Abbots Bromley School

Former independent school in Staffordshire, England

Abbots Bromley School (previously the School of S. Mary and S. Anne, Abbots Bromley before becoming Abbots Bromley School for Girls) was a coeducational boarding and day private school in the village of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, England. It was one of the original Woodard Schools — and the first such for girls — and so was an Anglican foundation that historically reflected the Anglo Catholic ethos of the Woodard Foundation. It was affiliated to the Girls' Schools Association, but financial problems over many years closed it in the summer of 2019.

With the foundation of the School of S. Anne, Nathaniel Woodard's project to provide education for the middle classes was extended to girls. Woodard had been reluctant to start a school for girls, but some of his closest friends strongly disagreed. Edward Clarke Lowe, in particular, believed that university education should be open to women. These friends eventually prevailed upon Woodard and secured his blessing and his enormous fund raising skills to found the School of S. Anne in 1874. Even after its opening, Woodard continued to express the view that his foundation might be wasting its efforts in promoting the education of women. The school was established at Abbots Bromley partly because it was near Denstone College, another Woodard school which had been founded a few years before. Its location in the Anglican diocese of Lichfield also helped to secure for it the goodwill of Bishop Selwyn. Alice Mary Coleridge, Lowe's sister in law and adopted child, played a central role in the evolving vision that led to the foundation of the school. Alice Coleridge, who had been greatly influenced by Anna Sewell and her godmother, Charlotte Mary Yonge, became Lady Warden of S. Anne's in 1878 and instituted a spartan regime and a broadly based curriculum. Marcia Rice, a Scottish episcopalian with natural authority, became the head in 1900 when there were 54 pupils. The school gained four houses and it expanded to over 100 by 1913 and the school bought nearby property to allow for the required expansion of an infirmary, chapel cloisters and more accommodation. In 1905 the school gained a debating Society "St Anne's Political and Social Problems Club" and in 1910 the first school prefects were appointed as some authority was delegated from the staff to the pupils. This was due both to falling pupil numbers and longstanding financial problems,

Subsequently, talks were held with investors in Beijing to see if the school could be sold as a going concern, but no agreement could be reached. As a result, in September 2019 the Woodard group announced the land would be sold by Savills and no further talks would be held on reopening the school. The school was not academically selective but achieved academic results that were generally seen as outstanding for a non selective school. Its academic, social and sporting provisions were normal for girls' independent schools, but it had two specialities: an equestrian centre and a dance school (Alkins School of Ballet). The school occupied , split between two sites on either side of the village High Street.

Historically, the school was a boarding school, but for some time before closure the majority of pupils had been day pupils. However, the school had restored its boarding ethos to offer a range of boarding alternatives – full, weekly, flexi and occasional boarding. The School took boys and girls from Reception to Year 6 and then girls from Year 7 to 11. The sixth form was co educational, with a new facility for its International College. Roch House Preparatory School in 1991 took on extra staff based in an upstairs corridor near Reed Hall with a classroom for UII girls. A couple of years later Roch expanded again to include girls between three and eleven.

Perhaps one of the most enduring images of the school — and one of its most public manifestations — was its traditional Commemoration Day Procession every summer term. The pupils processed to the Parish Church of St Nicholas, down the centre of the High Street, in height order wearing white veils ("hoods" unofficially called "tea towels") fringed with light blue, carrying embroidered banners and singing (unaccompanied) the hymn "Jerusalem my happy home". Members of the school choir wear an additional ankle length white veil (officially known as "cloaks" and unofficially as "tablecloths"). The service traditionally concludes with the singing of "Forward be our watchword".