Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96It is 40 years since the School admitted girls for the first time and this anniversary has been celebrated this academic year. Former pupil, Lousie Delahunty, who was one of the first four girls to enter the Sixth Form in 1976, was the guest speaker at the school’s Prize Giving on 18 September. Louise spoke to the gathered pupils, parents and staff about her recollections of her time at the school, including when she asked some Fifth Form boys for directions, only to be picked up by her elbows and deposited in some far-flung corner of the school, nowhere near where she wanted to be. The School formally celebrated the 40th Anniversary with an afternoon tea in the Library for former and current pupils and staff on 26 September 2015. Guests were welcomed by the Headmaster with a glass of celebratory fizz before being taken on tours of the school by current Sixth Form girls. The tours were followed by afternoon tea and a discussion chaired by Sheila Woolf (former Head of English) about the impact of co-education on the school. Sheila kicked off the discussion with her recollections of being one of the first female teachers at the school. Vice Chair of Governors, Nigel Lee (Class of ’70), bemoaned the loss of balcony privileges but ultimately conceded that the arrival of girls had been a good thing. Dr Melanie Adams (nee Holmes, Class of ’75) spoke about how well her education at the school had prepared her for life as a scientist and an inventor. Cas Britton, a former member of staff who was the first female Deputy Head at the School, spoke about the obstacles she had overcome in that role. The current head girl, Rachael Abbey, concluded the speeches with an account of contemporary life at the school before the discussion was thrown open to guests for their reminiscences. In preparation for the celebration, I spoke to several former members of staff who participated in the move to co-education some of whom were unable to join us on the day. They included Pat Hobday and Kathleen and Rhydian James and I am very grateful to all of them. Helen Cooper (Class of 1975), Librarian “urgh! girls!” My very first memory of King Henry VIII School is being led along the top corridor towards the tower to sit the entrance examination. We nearly made it unscathed, but then the bell went and an army of boys emerged. It was noisy, but not so noisy that we couldn’t hear the groans of, “Urgh! GIRLS!” The first 30 girls were all in the 1st Year (now Year 7) and although we comprised 25% of our year group, we amounted to less than 4% of the whole pupil population. It is probably hard to imagine now that there was a time when there were only 30 girls and a handful of female staff in the Senior School. Up until that point, the School had been a traditional boys’ grammar school, just like “The History Boys”. There were no proper girls’ changing facilities when we first arrived and the mostly male staff were clueless about girls and how to behave towards us. Boys were called by their surnames whereas girls were called by their first names and a section of the playground was set aside for us so that we would be protected from the boys. I still feel proud every time I get the opportunity to tell someone that I was one of those 30 pioneers. Here are the musings of some of my contemporaries. Joy Collison (nee Finlay, Class of 1975) “I believe that being in the Class of 1975 armed me with a certain resilience and independence ….. [we] were breaking traditions, challenging norms and entering new territory for the school.” Jayne Lewis (nee Skipper, Class of 1975) “I know it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I loved the competitive element (inter-house, inter-school, even positions in end-of-year reports, etc.) -- at the start everything seemed possible.” Adrian Warner (Class of 1974) “I remember that fence which separated you guys from us in the first year. That was a bit weird.” Sarah Bertrand (nee Day, Class of 1975) “The incredible experience of being 11, and one of 30 complete singularities in a group of 800 or so, historically united and totally unprepared youths ….. It was unique, painful and exhilarating all at once.” Malvern Carvell (Class of 1974) “It would be really interesting to know how the School planned [the admission of girls] and whether they thought things went well. I’m sure they made lots of errors and from my memory some things were made up very much on the hoof (summer uniform being one example!).” John Higgon (Class of 1975) “Character building.” Helen Cooper, Librarian Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Co-education at King henry viii school 2015 To 2016 | 11