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School History
The Merchant Taylors' School for Girls came about in 1888, having inherited the buildings from the boys' school that had moved 'up the road' 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 Merchant Taylors' Company, that the girls' school was started. At the School's opening all of the female staff were graduates, a fact that is very impressive considering that at the time only four universities were granting degrees to women! In June 1888 twelve pupils attended the school, by the 1920s this figure had grown to 300 and now has more than doubled to around 600. The continuing increase in pupil numbers enabled the purchase in 1911 of the adjoining house, 'The Mulberries' which doubled the existing space and still adds to the charm of the school. The jewel of the buildings, the now grade II listed 1620's building (currently housing the library), has always dominated the surrounding area and new buildings. Two generous donations from a former headmistress ensured further development of facilities forming the basis of the network of buildings we now possess.
The prefect system from the early days was abolished in 1972 and the more democratic system of Sixth Form committees that replaced it, still flourishes today. Only last year, in 2008, was the House System reintroduced and the four houses are now: Minerva, Thalia, Gaia and Selene. The houses will compete in the same way that they have done since 1917 in points, academia, and sports.
The first curriculum was based on a limited version of the boys', with little Mathematics or Latin in case it taxed the female brain, and plenty of 'feminine' subjects such as singing and needlework to placate worries of producing only 'bluestockings' and thus almost guaranteed spinsterhood! The curriculum today, offering so much opportunity and variety, would have been hugely envied by the early girls. Sport has always flourished ranging from hockey, played in long skirts, through hill rambling in the 1930s, to rowing and sailing and 'self defence' today.
Links with the local community have always been important. In 1911 the school adopted a 'waif' from the local children's home and formed a link which continued beyond the 1940s. A huge war effort was also undertanken during WW2, making camouflage netting, scrubbing floors at local hospitals and raising money for 'Warships Week'. Today's Sixth Formers continue this tradition by helping local schools, charity shops and nursing homes.