44 Tatler Schools Guide 2020 tatler.comPHOTOGRAPH: SIMON FISHERWOLDINGHAM
Marden Park, Woldingham,
Surrey CR3 7YA
Website woldinghamschool.co.uk
Head Alex Hutchinson, MA, since
2016; previously Deputy Head
Pupils 590 girls: 294 day, 296
boarding Faith RC Ages 11–18
Term Fees Day: £7,740; boarding:
£12,605 Oxbridge 4%
Registration By September of year
before entry; £150 fee Admission
School’s own exam Alumnae Vivien
Leigh, Emma Corrin, Clarissa
Dickson Wright
Set in 700 acres of countryside, at
the end of a long and beautiful
driveway, it’s hard to believe that it
takes just 25 minutes to get here
by train from Clapham Junction.
Woldingham is very popular with
London parents who would rather
their daughters didn’t board – and
would rather not fork out the
boarding fees – yet want them to
have an all-girls traditional country
school experience, which this
school offers in spades. Moral val-
ues are firmly entrenched here and
academic results are strong, par-
ticularly in recent years: 2018 saw
outstanding STEM results, with
over 80 per cent A*–A in A-level
chemistry and further maths.
Head Alex Hutchinson is ‘an
exemplary leader for the girls’,
according to one parent and ‘one
of those Heads that you just love
immediately,’ according to another
insider. Hutchinson believes very
strongly in creating an environ-
ment that doesn’t stretch students
to breaking point, and parents
praise the school’s ability to man-
age the high levels of stress and
anxiety that plague so many young
people today – and the all-round
pastoral care is second to none.
Currently, the student body is
made up of 25 per cent overseas
students and the rest are local or
London-based. Applications, from
more than 80 different feeder
schools, have risen in recent years
(there are now three applicants per
place at 11+). This is a deliberately
well-rounded and incredibly sup-
portive school full of happy girls
willing to give everything a go.WORTH SCHOOL
Paddockhurst Road, Turners
Hill, West Sussex RH10 4SD
Website worthschool.org.uk
Head Stuart McPherson, MA,
since 2015; previously House
Master at Eton College Pupils- Day: 206 boys, 98 girls;
boarding: 218 boys, 95 girls
Faith RC Ages 11–18 Term Fees
Day: £8,190; boarding: £11,740
Oxbridge 5% Registration No
deadline; £150 fee Admission
School’s own exam, interview and
previous school’s report Alumni
Robert Bathurst, Sir David Bell
Worth’s ideal student is ‘someone
who is academically ambitious,
curious, who cares about the world
and who is willing to get stuck into
community life’. Occupying 500
acres of landscaped grounds with
woods and fields beyond, this
co-ed Roman Catholic school is
becoming increasingly popular,
with three applications for every
place – new girls’ and boys’
boarding houses have opened to
accommodate the burgeoning
student body. While pupils don’t
have to be Catholic, faith certainly
underpins the school’s ethos:
Worth prides itself on not being a
‘one size fits all school’, but
collective values include service
and community. In the words of
one girl who left in 2018: ‘Want-
ing to “change the world” may
sound slightly over-ambitious, but
I do believe this school has given
us the grades, the skills and the
values which are needed to go for-
ward as the best people we can be.’
Philanthropy is integral to life
here: they’ve raised funds to
provide 351 children in Liberia
with a daily school meal for the
next two years, and the sixth form
recently headed to Uganda to
teach at a local school and to paint
classrooms. Academics are thriving
with 40 per cent of GCSE grades
being an A* or the equivalent 9/8,
and over half of leavers heading to
Russell Group universities. Sport is
by no means overshadowed by
academia: girls’ football is thriving
and the Talented Athlete Support
Programme helps the most able
young athletes to meet their goals.
Artier types might be interested
to hear that student work is
exhibited in the school’s own
gallery space and budding
photographers can hone their skills
in the on-site studio.WYCOMBE ABBEY
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
HP11 1PE
Website wycombeabbey.com
Head Jo Duncan, PGCE, from
September; previously Head of Royal
High School Bath Pupils 639 girls:
66 day, 573 boarders Faith
C of E Ages 11–18 Term Fees Day:
£10,090, boarding: £13,450
Oxbridge 33% Registration One
year before entry; £250 fee
Admission CE, school’s own exam
or UKiset Alumnae Elsie
Bowerman, Sally Phillips, Baroness
Butler-Sloss GBE
Wycombe Abbey has long been
known for its hard-working girls
and first-rate results: 30 per cent of
2018 leavers secured Oxbridge
places and a growing number are
now heading to US universities.
But it’s recently begun to garner a
reputation for its focus on pastoral
care, and a sense of oneness and
joy introduced by departing Head
Rhiannon Wilkinson. A wave of
change has helped to revamp the
atmosphere: everyone loves the new
Courtyard Café, the hall is set to be
redone, and a twin school has been
opened in China. This sense of
innovation has pervaded the cur-
riculum with a renewed focus on
enriching and broadening young
minds rather than just ticking boxes
on a syllabus – the Director of
Innovation and Learning has
introduced a Creative and Critical
Thinking Course for the Year 7s.
There’s also a clear emphasis on
sport and, in addition to the usual
options, there’s a flourishing kick-
boxing club. ‘Boarding, which
creates a happy and close-knit
community, is the key to our
continued success at Wycombe
Abbey. The school has a culture that
both stimulates and inspires seven
days a week, empowering the girls
to achieve their very best, academi-
cally and socially. ‘In our happy
community, each girl is known, and
cherished, as an individual,’ says
Wilkinson, who will be greatly
missed – but new Head Jo Duncan,
who comes from Royal High School
Bath, will no doubt build on her
predecessor’s stellar work. (WORTH SCHOOLSOUTH EASTPUBLICStudents at Worth School have raisedfunds to provide 351 children in Liberiawith a daily school meal for two years10-19-Schools-Guide-PublicSouthEast.indd 44 14/08/2019 22:16