Wycombe High School
Wycombe High School is a girls' grammar school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire taking girls from the age of 11 to 18. The school became an academy in 2011, and in 2020 had 1,308 pupils.
Wycombe High School
- Name
- Wycombe High School
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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Wycombe High School • Motto — Fortiter, Fideliter, Feliciter (Courageously, Faithfully, Joyfully) • Established — 1901 • Type — Academy Grammar school • Head Label — Headteacher • Head — Nicola Renyard • Specialist — Mathematics and Computing College • Address — Marlow Road • City — High Wycombe • County — Buckinghamshire • Postal Code — HP11 1TB • Country — England • Ofsted — yes • Urn — 136723 • Enrolment — 1348 • Gender — Girls • Lower Age — 11 • Upper Age — 18 • Houses — * Austen • Brontë • Curie • Parks • Pankhurst • Nightingale • Colours — BlueMaroon Blue and Burgundy
Formation
Formation
The school was the first state grammar school for girls in Buckinghamshire when it opened in 1901 with eighteen pupils. In 1901, the school was housed in the Clock House in Frogmoor, High Wycombe. At that time, enrolment was 18 fee-paying pupils and three staff. Miss Mary Christie M.A. was the first headmistress. The school moved to Benjamin Road in 1906 where it remained for 50 years, except for a time during the First World War when it was evacuated to the old grammar school so that the Benjamin Road buildings could be used as a military hospital. By 1922 the school had 300 pupils and was rapidly expanding.
Second World War
Second World War
Ealing County Girls' School (now The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls) was evacuated to Buckinghamshire until July 1942. The Ealing County Boys' School was evacuated to Aylesbury Grammar School.
Expansion after the war
Expansion after the war
The school acquired its status as a Voluntary Controlled girl's grammar school in 1944. By 1956 the number of girls wishing to attend the school was so great that the school moved again to new premises that were built at the present site on Marlow Hill. It won the BBC Radio quiz show Top of the Form in 1958 and 1980. In September 2005, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) awarded the school specialist school status in Mathematics & Computing.
Buildings
Buildings
Over the years, buildings have been added to the school, such as Technology, Sport and Drama blocks. These were built to allow for the extra 300 pupils and staff that arrived when Lady Verney High School joined with Wycombe High in 1993. The most recent addition is a new music centre which opened in the summer term in 2015. The school houses a well-resourced library, conference facilities, and the school archive.
Curriculum
Curriculum
Subjects taught at Wycombe High School from Year 7 are: English, Maths, Science, Art, Spanish, History, Geography, French, Computing, Latin, Religious Studies, Physical Education, Drama and Technology (alternating between Graphics, Textiles and Food throughout the year).
Notable former pupils
• Julia Bone, tennis player • Rita Clifton CBE, advertising executive • Gladys Colton, headmistress of City of London School for Girls, 1949 to 1972 • Monica Felton, writer, town planner, feminist and social activist • Isa Guha, England cricketer • E. L. James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey • Penny Jamieson, Bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand • Shan Morgan CMG, British diplomat • Marion McQuillan (1921 – 1998), British metallurgist who specialised in the engineering uses for titanium and its alloys • Rachel Burden, journalist and radio / TV presenter
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Wycombe High School, revision 1368261768 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.GOV.UK. Wycombe High School. Get information about schools.
- 2.Department for Education. Open academies map and schools submitting applications.
- 3.Wycombe High School. GOV.UK. 20 October 2020.
- 4.Heritage Lottery Fund. Project: The Wycombe High School Centre for the History of Girl's State Education. Grants Database.
- 5.Middlesex County Times Saturday 4 November 1939, page 6
- 6.Middlesex County Times Saturday 27 January 1940, page 7
- 7.Middlesex County Times Saturday 9 December 1939, page 7
- 8.Middlesex County Times Saturday 27 January 1940, page 7
- 9.Kington Times, 10 January 1958, p. 1; Buckinghamshire Advertiser, 28 March 1958, p. 2; Daily Telegraph, 17 February 1981, p. 14.
- 10.DfES. Specialist Schools Home. July 2006.
- 11.About the School.
- 12.Slade, Joe. Bone has dream Wimbledon date. Bucks Free Press. 2005-06-25.
- 13."COLTON, Gladys M.", in Who Was Who 1981–1990 (London: A. & C. Black, 1991, ); online edition by Oxford University Press, December 2007
- 14.A & C Black; online ed., Oxford University Press. JAMIESON, Rt Rev. Penelope Ann Bansall. Who's Who 2008. 2008.
- 15.Wareham, Stephanie. Radio 5 live presenter to return to former school to speak to pupils. Bucks Free Press. 15 June 2015.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 26 September 2026.
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