10 years of girls at Lancing College

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Lancing College celebrates 10 years of girls throughout the school

This September, it is ten years since the first girls joined Year 9, the most junior class of Lancing College, to complete their entire senior school education here. These thirteen year olds were a positive, cheerful, inquisitive bunch, full of energy, very noisy – and undaunted by the prospect of being surrounded by so many boys! As a cohort, they seemed to span the arc of talents – there were musicians, choristers, thespians, sporty girls, academics, artists and the socially magnetic. Within weeks of picking up a hockey stick, they'd won the regional U14 tournament; they formed a girls’ Football Eleven; and they successfully slid into place in lessons and debates. This was the start of an exciting new phase for Lancing.

There are currently one-hundred and seventy-two girls on the school roll this autumn; and thirty of these have joined in Year 9. Lancing is fully co-educational.

The girls at Lancing are given outstanding opportunities to develop all their talents and abilities, and are stretched academically.  They live and work alongside the boys; and the presence of girls has raised the academic aspirations of all students, particularly the younger pupils. The co-educational community of Lancing is an excellent preparation for higher education and life in the adult world.

The girls’ achievements are impressive. For instance, this year, the school’s highest performing A Level student wasAnna Sherrington from Worthing, who gained A stars in  Latin, Maths, Further Maths and Economics.  She will study Economics at University College London (UCL). Lancing girls consistently obtain very high results at A Level in the more challenging subjects, such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Other successes this summer included Yoanne Chan, an excellent artist, who will read Architecture at Cambridge, as well as Georgina Carr and Saskia Greenhalgh, who will read History and Archaeology & Anthropology, respectively, at Oxford. Whilst at Lancing, Saskia also played a major role in the CCF and organised the College’s highly successful charity fashion show.

 

Girls also contribute enormously to the performing arts at the school, in both drama and music. Poppy Ewence, an outstanding oboe player, won the Junior Royal Academy of Music Wind Prize whilst here, and is now about to begin music studies at King’s College, London

Girls have broadened the sporting achievements at the school. Charlotte Woolliscroft, at just 20, has already made her mark on the world of competitive swimming. In 2008, whilst successfully studying for her A Levels, she swam in South Africa's Open Water Championships, coming 5th overall and the third fastest Briton. She was then placed 11th in the European Open Water Championships in Seville, and was Britain’s top placed swimmer both men’s and women’s races. Since leaving Lancing, she has won further international awards, and is hoping to represent her country in the 2012 Olympics.

There are three Houses for 13-18 year old girls at Lancing, as well as a dedicated Sixth Form House.  Younger girls live and work together in small groups. From Year 11, each one has an individual study bedroom.  All years have a dedicated housemistress, resident matron and house tutors.

Lizzie Gardner was one of he first girls to go right through the school. She left Lancing in 2005, to study Geography at UCL, where she graduated with a First Class Honours BSc. After taking a year out to explore Australia and New Zealand, she is now studying for an MSc in Conservation, also at UCL. Lizzie remembers:“The high standard and variety of teaching that I was so fortunate to experience at Lancing enhanced my thirst to gain knowledge about the world around me.  Whether from books, or from first hand experience, it was the teachers who made me appreciate the value of learning from others, wherever they are in the world.”

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