50 Years of Co-education

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In 2020 Felsted celebrated 50 years of co-education. Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, many of our celebratory events had to be postponed. However, we were still able to celebrate and highlight many of the remarkable achievements that Felsted Girls have made over the last 50 years. 

The history of girls at Felsted to date...

In the Autumn Term of 1970, the first 11 girls were admitted into the Sixth Form by Headmaster Tony Eggleston. The Manor House, a property on Station Road in Felsted, was acquired for the first girls’ boarding house and Mrs Elsie Thorne, wife of Music Master George Thorne, was appointed Housemistress. 

By 1983 there were 40 girls in the Sixth Form and as numbers increased Garnetts was chosen as the site to be developed, with the annexe building completed for the first enlarged intake of sixth form girls in 1984; totalling 60 girls altogether. 

In the early 90’s, Stocks’s House, one of the four original 1890s School houses that includes Gepp’s, Stocks’s, Montgomery’s and Windsor’s, was converted into a girls’ house. Stocks’s House opened its doors to girls aged 13 to 18 in 1993, with Jenny Burrett as its first Housemistress, at the same time as the Prep School also became fully co-educational.

In 1995, Follyfield became a girls’ house under the guidance of Alastair and Moira Grierson Rickford. Within the next five years, the proportion of girls in the school rose roughly to a third and in 2010 the newest girls’ House, named fittingly in memory of Elsie Thorne, opened. The houses have continued to adapt over the years with Garnetts and Windsor’s becoming upper sixth houses in 2007 and Montgomery’s and Manor reopening as day houses in 2008. 

It is hard to think of Felsted today as anything but a co-educational school, with girls now making up 44% of the school from Reception through to Sixth Form (470 girls in total!). Indeed the numbers are an equal split in the Sixth Form with a larger intake of girls joining into the Lower Sixth each year. Girls at Felsted have always made an impact and never hold back to show what they can achieve both at school and beyond. Indeed, in recent years our female Felsteidans have claimed the National Indoor and Outdoor Cricket title, reached the National U19 Semi Finals in hockey and in 2020 qualified for the National U18 finals in netball for the very first time! 

With acknowledgement Alastair Grierson Rickford’s Garde Ta Foy: The Riche Heritage of Felsted School 1564-2014

 

 

 

I remain very happy that my daughter decided on Felsted. The support she has received from her Houseparents, Matron and the spectacular wider team has been nothing short of legendary.
Felsted Parent 

 


 

Alumni Gallery - Female Felstedians 

We are very proud of Old Felstedians who have made and are continuing to make a difference in all walks of life. Our alumni gallery reflects the diversity of professions they pursue and the impact they have made, including the creator of the infinity symbol; a medic who served in Afghanistan; a leading expert in Artificial Intelligence; a social media research expert and many others from a broad range of generations. It is a celebration of all OFs, represented by a few.  

It is a joy to see so many happy, confident and empowered young people at the recent Thorne House Feast. The atmosphere and warmth between the girls in the house could not be missed.
Felsted Parent 

Anniversary News