RMS - Coronation to Platinum Jubilee

From Coronation to Jubilee

Introduction As we approach the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate our history and to reflect on our journey and evolution over the reign of Queen Elizabeth the II. The Queen’s reign has seen dramatic changes in the world from the British Empire becoming the Commonwealth, the Civil Rights Movement, fourteen different Prime Ministers of The United Kingdom and untold advances in technology and communication. We now live in a more connected, global society and at RMS we are proud that our very own community has evolved too.

On a much smaller but, we’d like to think, no less important scale, our school has evolved from the “The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls” to the Royal Masonic School for Girls. Something that hasn’t changed from the 1950s is the school motto ‘Circumornatae ut similitudo templi’ which translates ‘To be as the polished cornerstones of the temple’. Our students still strive for excellence, personal growth and to achieve their personal best in all that they do.

In March of 1955 a young Queen Elizabeth II visited The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls. The students were thrilled when the then Headmistress, Miss A. Fryer, told the 400 girls residing at the school, that the Queen had asked her if she would allow them an extra day’s holiday.

We are no less excited to celebrate Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee this half term, and wanted to take this opportunity to commemorate how far we as a school have come since that visit in March 1955.

Our School Site RMS is one of the oldest girls’ schools in the country. Founded by Chevalier Ruspini in 1788, the School’s original purpose was to educate the daughters of Freemasons who were unable to support their families through death, illness or disability.

The School started with fifteen pupils and a matron in Somers Place in East London and moved twice within London until it finally settled in 315 acres of grounds in Rickmansworth Park in 1934. The School was purpose built on its site, making the most of its generous land. With over 3000 trees, rolling grassland and exceptional facilities for its day.

At the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, RMS consisted of the main school building, the building we now know as Cadogan House, the Chapel and the houses situated around the Garth. The images and plans here offer an understanding of the layout and use of space as it was at that time. Every girl boarded at RMS and the houses around the garth were a hub of activity and life year round.

With the number of subjects on the curriculum limited Domestic Science, where girls were taught how to iron a man’s shirt, how to cook, sew and darn. Latin and French and German were taught, along with Geography, History, English and Maths as well as Music, Art and all the Sciences.

The three sciences,were taught as separate subjects and involved a lot of hands-on experimentation. Sciences at this time were taught on the long corridor, which even then, was the longest teaching corridor of its kind in Europe.

Our School Site Today RMS in 2022 has grown and expanded to meet the needs of modern education, whilst not losing its connection to it’s history and the beauty of the school setting. Since the coronation, we have grown to include a purpose built science block, our beautiful Resource Centre, a nursery school- Ruspini, the New Mark Hall, the Sports Centre, tennis and astroturf courts, playgrounds for Cadogan and Ruspini, not to mention a complete refurbishment of many of the houses around the garth and Cadogan to convert them into teaching spaces. More recently, we have welcomed the creation of the performing arts centre in Alex House, refurbishment of Hind House to create a separate Sixth Form, and some significant upgrades to our boarding houses.

However, both new girls and alumnae will recognise some enduring features of our school and school routines today that remain little changed!

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was filmed at RMS in 1981, can you spot where in the school these scenes were shot? You’ll see not much has changed!

Our School Day Classrooms The school day used to started at 8:50, with morning prayer in the Great Hall, and it ended at 17:00. Needlework, Religious Knowledge, Music, Drawing, English, French, German, Elocution, Arithmetic, Cookery, History, Science and Drill (or physical education) made up the timetable. They had classic 1950s classrooms, along with a blackboard and wooden desks. They wrote with ink pens on paper and were heavily marked on presentation Now students start school earlier at 8:25 and finish at 16:00. A lot of new lessons have been added into the curriculum since 1950 such as Drama, Computer Science, Spanish or Mandarin, Design Technology and Photography. The classrooms have changed a lot with the addition of plastic tables and chairs and an electronic whiteboard. Now we write on our devices or in biro in our exercise books. A 1950’s teacher would be horrified by the lack of cursive writing!

Drill and The Great Hall The Great Hall was most commonly used for Morning Prayers, which occurred every morning at 8:50, Assemblies and most famously recognised, Drill. In 1955 a special performance of Drill was performed in front of Queen Elizabeth ll. Drill used to be one of the few parts of Physical Education a girl would do along with swimming and Gym. No team sports here!

Now we only use the Great Hall for Friday Assemblies after lunch, Prize day and Drill. Usually Prize Day is on a Friday or Saturday, where all the girls achievements from over the year are commended. Friday Assemblies usually consist of awards and the important topics that occurred in the week or those coming up in the following week. Unfortunately we have had to move Friday Assemblies to the recently built Jubilee Hall, though we all appreciate the opportunity to sit on a carpeted floor for a change.

Our School Day Cadogan House Cadogan House used to be the Medical Center or Infirmary, as it was then known, where girls who had hurt themselves or were ill got taken care of instead of them having to rush to the main town to get treated in a hospital. This area was especially used in the winter flu outbreaks. They always made sure that the medical supplies were correctly stocked at all times so they could treat any illnesses/injury a student would have. Many RMS students went into nursing and got their first experience helping out on the job here.

Now, Cadogan house is the Preparatory School at RMS. There is a hall, several classrooms (two for each year group) and a music and art room. There is a modern science lab for one of the classrooms. In every classroom there are electronic whiteboards.

Some classrooms still use wooden desks although all of the chairs have been switched to plastic.

Cadogan has its own headmistress, currently Mrs Horn. They also have assemblies and other special days, separate from the Senior School.

A 1950’s student would be shocked at the transformation!

The Dining Hall The Dining Hall had wooden floors along with long wooden tables all along the hall. Girls would eat fresh vegetables from the school’s garden along with roast beef, roast mutton, or a similar dish. These would be served by the prefects. They would have breakfast, lunch and dinner in here as all the girls were boarders. There would also be a lot of rationing as World War II had recently ended. Sweet desserts were not the feature they are today and there was certainly no Friday treat for snack!

The Dining Hall has barely changed. The walls, floors, doors, ceiling and chandeliers remain the same. However the chairs and tables have evolved a little. Now Sixth Formers go to lunch first from 12:50-13:00, the students with early lunch passes also get to go first with them.

Then from 13:00-14:00 everyone else can go to lunch. Today the range of foods on offer and the group tables feel more like a buffet restaurant than a canteen, but it’s still very much the hub of the school between lessons.

Our Values In the 1950s most of the girls at RMS were British boarders, daughters of the Freemasons. For example Brenda and Lynn Goodwin, whose mother applied to the Masons for support with the girls because their father had abandoned them and she needed to seek work, which would not have been allowed if people knew she had children. The uniform resembled a nurses uniform and everyone wore it exactly the same way. Drill was a well preserved tradition for every girl. They went to Chapel once at least every day and threee times on Sundays. The school had a strong Christian ethos and respect, kindness and hard work were strongly emphasised.

How Our Values Have Evolved Now the school is multinational and multicultural, with students joining our community from all across the world. We have boarders from a huge variety of countries alongside a day pupil community that represents the faiths, sexualities and cultures you should expect from a school in 2022.

Our Chapel assemblies are now for all religions and are not fully based on Christian values anymore. While we still have an Easter, Harvest and Christmas service, these are focused on our school values.

We have six values, one for each half term. Inclusivity, Courage, Ambition, Kindness, Perseverance and Integrity. Students can achieve Values awards for exhibiting these attributes consistently. We also take great pride in continuing to evaluate how inclusive and welcoming we are to all students from all backgrounds, and we look forward to what the future may hold for us yet.

What was special about RMS for student’s in the 1950’s-1960’s?

The History Club tapped into our alumnae network to find out what they remember most fondly from their school days. The enduring friendships were by far the most commonly mentioned memories! Whether it was sharing a small number of wellies to take turns playing in the snow, driving lessons around the Garth or endless stories of hi jinx in the shared dorms.

Our alumni, much like our students today, commented on the food, favorite lessons or teachers that were simply legendary characters. They shared fond memories of drill and less fond stories of being so cold they had to dry their underwear on hot water pipes. The same hot water pipes students can often be found huddled near when the heating goes on the long corridor today! That may well be yet another system or feature of our school site that is little changed.

Mr Carson said he has multiple things he loves about the school. His favorite, to name just a few, are its unique history, its beautiful grounds, that it is a safe space and above all, the people in it that make it the community it is.

Students commented on how inclusive the school is, how welcoming it can feel and the depth of the friendships they have built. They told stories about decorating form rooms for Christmas, about house day talent shows, trips to Cadbury World, Vietnam, Ghana and many many more far flung locations.

They described many hilarious moments from lessons and co-curriculars that will be making them smile for many years to come. This must be one of the few schools in Britain where most girls have fallen off a tire swing or climbed a tree on the Garth at least once! Not to mention that just about everyone can tell you at least one RMS ghost story (though not one story we heard was actually the same).

Whilst we may have changed in many ways since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, what makes us special and what we would be just as proud to share with her today as we were in 1956, is our community. It’s just a shame she won’t be popping back to see for herself!

Queen Elizabeth II on a visit to RMS in 1955

Produced by History Club 2022 in commemoration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Eda Sazova Emily Graham Maja Lloyd Elizabeth Goodlad Jessica Taylor Zara Waterman Maisie Heath Annabel Dillon Claudia Su With help and support from a great many - thank you for sharing your memories with us.

We hope this booklet will help keep those memories fresh in many years to come.

The Royal Masonic School for Girls Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3 4HF rmsforgirls.com @rmsforgirls admissions@rmsforgirls.com