Queen Anne's School is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, situated in the suburb of Caversham just north of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

town centre and occupying a campus. There are around 450 pupils. Nearly half are boarders. Some stay seven nights a week; others stay during the working week (weekly boarders) or two, three or four nights a week (flexi boarders). Saturday morning lessons were replaced in 2009 by a programme of optional sport, hobbies and extended learning activities, including rowing, horse riding, textiles and first aid. The school awards

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

in academic subjects, sport, music, art and drama at ages 11 and 13 and at sixth form entry. Queen Anne's is a member of the

Girls' Schools Association The Girls' Schools Association (GSA) is a professional association of the heads of independent girls' schools. It is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council. History The GSA can trace its history back to the Association of Headm ...

and the Boarding Schools' Association. Queen Anne's was chosen as one of

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magazine's Top 225 prep and public schools 2010.

History

A Picture of a Southern Town- Life in Wartime Reading, Berkshire, England, UK, 1945 D25288

In 1698 eight merchants founded the Grey Coat Hospital, a Christian foundation. In 1706 the foundation received a royal charter from Queen Anne. In 1874

Grey Coat Hospital The Grey Coat Hospital is a Church of England secondary school with academy status for girls in Westminster, London, England. It is a specialist Language College. History The school was formally established at the Trustees' first meeting hel ...

became a girls' school. The Grey Coat Hospital Foundation used part of its endowment to buy a mansion in Henley Road in Caversham which became Queen Anne's School in 1894. The site was previously occupied by Amersham Hall School. The social history of the school is described in detail in a 2008 book by Daniel Talbot, former head of history, 'The Scarlet Runners: A Social History of Queen Anne's, Caversham'.

Facilities

Queen Anne's campus is a site with landscaped gardens and playing fields immediately adjacent to the teaching and boarding accommodation. The facilities include a café for sixth formers and parents (opened 2009) and a Chapel, designed by

Reginald Blomfield Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period. Early life and career Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...

. In 2016, the school opened a new Sixth Form Centre. The Main Block and Chapel at Queen Anne's School are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Sport

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

, tennis, swimming and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

are major sports at Queen Anne's and there is provision for most other sports either at the school or at local clubs. The school has produced Olympic and national-level sportswomen.

Music

The school's own groups include:

Chamber Choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in rel ...

, Consort Choir, Saxoholics, Saxability, Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Wind Quartet, Flute Group, Swing Band and Junior Wind Band. The Chamber Choir, Saxoholics and Consort Choir have performed in New York, London and Rome.

Drama

The school puts on three full-scale productions a year, and organises masterclasses and workshops with professional practitioners. Queen Anne's drama pupils have won places at the National Youth Theatre in London to train with professionals and places at

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Se ...

. In 2007, a Queen Anne's student featured in the St Trinians film.

Debating and public speaking

Queen Anne's School was a founder of the

World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships The World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (WIDPSC) is an annual English language debating and public speaking tournament for individual high school-level students representing different countries. It is the public speaking e ...

and its students participate in the competition every year. It has also hosted the event on a number of occasions, most recently in 2003.

Academic performance

The 2011 Ofsted Social Care report rated the school as 'outstanding', which Ofsted translates as "The main inspection finding is that this is an outstanding boarding school. The outcomes for boarders as described in the Every Child Matters document and underpinned by the nationally agreed standards are excellent. The school has an exceptionally high commitment towards enabling girls to fulfil their potential." The Independent Schools Inspectorate's Inspection Report 2011 said: "The pupils’ overall achievement is excellent. The school meets highly successfully its aim to enable pupils to go onto higher education, and develop their talents fully." and "The quality of the pupils’ personal development is excellent, ensuring that the school’s aim to enable them to become confident, well-balanced individuals is met with resounding success."

University destinations

Queen Anne's students go on to study at degree level at university, and go on to do postgraduate work. The courses they take range from art, drama and classics to medicine, civil and chemical engineering, material sciences, modern languages and management.

Notable former pupils

* Lesley Abdela, human rights campaigner *

Barbara Brooke, Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte Barbara Muriel Brooke, Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte, ('' née'' Mathews; 14 January 1908 – 1 September 2000) was a British Conservative Party politician. Personal life Baroness Brooke was the youngest of five children of a Welsh mini ...

, politician * Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Olympic rower *

Christine Chaundler Christine Chaundler (5 September 1887 – 15 December 1972) was a prolific English children's author, who also wrote stories for boys as Peter Martin. Some of her hundreds of short stories were broadcast by the BBC. Life Born in Biggleswade, B ...

, children's author * Janet Chisholm,

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

during the Cold War *

Helena Cobban Helena Cobban (born 1952) is a British-American writer and researcher on international relations, with special interests in the Middle East, the international system, and transitional justice. She is a non-resident Senior fellow at the Washingt ...

, writer and researcher on

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

Valerie Eliot Esmé Valerie Eliot (née Fletcher; 17 August 19269 November 2012) was the second wife and later widow of the Nobel prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot. She was a major stockholder in the publishing firm of Faber and Faber Limited and the editor and ...

, wife of poet T. S. Eliot *

Cara Gascoigne Caroline "Cara" Eleanor Gascoigne (3 July 1888 – 1984) was a British physical educator. From 1912 to 1921, she coached at Sweet Briar College, as director of physical training; under her leadership, Sweet Briar students played in the first w ...

, physical educator, coach *

Fiona Hodgson, Baroness Hodgson of Abinger Fiona Ferelith Hodgson, Baroness Hodgson of Abinger, (née Allom) is a Conservative politician and life peer. Biography She was educated at senior level at Queen Anne's School, Caversham, Berkshire and Guildford High School, Surrey. She wa ...

, politician * Joan Jackson (Joan Hunter Dunn),

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

of Sir John Betjeman *

Joanna Kennedy Dr Joanna Kennedy OBE FREng FICE, (born 22 July 1950), is a British civil engineer and project manager. She is currently a non-executive director of the property company Native Land and a director of the ERA Foundation, having been Global Lead ...

, civil engineer * Elizabeth Jane Lloyd, artist *

Katharine Lloyd-Williams Katharine Georgina Lloyd-Williams CBE (14 February 1896 – 10 January 1973) was a British anaesthetist, general practitioner and medical educator. She was a consultant anaesthetist at the Royal Free Hospital from 1934 and dean of the Royal F ...

anaesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine ...

* Brenda Rawnsley, arts activist *

Jenny Seagrove Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' ...

, actress * Posy Simmonds, cartoonist, writer and illustrator * Hannah Steinberg, pioneer of experimental

psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek grc, ψῡχή, psȳkhē, breath, life, soul, label=none; grc, φάρμακον, pharmakon, drug, label=none; and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mo ...

Tamara Taylor Tamara Taylor (born September 27, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the role of Dr. Camille Saroyan, head of the Forensic Division, in the forensic crime drama ''Bones''. She also appeared in season seven of '' Marvel's Agents of S.H ...

, captain of England women's Rugby

2015 Six Nations The 2015 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union tournament. It was contested b ...

team * Nell Truman, tennis player, French Open doubles finalist *

Faith Wainwright Faith Helen Wainwright (born 1962) is a British structural engineer, and a director of Arup Group. She has led in the structural design of multiple landmark buildings including the American Air Museum and the Tate Modern and holds an honorary ...

, President of the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom. The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...

Lizbeth Webb Betty Ethel Holton (30 January 1926 – 17 January 2013), better known by her stage name, Lizbeth Webb, was an English soprano and stage actress. Known as "the champagne soprano", she is remembered partly for originating the song "This Is My L ...

, soprano and stage actress *

Margaret Webster Margaret Webster (March 15, 1905 – November 13, 1972) was an American-British theater actress, producer and director. Critic George Jean Nathan described her as "the best director of the plays of Shakespeare that we have." Life and care ...

, theater actress and director

References

External links

*
Profile
at the

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and independent. Overview The guide is compiled by a team of editors which, according to the official website, "''comprises some 50 editors, writers, researchers and contri ...

Profile
on the

ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

website {{authority control Boarding schools in Berkshire Independent schools in Reading, Berkshire Girls' schools in Berkshire Educational institutions established in 1894 Grade II listed buildings in Reading 1894 establishments in England Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Oxford Schools with a royal charter