Roedean School

History

The school was founded in 1885 as Wimbledon House by three women: Penelope Lawrence and her step-sisters Millicent and Dorothy Lawrence. Their brother was the lawyer Sir Paul Lawrence of Wimbledon who became unable to support them. Their Lawrence great aunts had been noted school teachers earlier in the century, mainly in Liverpool. In its early years, Roedean was favoured by wealthy parents - many of whom were Nonconformists - to prepare girls for entrance to the newly opened women's colleges at Cambridge University, Girton (now co-ed) and Newnham Colleges where Penelope had studied. In 1898, the school moved to its present site, occupying new buildings designed by the architect Sir John Simpson. A sister school, also called Roedean School and co-founded by the youngest Lawrence sister, Theresa, in 1903, is located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The school motto, Honneur aulx dignes, is in Norman French, and means "Honour the worthy". When pronounced, it sounds like "Honour Roedean".

In 1924 the Lawrence sisters were replaced by Emmeline Mary Tanner who became the new head. She had been poached from Bedford High School by Penelope Lawrence as their successor.

During the Second World War, the students and staff, including classics teacher Mary Creighton Bailey, were temporarily evacuated to Keswick, in the north of England. The school buildings in Brighton, Sussex were used by the Admiralty. They adapted it for use by Navy cadets attending the Mining and Torpedo School (known as HMS Vernon (R)). Roedean is one of the few girls' schools in the country to have an Old Boys' Association.

The artist Percy Shakespeare was killed by a German bomb while serving at Roedean.

Absorption of St Mary's Hall

Inspired by his friend William Carus Wilson, who founded Cowan Bridge School, Reverend Henry Venn Elliott proposed to found a similar school for the county. St Mary's Hall was opened in 1836 and was the second-oldest girls' school in the United Kingdom before it was closed in 2009. At that time, its junior section became Roedean's junior school while many senior girls transferred to Roedean. The junior school was closed in 2011 as the school administration decided to focus on secondary and sixth form education.

Location

Roedean School is set in 118 acres (48 ha) of grounds off Roedean Way, at the top of a cliff on the Sussex Downs overlooking the sea, approximately in line with Brighton Marina.

Academic results

In 2023, the school achieved 55% of all A-Level grades A*-A and 74.3% of GCSE grades 9-7.

Houses

The school community is divided into houses.

The Lawrence and Tanner House (with Senior and Junior wings) system, introduced in 2005, was reversed starting in 2010. A numbered house system was reintroduced.

Year 7 to Year 11 students are spread out amongst Houses 1, 2, 3, and 4. These are named after the house numbers 1–4 of Lewes Crescent, where the School was located prior to moving in 1898 to this campus built for it.

Sixth form (Years 12–13) are admitted to Keswick House and Lawrence House, which are detached from the main school building.

In the 1960s, the houses were:

Junior House;

House Number 1;

House Number 2;

House Number 3;

House Number 4;

and a Sanatorium. In 1966 part of the Sanatorium was made into rooms for 6th form girls, two 6th form girls from every numbered house. The School retains a sanatorium wing (now known as a health centre) to this day.

Admission procedures

Roedean is a selective school, and entry to the school is based upon the School's own entrance examinations, interviews and reports from the students' previous schools.

Notable alumnae

Old Girls are known as Old Roedeanians and include:

Arts

Vera Stanley Alder, painter

Pauline Boumphrey, sculptor

Enid Marx, designer

Beatrix Ong, fashion accessories designer

Phyllis Pearsall, artist, writer and publisher

Clare Pooley, blogger and novelist

Edith Pretty, philanthropist and magistrate

Zina Saro-Wiwa, video artist and filmmaker

Jillian Becker, author

Dorothy Theomin, philanthropist and art collector

Business

Marjorie Abbatt, toy-maker and businesswoman

Healthcare and education

Dame Cicely Saunders, nurse, social worker, physician and writer

Olive Willis, founder of Downe House School

Barbara, Lady Stephen, educationalist and biographer

Journalism and literature

Alison Adburgham, fashion editor of The Guardian, author and social historian

Jani Allan, journalist, broadcaster

Tessa Dahl, novelist and daughter of Roald Dahl

Adèle Geras, writer

Zerbanoo Gifford, writer and human rights campaigner

Naseem Khan (activist), journalist and activist

Noo Saro-Wiwa, author

Nancy Spain, journalist, author and broadcaster

Katharine Whitehorn, journalist, writer, and columnist

Military and sport

Barbara Calder (1924–2018), yachtswoman

Elizabeth Devereux-Rochester, member of SOE F Section

Tanya Streeter, world champion freediver

Philippa Tattersall, soldier and first female to complete the All Arms Commando Course

Amber Anning British Athletics Record holder 400m and double Paris Olympics medallist

Politics and activism

Ursula Graham Bower, anthropologist and guerrilla fighter in Burma during World War II

Jill Braithwaite, Lady Braithwaite, anthropologist, diplomat and social reformer

Anna Campbell, activist

Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker, politician

Dame Margaret Cole, politician and writer

Flick Drummond, Conservative Party politician

Helen Millar Craggs, suffragette

Birgit Cunningham, campaigner

Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat politician

Science

Helen Dick Megaw, crystallographer

Theatre, television, and film

Marisa Abela, actress

Jill Balcon, actress

Hermione Cockburn, broadcaster

Noel Dyson, actress

Lucy Griffiths, actress

Rebecca Hall, actress

Jessica Hester Hsuan, actress

Verity Lambert, television producer, known for being the original producer of Doctor Who.

Sarah Miles, actress

Rhona Mitra, actress, model and singer-songwriter

Honeysuckle Weeks, actress

Perdita Weeks, actress