Description
St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls is one of the oldest schools for girls in Britain.
It was established in 1699 as a charitable enterprise by the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Its popularity and growth led to its relocation in 1928 on a larger site in Tulse Hill, in the South London borough of Lambeth, England. For most of its history it was a grammar school, but it is now a secondary school with academy status.
History
The school was founded by the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields in 1699 as a charity. Those who ran the parish at the time, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, were considered radical, for their notion that there should be a local school for girls as well as boys.
The school was originally in Charing Cross Road, near the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church. It was known as St Martin's Middle Class School for Girls, and only later became known as St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls. Parish endowments thus made possible the education of girls. The school did well and grew, in what was a populous fast-growing parish. By the early twentieth century growth was such that a bigger building with proper grounds and playing fields became necessary. The school relocated to its present site in 1928. The nearby Strand School had fifteen years earlier moved to the same area for similar reasons. St Martins' new buildings were officially opened by the then Duchess of York, wife of the future King George VI, better known in later decades as the Queen Mother.
In 1999, her majesty Elizabeth II took part in the school celebrations of its tercentenary.
The school maintains close links with its founding church in Trafalgar Square.
The school has a long-standing exchange link with Anchovy High School, Anchovy, near Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The school badge depicts the eponymous St. Martin of Tours. The school motto Caritate et disciplina translates as "With Love and Learning". The school remains Christian but accepts girls of all faiths.
