Roedean School
Roedean School () is an independent boarding and day school founded in 1885 in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex, England, and governed by Royal Charter. It is for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sussex Downs, on a cliff overlooking Brighton Marina and the English Channel. It is widely regarded as the "Eton College" of all-girls boarding schools in the United Kingdom. The school incorporates dance studios, music classrooms, a 320-seat theatre, a heated indoor swimming pool, a golf course, a private tunnel to the beach, a farm and a chapel, as well as a range of workshops, studios, laboratories and sports pitches. It is also well-provisioned with a variety of classrooms. Roedean School is a member of the Girls' Schools Association and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). The Good Schools Guide stated that the "School has a healthy spirit and much to offer." The Independent Schools Inspectorate rated Roedean as Excellent in all areas (highest category) in its most recent inspection (March 2016). In the 2023 A-Levels, the school saw 55.2% of its candidates score A*/A. 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. Roedean was founded 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 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). 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