbike trials riderObituary for Olga Kevelos
"

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

",26 November 2009. * Vivien Knight (1953-2009), art historian and gallerist *

Ida Maclean Ida Maclean (nee Smedley; 14 June 1877 – 2 March 1944) was an English biochemist and the first woman admitted to the Chemical Society, London Chemical Society. Early life and education Ida was born in Birmingham to William Smedley, a busines ...

, biochemist * Georgina Lee, Olympic swimmer * Dorothy Jordan Lloyd, protein scientist *Dame Hilda Lloyd, first woman professor at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

and first female president of the

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is a professional association based in London, United Kingdom. Its members, including people with and without medical degrees, work in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, that is ...

* Huma Qureshi (journalist) author * Monisha Rajesh author * Constance Savery, novelist and author of children's books * Mary Stallard, Anglican bishop * Dame Rachel Waterhouse, historian

Notable former staff

* Edith Creak, founding head of two schools * Florence A. George, cookery mistress and cookbook author * Janet Ruth Bacon, Principal,

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a member institution of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departmen ...

1935–44

Sources

References

External links

KEHS website

The Foundation of King Edward VI High School in Birmingham

Profile
on MyDaughter {{Authority control 1883 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1883 Girls' schools in the West Midlands (county) Private schools in Birmingham, West Midlands Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Edgbaston