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Royal High School Bath
Front view of Royal High School
Address
Lansdown Road Bath , Somerset , BA1 5SZ England
Coordinates	51°23′52″N 2°21′55″W / 51.3977°N 2.3654°W / 51.3977; -2.3654
Information
Former names	Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army Bath and Lansdown Proprietary College
Type	Public school Independent boarding school
Religious affiliation(s)	Inter-denominational
Established	1998 (merger)
Local authority	Bath and North East Somerset
Trust	Girls' Day School Trust (GDST)
Department for Education URN	109348 Tables
Acting Head	Hadrian Briggs [1] [2]
Gender	Girls
Age	3 to 19
Enrolment	607 (2024) [1]
Capacity	940 [1]
Houses	Du Pré   Wollstonecraft   Brontë   Austen
Colour(s)
Website	www.royalhighbath.gdst.net

Royal High School Bath is an independent day and boarding school for girls in Bath, Somerset, England. ^[3] Formed in 1998 through the merger of Bath High School and the Royal School (established in 1864), it enrolls about 650 pupils aged 3 to 19 and offers boarding for approximately 150 girls. In the Sixth Form, students can choose between the International Baccalaureate and A-Level qualifications. ^[4] The school is a member of the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST).

History

Founding and merger

The school was founded as the Bath and Lansdown Proprietary College, a boy's day school under the patronage of the Duke of Beaufort and the Marquess of Lansdowne with the Reverend S. H. Widdrington as chairman (the coats of arms of all three are still on the building). ^[5] In 1864, it was purchased with the patronage of Queen Victoria, to educate orphaned daughters of Army officers, after the Crimean War. ^[6] On 24 August 1865, it opened as the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army, modelled after the Royal Naval School for girls, a boarding school founded in 1840. ^[5]

In 1998, the Royal School amalgamated with the Bath High School for Girls, which was established by the Girls Public Day School Company in September 1875 at Portland Place in Lansdown, to form the Royal Bath High School (RHS). ^[7] The former Royal School premises became the Senior School, while the former Bath High School became the Junior School. ^[8] RHS is the sole member of the Girls' Day School Trust, the UK’s largest network of girls’ independent schools, with boarding facilities. ^[9]

Buildings

Designed by architect James Wilson at the top of Lansdown Road in Bath, the main building was completed in 1856, a few year after Wilson had designed the Wesleyan College (now Kingswood School). ^{[10] [11]} Built in Gothic Revival style, the building is a Grade II listed building, ^[12] it comprised the Senior School and the Winfield centre for sixth form students – both on Lansdown Road. The Chapel of the Royal High School built in 1939 and designed by H.S. Goodhart-Rendel in stripped Gothic style with Tudor detailing, is also a Grade II listed building. ^[13]

The Prep School is at Cranwell House, a Grade II listed Victorian mansion in Weston Park. ^[14]

Academics

The school regularly comes near the top of league tables for Bath schools for GCSE and A-Level results. ^[15] The school provides Modern Languages including GCSE French, which girls start to learn in reception class. German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, and Japanese are also available. The school also provides the IB Programme, where it had an average score of 35 points in 2023. ^[16]

In 2023, the school was one of the top 50 boarding schools in the UK. ^[17]

Facilities

There is an Art School; a Sixth Form café; a fitness suite, a separate Sixth Form building and newly refurbished boarding houses; two erforming Arts Theatres (The Sophie Cameron Performing Arts Centre and The Memorial Hall); The Hudson Centre for lectures and meetings; a sports hall complex, netball and tennis courts, an astroturf; a library, a Media Centre, and a new music school and state of the art recording studio. ^[18] The boarding houses are in Lansdown Road. The Senior school has a medical centre.

Art

The art school was opened by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling – Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chairman of the Arts Council, England – in November 2008. There are four studios for activities such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, film and photography. In 2006 it received an award from the 'Good Schools Guide' for gaining the best A level results in the country over a three-year period.^{[ citation needed]} Degree choices vary from Fine Art and Fashion through to Architecture and Photography.

The building was designed by Textus architectural practice to replicate other professional art schools, like the Royal Academy Schools and the Prince's Drawing School, which can be transformed from working studios into exhibition spaces. There are studio spaces for drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and three-dimensional work.

In 2011 a History of Art A-level began to be offered.

Music

The Music Department (Steinway School Status from January 2020)^{[ citation needed]} is housed in a purpose-built Music School and consists of a 60-seat Recital Room with a Model B Steinway grand piano, state of the art, soundproofed recording studios with two Model AS Steinway grand pianos, 10 soundproofed practice rooms each containing upright Steinway pianos, Apple Mac suite, main teaching room, Green Room, reception area, offices and instrument storage facilities.

Ensembles consist of Vocalise (Year 7–9 choir), V20 (Show and Pop choir), Chamber Choir, The Sixth Sense (6th Form Choir), Orchestra, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Brass Ensemble, Sax Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble and Pop & Rock Bands.

The department produces 35-40 concerts during the academic year, both internally and externally, and a whole-school production every Summer Term. International tours take place every two years and there are opportunities for all students to learn any musical instrument, provided by professional visiting instrumental staff.

As part of the department's Steinway Music School status, there is a regular programme of masterclasses and recitals led by leading artists who work closely with the students.

Drama

The Drama department has use of the school's two performance venues; the Memorial Hall is a traditional 'end on' performance space and has movable raked seating, the Sophie Cameron Performing Arts is a converted chapel with almost limitless performance possibilities. There is an annual Summer musical, open to all students. Previous productions include, 'Guys & Dolls', 'Annie', 'Oliver!' and 'Stepping Out'.

There is an annual Lower School play for students in Years 7–8 and an upper school play open to Year 9 and upwards. Previous KS3 productions include, 'Cold Comfort Farm', 'Pride & Prejudice', 'The Wind in the Willows', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and at KS4; 'The Crucible', 'Antigone', and 'Numbers'. The Year 13 Theatre Studies students run the weekly Year 7 Drama Club and the drama scholars regularly produce their own evening of performances throughout the school year. Students can participate in Speech & Drama lessons, and the school also participates in the National Theatre Connections Festival biannually.Students at the Prep school put on plays too.

PE and sports

The sports facilities at Royal High School Bath are on the Lansdown site. Girls play a wide range of sports with elite performers in equestrian, gymnastics, swimming, netball, biathlon, fencing, and martial arts. Royal High School competes with a range of state and independent schools, participates in national leagues and competitions, and accesses high-performance facilities at the University of Bath Olympic Sports Training Village.

On-site facilities include:

• All-weather Astroturf for hockey
• Tennis courts
• Netball courts
• Outdoor swimming pool
• Football field
• Rounders pitches
• Indoor sports hall
• Gym suite
• Dance studio
• Gymnastic equipment
• Cricket pitches
• Off-site, an equestrian team trains at local equestrian centres.

Sporting achievements within the school are awarded by the presentation of "Colours" annually for commitment to clubs and extra-curricular activities.

Houses

Royal High School divides its pupils into four Houses: Austen, Bronte, Du Pre and Wollstonecraft. Each House competes against the others throughout the year. ^[19]

Prep School

Girls can start in the Nursery School one and a half months before they are three years old. The Prep School will take pupils in the September after their fourth birthday. The Prep School has around 200 full-time pupils from Reception to Year 6, and around 20 part-time pupils in the Nursery.

Notable alumni

Royal School

• Mary Duggan, cricketer
• Sheila Gish, actress
• Gillian Howell (1927–2000), architect ^[20]
• June Lloyd, Baroness Lloyd of Highbury, Nuffield Professor of Child Health from 1985 to 1992 at the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, Professor of Child Health from 1975 to 1985 at St George's Hospital Medical School, and President from 1988 to 1991 of the British Paediatric Association
• Myrtle Maclagan, cricketer
• Iris Morley, historian
• Edith Picton-Turbervill, Labour MP from 1929 to 1931 for The Wrekin
• Susan Strange, economist
• Cecil Woodham-Smith (née Fitzgerald), historian
• Sonia Melchett (née Graham), socialite and writer
• Penny Mountbatten, Lady Ivar Mountbatten, businesswoman and philanthropist

Bath High School

• Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and CEO of the Big Lottery Fund
• Mary Berry, food writer
• Jennie Formby, senior official in the Unite trade union and General Secretary of the Labour Party
• Elspeth Howe, Baroness Howe of Idlicote, wife of Geoffrey Howe, and chair 1997–9 of the Broadcasting Standards Commission
• Joan Heal Actress
• Dr Cicely Williams, advisor in Maternal and Child Health, pioneer in the treatment of kwashiorkor, and the first Head of the maternal and child health section at the World Health Organization
• Bunny Guinness, landscape designer

References

External links

Media related to Royal High School, Bath at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website