Merchant Taylors' Girls' School

Merchant Taylors' Girls' School is a selective private girls' school in Great Crosby, Merseyside, England. History Merchant Taylors' Girls' School was established in 1888, having inherited the buildings from the boys' school that had moved less than a mile away in 1874. The then governing body was dilatory in providing for the 'new' school and it was due to the insistence of James Fenning, the Master of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, that the girls' school was started. At the School's opening all of the female staff were graduates. This was a feat, considering that at the time only four universities granted degrees to women. In June 1888, twelve pupils attended the school, by the 1920s it had grown to 300 and, in 2014, the figure has almost doubled. The continuing increase in pupil numbers enabled the purchase in 1911 of the adjoining house, "The Mulberries", which doubled the existing space. One of the buildings is the now Grade II-listed 1620s building (currently housing the library). Two generous donations from a former headmistress ensured further development of facilities forming the basis of the network of buildings. The early prefect system was replaced in 1972 with the more democratic system of Sixth Form committees still in place today. In 2008, the House System was reintroduced and the four houses were renamed Minerva, Thalia, Gaia and Selene. The houses compete as they have since 1917 in points, academia, and sports.