Royal High School, Bath

Bath High School for Girls

Bath High School for Girls was founded in 1875 by the Girls' Public Day School Company (now the Girls' Day School Trust). It was a direct grant grammar school from 1946 until 1976.

Merger

The Royal High School was formed by the merger in 1998 of Bath High School (day) and the Royal School (day and boarding). As a result, it is the only member of the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) to provide boarding accommodation. Now, the Junior School has Cranwell House as its main building, whereas the Senior School has the main school building and the Winfield centre for sixth form students - both on Lansdown Road.

Junior School

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

The Junior school is situated in the Cranwell House, in Weston Park, very near to the Senior School. It is an outstanding 11 acre learning landscape in which the girls can cherish and celebrate intellectual curiosity, explore diverse creative challenges and enhance the richness of childhood for girls. It caters for pupils from Nursery to Year 6 (age 3 to 11).

The house is a vital thread in the fabric of Bath and its history. Nice facilities and resources enable the school to create an exceptional place for learning for 3- to 11-year-old girls. A Discovery room, a Creativity Zone, an outdoor playground and a brand new Nursery in the renovated Vine House, means the school can offer the very best in specialist education for girls aged 3–11.

Senior School

The senior school is situated in Lansdown Road near Bath city centre.

The main building was built in 1856-8 by James Wilson and is a Grade II listed building. There is a stunning Art School; a Sixth Form café; a fitness suite, a newly refurbished Sixth Form College and boarding house; two Performing Arts Theatres (The Sophie Cameron Performing Arts Centre and The Memorial Hall); The Hudson Centre for lectures and meetings; a Summer swimming pool, tennis courts and hockey pitches; a library bursting with resources and books to cover every conceivable subject and a new Media Centre. The boarding houses are situated in Lansdown Road. The Senior school has a medical centre.

Academic performance

It regularly comes near the top of league tables for Bath schools for GCSE and A-Level results. The school provides Modern Languages including GCSE French, which girls start to learn in Reception class. German, Spanish, Italian and Chinese are also available. The school also provides the IB Programme, where it had an average score of 37 points in 2015.

Arts

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. The art school comprises four studios, where specialisms vary across an activities including 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. Leavers have gone on to St Martins, London, Edinburgh University, Glasgow school of art, Falmouth school of art and Parsons New York. Degree choices vary from Fine Art and Fashion through to Architecture and Photography.

In 2011 a History of Art A’ level began.

Music

The Music Department is housed on two floors and has a suite of 10 practice rooms, IT Music Suite, Main Teaching Room, office and instrument storage facilities. Ensembles consist of Junior Choir Yr7 and 8, Senior Choir Yr9 – 13, Chamber Choir, V20 (Show and Pop Choir), Orchestra, Swing Band, Wind Band, Chamber Groups and Pop/Rock Bands.

The department has concerts throughout the academic year both internally and externally. International tours take a place every two years and there are opportunities for students to learn an instrument, provided by a team of 18 instrumental staff. Ensembles participate in local and national music festivals/competitions.

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 Autumn Upper School play for students in Years 10-13, previous productions include, ‘Guys & Dolls’, ‘The Crucible’, ‘The Boy Friend’, and ‘The Tempest’.

There is an annual Summer Lower School play for students in Years 7-9, previous productions include, ‘Cold Comfort Farm’, ‘Pride & Prejudice’, ‘The Wind in the Willows’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The Year 13 Theatre Studies students run the weekly Year 7 Drama Club and the drama scholars produce their own evening of performances every term. Students can participate in Speech & Drama lessons.

PE and Sports

The sports facilities at Royal High School Bath are situated on its Lansdown site. Girls play hockey, netball, tennis and athletics from participation level to elite. Royal High School competes with all other public schools in Somerset and can use the University of Bath Olympic Sports Training Village for training and competitions.

On-site facilities include:

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

School houses

There are four houses for the Junior School and four for the Senior School:

     For Charlcombe(Junior school) and Brontë(Senior School)
     For Grosvenor(Junior School) and Du pré(Senior School)
     For Lansdown(Junior School) and Wolstonecraft(Senior School)
     For Northfields(Junior School) and Austen(Senior School)

Notable alumni

Royal School

Bath High School