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Education in the 21st Century – buildings and bursaries
Education Our vision at Wimbledon High in the 21st Century School is to be a leader in girls’ education, promoting an innovative cross-curricular approach that brings learning alive.
Whether you believe the hypothesis that, ‘85% of jobs in 2030 have not been created yet’ or see this potential as being deeply problematic (2030 is only 10 years away…), what we do know for certain is that resilience, creativity, adaptability and critical thinking are going to be highly valued skills for the workforce of the future.
Our greatest challenge in delivering our vision is the physical setting of the school. Whilst we are very proud of our architectural heritage and our historic position in the heart of the community, we are significantly restricted by the current site. This is challenging for us since we believe passionately that the built environment and learning spaces should reflect the educational philosophy of the school. In October 2017, Wimbledon High School opened its first dedicated STEAM space, bringing together science, technology, engineering, maths and the arts in their widest sense. This allowed our teachers even greater opportunity to collaborate across traditional subject divides to inspire our girls, developing a spirit of inquiry and the skills of independent research.
This new approach was warmly received by students and teachers alike – and it became clear very quickly that one classroom would not provide the necessary space to deliver this innovative educational approach for all our girls from Reception to Year 13. This led to plans to develop a STEAM Tower – an extension of our existing science building, creating four new classrooms, including a new laboratory and an open plan art space at the top. The Tower would also be home to design and technology, graphics, product design and textiles, incorporating multi-purpose learning areas to support research and collaborative learning.
Our beautiful new STEAM Tower opened in September 2020 providing us with some truly exciting new learning spaces. However, the concept of STEAM (or in fact STEAM+, as our next phase is known) is not a place, or a room, but rather a mind-set. It is a way of thinking that allows us not to be limited by the subjects we study, but rather encourages us to see links between subjects, to look at making connections, exploring new avenues, and solving real-world problems. STEAM+ is for all subjects, and for all students and staff at WHS.
The STEAM Tower is the first phase of our four-year building programme, Project Ex Humilibus, which has the overarching goal of re-configuring and building space to enhance Wimbledon High School for all. In 2021, our focus will move to Phase 2 and the creation of the following new spaces for the whole school community:
A new Sixth Form Centre that offers an inspiring, sophisticated and appropriate space that bridges school and university life.
A Hall alongside the new Sixth
Form Centre for all our Senior
School girls to gather in one place for assembly, that will also double up as a performance and event space for the whole school and wider community to enjoy. A new, beautifully enclosed, secure playground for our
Junior girls, on top of our new
Assembly Hall, which will be known as our “Playground in the Sky.” These new spaces build on our educational vision to create a school with curiosity and creativity at its very heart. And excitingly, both our STEAM Tower and these new spaces are also very much being designed with the wider school community in mind.
“Project Ex Humilibus is a transformative project for Wimbledon High School. I am delighted to support it as both an alumna and a former Chair of Governors. It is a project close to my heart, which I believe, will keep the school at the forefront of girls’ education. The re-development of the site builds on our much-loved heritage as a school that has been in the heart of Wimbledon for 140 years. It will champion innovation and excellence and leave an impressive legacy for future generations. I urge fellow alumnae to support this inspirational project - whether as a thank you for the education they received or as an investment in the next generation of WHS girls.”
BRIDGET ROSEWELL, cbe , class of 1969 and former chair of governors
Our feature on pages 10-11 – WHS in the Community - outlines some of our existing local partnerships, and we are now looking to take some of these initiatives to the next level. As a school, we want WHS students to step out to shape the society in which they live and work. There is no better way for our girls to do this than by ensuring our partnership programme is core to our curriculum. We believe wholeheartedly that our girls benefit from their involvement in the programme as much as those that we are helping. Beyond this, our partnership work has enabled our bursary programme to grow, by allowing us to work closely with local schools to identify those students who will thrive at Wimbledon High School, but who would not typically have access to an education at our school due to their financial circumstances. Currently 36 students receive a bursary each year, with 26 receiving 100% bursary awards. We would love to increase the number of bursary funded students at the school, you can find out more about our long term plans for bursaries in the enclosed GDST brochure “Help Girls Learn Without Limits”. Programmes like SHINE and Clever Clogs allow primary school children to spend time at WHS and see the opportunities on offer first hand, breaking down barriers and raising awareness of the WHS experience - this has led to increased applications for bursary places with us and we want to encourage and award more bursaries in the future.
“My time at Wimbledon High was life changing. Coming from a single parent home on a council estate, the opportunities I had for a high-quality education were extremely limited, and I was very fortunate to be offered a fully funded place. What I learnt during my time at school, however, surpassed academic achievements: I discovered the value of ambition and determination, of networking and hard work, and the strength that I had in myself to achieve. I credit my current position in life - a management consultant with KPMG, down to the lessons I learnt at Wimbledon High. My time at school opened doors for me that would have been extremely difficult to do otherwise, and I will always be thankful to the Bursary Fund for its invaluable help.”
STUDENT ON BURSARY ( class
of 2008 )
