Merchant Taylors' Girls' School
Merchant Taylors' Schools' Crest
Address
Liverpool Road

Crosby
,
Merseyside
,
L23 0QP

England
Coordinates53°29′02″N 3°01′30″W / 53.4840°N 3.0250°W / 53.4840; -3.0250
Information
TypeSelective girls' private
MottoConcordia Parvae Res Crescunt. (Small things grow in harmony)
Established1888
Local authoritySefton
HeadmistressClaire Tao
Age11 to 18
Enrolment511
Websitehttp://www.merchanttaylors.com/

Merchant Taylors' Girls' School is a selective private girls' school in Great Crosby, Merseyside, England.

History

Merchant Taylors' Girls' School was established in 1888, having inherited the buildings from the boys' school that had moved less than a mile away 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. This was a feat, considering that at the time only four universities granted degrees to women. In June 1888, twelve pupils attended the school, by the 1920s it had grown to 300 and, in 2014, the figure has almost doubled. The continuing increase in pupil numbers enabled the purchase in 1911 of the adjoining house, "The Mulberries", which doubled the existing space. One of the buildings is the now Grade II-listed 1620s building (currently housing the library). Two generous donations from a former headmistress ensured further development of facilities forming the basis of the network of buildings. The early prefect system was replaced in 1972 with the more democratic system of Sixth Form committees still in place today. In 2008, the House System was reintroduced and the four houses were renamed Minerva, Thalia, Gaia and Selene. The houses compete as they have since 1917 in points, academia, and sports.

Latin was taught at the school from the beginning, as was mathematics, although if students chose to study higher mathematics they had to be chaperoned up to the boys' school. Early governors of the school insisted that the girls learnt traditional female pastimes alongside these more rigorous subjects, hence sewing, cooking and singing all played their part on the curriculum. Sport ranges from hockey, hill-rambling, badminton, cross-country running and rowing to self-defence.

Organisation

As of 2013, it has 511 pupils, ranging in age from 11 to 18. The current headmistress is Mrs Claire Tao. 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 school, the boys go on to the Junior section of Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby, less than a mile down the road.

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' Boys' School, Crosby. The school's motto is that of the Worshipful Company: Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt. (Small things grow in harmony.)

The school is independently run and charges tuition fees of £11,733 per year.[1] Fees were partially subsidised by the Government under the Assisted Places Scheme until the closure of that scheme in 2001. The Schools now run their own means tested Assisted Places Scheme under which about 20% of pupils benefit from free, or reduced-fee places. The schools offer around £1 million a year in bursaries. About 17 per cent of pupils at the two senior schools receive assistance, worth up to 100 per cent of the annual fees.[2]

It is a member of the Girls' Schools Association. Headmistress Mrs Louise Robinson was President of the Association in 2012.[3]

In 2013, Merchant Taylors’ was Crosby's best performing school with 100% of pupils at the Girls’ school achieving five Cs or above in any subject at GCSE.[4]

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 war effort was also undertaken 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.

Exchange programme

Merchant Taylors is partnered through the British Council's Connecting Classrooms Programme with Nelson Mandela High School, Sierra Leone.[5] Since 2010, the schools have participated in exchange visits.[6] The partnership has enabled Nelson Mandela High to become a 'Sustainable School'.[5]

Sport

Rowing

The school (along with the associated boys' school) runs the Merchant Taylors' School Boat Club which is affiliated to British Rowing (boat code MTS).[7] The school competes in the British Rowing Championships. The junior under 14 double scull won the national title at the 2015 British Rowing Junior Championships[8] and the junior under 15 double scull (composite with Trafford RC) won the national title at the 2016 British Rowing Junior Championships.[9]

Notable former pupils

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Admissions".
  2. ↑ "How to get the best education for less". Telegraph. 19 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "President Louise Robinson opens the Girls' Schools Association Annual Conference, Liverpool 2012". GSA. 19 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Crosby pupils shine as schools toast league table success". Crosby Herald. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Sierra Leone Waterloo Schools Project". Echo-Schools England. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "Report from trip to Sierra Leone". Merchant Taylors' Girls' School. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  7. ↑ "Club details". British Rowing.
  8. ↑ "2015 British Rowing Junior Championships results" (PDF). British Rowing.
  9. ↑ "2016 British Rowing Junior Championships results" (PDF). British Rowing.
  10. ↑ "Woman's Hour celebrates turning 70 today". 7 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Will big sister win Big Brother?". 27 May 2002.
  12. ↑ "Merchants' Tales Summer Edition 2016".
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