A Peek Into Glendower’s 130th Anniversary Celebrations

From its founding in 1895 by the visionary Edith Lloyd and Maud Cornwall – women who dared to create an academically ambitious education for girls in an era that discouraged it – Glendower Prep has stood as an act of revolutionary hope for women. Their legacy of empowerment continues today, as the school celebrates its 130th anniversary, not just as a milestone but as a recommitment to shaping the future “one girl at a time.”

This academic year’s celebrations have brought together pupils, parents, alumni, and even four-legged friends, in a series of joyful and meaningful events that honoured the school’s history, community, and forward-looking spirit.

On our return to school in January, pupils attended a special “Happy Birthday Glendower” assembly, where we began to explore the importance of this milestone with a talk from our Head, Ms Boyd, on the revolutionary history of the school and how we would be celebrating it. Each girl and staff member received a limited-edition Glendower badge to mark their contribution to our special anniversary.

The festivities gathered pace on the evening of the 14th of May, when Glendower welcomed back a wonderful mix of former pupils and parents for an Alumni Drinks Reception – including two gentlemen who attended the school during the brief period that Glendower was co-educational in the 1940s! Alumni mingled over drinks and canapés, enjoyed solo performances by some of our talented Prep musicians, and listened to an inspiring speech from Ms Boyd about how Glendower’s past continues to inspire its future. Our fantastic Year 5 volunteers led nostalgic tours, prompting warm, funny, and touching stories from pupils past and present that celebrated the school’s enduring community spirit.

In June, the whole school took part in an exciting 130th Anniversary History Week. In a special nod to the school’s origins, Years 1 to 4 had a taste of life in a Victorian classroom as we welcomed the fearsome “Schoolmaster Smith.” Each class experienced a lesson typical of 130 years ago, complete with “the 3 Rs” (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic), learning by rote, and some very Victorian behaviour management! Those with twiddly thumbs were put in the finger stocks, while slouchers experienced the posture board, and many a “dunce” was caught out by the question: “How many pennies are in a pound?” How silly of us to think the answer was a hundred – in 1895 it was, in fact, 240!

Whilst their younger peers experienced life in the Victorian classroom back at school, Years 5 and 6 explored the Ragged School Museum, once home to Dr Barnardo’s Copperfield Road Ragged School. Under the stern eye of a schoolmistress, they sat at wooden desks, wrote lines on slates, and were subject to the punishments of the era – immersing themselves in the challenges of Victorian education and reflecting on their privileges today. The girls were shocked to learn that not only was school a much stricter place in the Victorian period, but that female students were often not welcome in the classroom at all.

The celebrations of the week continued on a very different note with our inaugural “Big Glendower Dog Walk” – a whole-community walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which brought together over a hundred pupils, parents, and their pups for a sunny morning filled with laughter and school pride, all in aid of this year’s school charities. The girls could be heard recounting their Victorian Classroom experiences to their parents and peers as they walked, with many expressing how lucky they felt to attend school in the 21st century, and debating how much has changed in between!

To bring our week of historical adventures to a close, our wonderful kitchen team treated us to an exciting 130th Anniversary Victorian Tea Party! With the girls dressed to the nines, gramophone music drifting through the air, and our dining hall transformed into a Victorian tea parlour, it made for a truly special lunchtime. The coronation chicken sandwiches and Victoria sponge were an appropriately themed hit among many delicious treats, and much laughter could be heard as the girls played at being Victorian ladies.

Whilst our 130th-anniversary celebrations are not yet over, we bring the 2024–25 academic year to a close in the knowledge that we will not just honour our history, but explore and strengthen our commitment to our founders’ vision of enabling girls to shape not only their own futures, but to be changemakers, question-askers, and mould-breakers.

Roll on our next round of festivities in the Winter term ahead!