| Woldingham | |
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Marden Park ,, CR3 7YA England | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent school Boarding and day school |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
| Established | 1842; 183 years ago (1842) |
| Local authority | Caterham |
| Department for Education URN | 125369Tables |
| Chair of Governors | Catharine Berwick |
| Head | Sue Baillie[citation needed] |
| Gender | Girls |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 550 |
| Campus | 700 acres (280 ha) |
| Houses | Barat Digby Duchesne Stuart |
| Website | www.woldinghamschool.co.uk |
Woldingham School is anindependentboarding andday school for girls, located in the former Marden Park of 700 acres (280 ha) outside the village ofWoldingham, Surrey, in South East England.[1]
It is a Roman Catholic school and a member of the globalNetwork of Sacred Heart Schools.
The school was founded as theConvent of the Sacred Heart in 1842 in Berrymead, London by theSociety of the Sacred Heart; the first Convent of the Sacred Heart in England.[2] The Society had been founded in France in 1800 byMadeleine Sophie Barat (canonized in 1925) immediately after theFrench Revolution (1789–1799). The first Sacred Heart school had opened in 1801 atAmiens, France; others were soon established in France and across Europe.
The Convent of the Sacred Heart moved toRoehampton, London, in 1850. Shortly after the 1939 outbreak of theSecond World War, the school was evacuated, first toNewquay and later toStanford Hall, nearRugby. Because the house at the Roehampton site was badly damaged during a 1941 air raid and later had to be demolished,[3] the school decided, at the end of the war, to find a new location. Marden Park was purchased by the Society in 1945, and the school moved in one year later. Early in the 1980s, the Society decided to commit the school tolay management under thetrusteeship of the Society. In 1984, Philomena Dineen was appointed first layHead of School for the newly renamedWoldingham School; she took up her duties in January 1985.[citation needed]
At 200 hectares, its campus is larger than that of any other all-girls' school inEngland. This covers a large expanse of countryside, with sports facilities including squash courts, a fitness studio, a dance and gymnastics studio, an indoor tennis dome, an indoor swimming pool, outdoor courts and pitches and an all-weather pitch.[4]
Girls in different year-groups live in different boarding houses: Marden House (Years 7 and 8, i.e. 11- to 13-year-olds), Main House (Years 9, 10 and 11, i.e. 13- to 16-year-olds). Sixth Form girls are accommodated in Berwick House and Shanley House, named respectively after Dr Edward Berwick, Chairman of Governors (1989–1995) and Sister Claire Shanley, Mistress General (1947–1968).[citation needed]
On entering the school, girls are placed into one of four housetutor groups named after four nuns who were influential figures in the development of the Society. They areSaint Madeleine Sophie Barat, who founded the Society; SaintRose Philippine Duchesne; MotherJanet Stuart; and MotherMabel Digby.
Woldingham educates girls between age 11 to 18 who can join the school at ages 11, 12, 13 or 16, i.e. at any stage in the junior school (Marden House) or upon entering senior school (Main House). Girls can also join after completing theGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education and enter straight into the Sixth Form.
The school was involved in theIndependent school fee fixing scandal in the mid-2000s. On 20 November 2006, theOffice of Fair Trading (OFT) announced its decision following a 2005–2006 investigation into allegations that fifty of England's top independent schools, including Woldingham, had broken competition law (section 2[1] of the Competition Act 1998) by sharing information about fees via the so-called "Sevenoaks Survey".[5] The OFT made no finding as to whether there was an effect on the fee levels of the schools concerned. The schools agreed to paynominal penalties of £10,000 each, a reduced penalty in view of a number of exceptional features in the case: a voluntary admission had been made, the bodies were all non-profit making charities and they had set up a £3 million educational trust fund for those who had attended the schools in the relevant period.
This situation came about as a result of a dispute between the U.K.Charity Commission for England and Wales, which regulates the behaviour of U.K. charitable organizations, and the Office of Fair Trading, responsible forprofit-making businesses. Although U.K. charities are required to publish financial and other information, U.K. businesses are not allowed to collaborate to set prices. The U.K.Competition Act 1998, which regulates the behaviour of businesses, was altered in 2000 to place independent schools – which are charities – in the same category as businesses as far as exchange of financial information is concerned.[citation needed]
All of those listed attended the school for at least one term and the names used are those by which they are best known:[clarification needed]
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The administrative centre is Oxted. The largest town is Caterham. Three of thepost towns have urban centres Caterham, Godstone and Oxted. Lingfield and Warlingham are major villages which have post town status. The others are outside the area. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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51°16′33″N0°03′07″W / 51.275884°N 0.052046°W /51.275884; -0.052046
