St Leonards School

St Leonards School
Motto Ad vitam
("For life")
Established 1877
Type Independent day and boarding school
Headmaster Dr Michael Carslaw
Founders Professors from the University of St Andrews
Location The Pends
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9QJ
Scotland
56°20′20″N 2°47′25″W / 56.3390°N 2.7904°W / 56.3390; -2.7904Coordinates: 56°20′20″N 2°47′25″W / 56.3390°N 2.7904°W / 56.3390; -2.7904
Local authority Fife
Students 550~
Gender Coeducational
Ages 5–18
Website www.stleonards-fife.org

St Leonards School, formerly St Leonards and St Katharines School, is an independent school founded by the University of St Andrews in the nineteenth century. It is located in St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, today situated on one site in private grounds, just south of the town's historic cathedral and within the walls of the medieval Priory. Although originally established in 1877 by University of St Andrews professors and their wives amid the increased demand for women's education, the school is now fully co-educational, taking boys and girls aged 5 to 18, with the option of boarding from age 12. In 2005, The Sunday Times named St Leonards its "Scottish Independent School of the Year".[1]

Overview

St Leonards has approximately 530 pupils between the ages of 5​1⁄2 and 18 [2] St Leonards was one of the first schools in Scotland to offer the IB Diploma Programme and is the only one in the country to have an all-IB Sixth Form.

History

The school was established in 1877 by the St Andrews School for Girls Company. Madeline Daniell, the educationalist and campaigner for women's right to higher education, was one of two founding secretaries of the Company.[3]

Dame Louisa Lumsden was appointed the School's first Headmistress in 1877. The belief of the School was that "a girl should receive an education that is as good as her brother's, if not better."[4] In 1999 St Leonards Sixth Form and St Katharines Prep School opened their doors to boys for the first time; the school soon became completely co-educational.

St Katharines and St Leonards-New Park

St Katharines School was the original prep school of St Leonards, making full use of the campus and facilities while retaining a degree of autonomy. In March 2002 it was announced that the prep school would be relocated to the main building and renamed St Leonards Junior and Middle Schools.[5] Following a further announcement in March 2005,[6] St Leonards junior and middle schools merged with New Park School, also located in St Andrews, operating as one unit under the name St Leonards-New Park. In June 2011 it was announced that the junior school would be known in future as St Leonards Junior School. At the same time, work commenced on a £2.5m redevelopment of the junior school.

Lacrosse

The school is believed to be the first place in the world to have played women's lacrosse.[7]

Headmistresses and headmasters

For the first 124 years, (when the school was an all-girls school) the Head of St Leonards was always a woman. The first Headmaster was appointed in 2003.

  • 1877 – 1882 Dame Louisa Lumsden
  • 1882 – 1896 Dame Frances Dove
  • 1896 – 1907 Julia Mary Grant
  • 1907 – 1921 Mary Bentinck-Smith
  • 1922 – 1938 Katharine Howard McCutcheon
  • 1938 – 1955 Janet A. Macfarlane
  • 1956 – 1970 Janet S. A. Macaulay
  • 1970 – 1987 Martha Hamilton (Mrs R Steedman)
  • 1988 – 2000 Mary James [8]
  • 2001 – 2003 Wendy Bellars [9]
  • 2003 – 2008 Robert A. J. Tims
  • 2008 – to present Dr Michael Carslaw [10]

St Leonards has largely followed the English, rather than the Scottish education system. Pupils take GCSEs and IGCSEs rather than Scottish Standard Grades. Sixth Form students follow the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. St Leonards is an IB World School, one of only three schools in Scotland to have attained this status.[11]

Notable seniors

Former Pupils of St Leonards are known as St Leonards School Seniors,[12] as is the style at the sister schools Wycombe Abbey [13] and Benenden School.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Scottish Independent School of the Year, Sunday Times, 20 November 2005
  2. ↑ ISBI Profile
  3. ↑ Begg, Tom (2004). Daniell [née Carter], Madeline Margaret (1832–1906), educationist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/56167.
  4. ↑ Tatler Schools Guide 2006 Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Prep School Plans for the Future
  6. ↑ St Andrews schools to merge Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine., The Courier, March 2005
  7. ↑ History of Lacrosse at St Leonards Archived 6 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine., official website
  8. ↑ Crawford, Stuart. "Stuart Crawford Associates Publications, St Leonards". Retrieved 4 August 2007.
  9. ↑ "St Leonards Principal Resigns". Fife Today. 26 May 2003. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  10. ↑ School ready to welcome Carslaw family Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ Case study of St Leonards School, United Kingdom Archived 15 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine., International Baccalaureate site
  12. ↑ SLSS Archived 31 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine., official website
  13. ↑ Wycombe Abbey School Seniors Association
  14. ↑ Benenden Seniors
  15. ↑ Review: The Suffragette's Daughter: Betty Archdale, API Network
  16. ↑ Cunneff, Tom (December 14, 1987). "On TV's Friday the 13th, It's Robey Who Makes Little Boys Really Howl". People. Time Inc. 28 (24). ISSN 0093-7673.
  17. ↑ Drusilla Beyfus, 'Withers [married names Stewart, Kennett], (Elizabeth) Audrey (1905–2001), magazine editor' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2005)
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