- Merchant Taylors' Girls' School
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Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Motto Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt. (Small things grow in harmony) Established 1888 Type selective girls' independent Headmistress Louise Robinson Location Crosby
Merseyside
EnglandLocal authority Sefton Students 620 Ages 11–18 Website Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Coordinates: 53°29′02″N 3°01′30″W / 53.4840°N 3.0250°W
Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, Crosby (also known as Merchant Taylors' School for Girls, Crosby) is a British selective independent girls' school, located in Great Crosby on Merseyside. As of 2007, it had around 620 pupils, ranging in age from 11 to 18. The school also has an associated prep school, Stanfield Mixed Infants and Junior Girls' School, which takes both boys aged 4–7 and girls aged 4 to 11. After attending the mixed infants, the boys go on to the Junior section of Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, less than a mile down the road. The current headmistress is Mrs Louise Robinson.
The school is one of nine with links to the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, including boys' school Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby. The school's motto is that of the Worshipful Company: Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt. (Small things grow in harmony.)
It is a member of the Girls' Schools Association.
In 2007, the school came top in Sefton for GCSE results and second to the boys' school for A levels.[1]
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 Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, 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. 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 they 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.
Notable former pupils
See also: Category:People educated at Merchant Taylors' Girls' School- Beryl Bainbridge, novelist, was expelled.
- Janet Finch sociologist and Vice Chancellor of Keele University.
- Jane Garvey, BBC radio presenter.
External links
Schools in Sefton Comprehensive schools Birkdale High School • Bootle High School • Chesterfield High School • Christ the King Catholic High School • Deyes High School • Formby High School • Greenbank High School • Hillside High School • Holy Family Catholic High School • Litherland High School • Maghull High School • Maricourt Catholic High School • Meols Cop High School • Range High School • Sacred Heart Catholic College • Savio Salesian College • St Ambrose Barlow Technology College • St George of England High School • St. Michael's Church of England High School • St Wilfrid's Catholic High School • Stanley High SchoolFurther Education Hugh Baird College • King George V College • Southport CollegeIndependent schools Merchant Taylors' School • Merchant Taylors' Girls' School • St Mary's CollegeCategories:- Merchant Taylors
- Independent schools in Merseyside
- Schools in Sefton
- Girls' schools in Merseyside
- Grade II* listed buildings in Merseyside
- Educational institutions established in 1888
- 1888 establishments in England
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