Woldingham is a leading independent boarding and day school for girls set in 700 acres in the Surrey Hills. Founded in 1842, Woldingham is one of the oldest schools for girls in the UK. Every year the school educates more than 600 students from around the UK and overseas.
As a school, a charity, a local business and the custodian of 700 acres of land in the Surrey Hills, Woldingham has a wide and positive impact on our students, alumnae, staff, local community and wider world. Our bold vision - to provide an outstanding education that empowers women to change the world – underpins all that we do and this has a lasting legacy for anyone with connections to the school.
Thousands of students have been educated at Woldingham and hundreds of people have been employed at the school from teachers to gardeners and boarding staff to office staff since the school was established by two
sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart with six pupils in 1842. Now in the school’s 180th year, Woldingham students have left to become government ministers, leading academics, award-winning actors and authors, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs. The list is endless.
A Woldingham education not only enables students to achieve outstanding exam results which open doors to top universities and exciting careers, they learn important life skills of resilience, determination and kindness. Our aim is for every student who attends Woldingham to leave with courage, compassion and courageousness. This will enable each one to have a fulfilled life and positive impact on their and our world as we support each of our students to #WriteYourOwnStory both at school and throughout their lives.
As the world contends with a climate crisis, Woldingham is seeking to make a step change in reducing our carbon footprint and making a positive contribution to environmental sustainability in all that we do from the fuel we use to keep us warm to the curriculum we teach. We have started this work but recognise we have more to do in the coming years.
Our report is divided into Woldingham’s impact in four key areas: academic excellence, economic and environment, public benefit, and lifelong impact. I hope you will find it useful and interesting.
Dr James Whitehead, Head
Students who took A Levels and GCSE exams received outstanding results in summer 2021 thanks to their hard work and commitment and inspirational teaching from our staff. Our A Level students had missed out on sitting GCSEs in 2020 because of COVID-19 so this was their first experience of public exams.
Students continued to excel in external competitions. Two students received a Certificate of Distinction and one a Certificate of Merit in UKMT Mathematics Olympiad for Girls. One Year 11 student was named winner and another runner up in the Key Stage 4 section of the University of Exeter’s History Essay Competition. In the Sixth Form, a student essay was shortlisted for the prestigious John Locke Institute Essay Prize 2021 in the economics category.
78% GCSE results graded 9-7
6 students received at least 10 grade 9 GCSEs
55% A Level results graded A*-A
100% A Levels in French and Spanish were A*
Directly employing more than 240 people and educating more than 600 students, Woldingham makes a significant impact to the local economy in east Surrey through the salaries and taxes we pay, the supplies we purchase and the income the school generates. The annual turnover of the school was £18 million, making Woldingham one of the larger organisations and employers in Tandridge District Council area.
Where possible, the school buys locally and aims to be a good neighbour.
Over the last year, Woldingham developed new plans to improve our impact on the environment and these will come to fruition over the coming years. We made some improvements this year. For example, we introduced a zero-landfill waste contract, designed new buildings to be energy efficient, and introduced more plant-based meals.
£25.6m contribution to UK GDP
£7.6m tax paid
£3.3m
savings for UK taxpayers from students not taking a free UK state school place
Woldingham opened a new outdoor education centre, which will play an important role in supporting Woldingham’s environmental plans, especially around environmental awareness, behavioural change as well as curriculum development and delivery. The centre will also provide a new income stream from commercial lets in the holidays and weekends, when it is not used by students, for reinvestment in the school, grounds and bursaries.
The school continues our vital role as custodians of 700 acres of stunning Surrey countryside in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI). Thousands of walkers, horse riders and cyclists use the public footpaths and bridleways through the school and the wider estate, which are maintained by Woldingham.
£14.3m contribution to GDP of Tandridge area
465 jobs in UK supported by Woldingham’s activities
As the world became gripped by the sad news of the conflict in Ukraine, Woldingham’s response was both impressive and practical with students stepping up to raise money and donate products to people in Ukraine and to support funding bursaries for Ukrainian girls who had to leave their homes and are now living in the UK. Five school places were secured for Ukrainian students for the next academic year.
In the 2021 to 2022 academic year, we were able to run more outreach events for pupils at local primary and senior schools as life returned to normal after the COVID pandemic. The PE Department ran specialist sports coaching at local primary schools, the Music Department provided
£3,000
raised by six Year 11 students for Ukraine
£6,500 donation of new sportswear for Ukraine from chaplaincy team
600 books donated to The Children’s Book Project
Half a freight container of uniform donated to children’s charity in Sierra Leone
music lessons at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, hosted the annual Junior Choir Festival and held the inaugural Orchestra Day attended by 150 musicians, including pupils from eight primary and prep schools, where professionals from the London Mozart Players performed alongside junior musicians from 8 to 18 years old. The Science Department hosted pupils from a local Caterham primary school to the Royal Institution’s ‘Energy Live’ at school. Secondary school students from Warlingham School and Oasis Academy in Coulsdon attended STEM Live events with presentations from leading scientists.
40 hours specialist music teaching for 30 pupils at St Francis’ Catholic Primary
£2,000
fundraised by Houses and Carol Service collection for Laini Saba School, Kenya
54 students received bursaries
£737,000 spent on bursaries
2 Polish Sixth Formers attended with bursary support
Four Sixth Form students from Warlingham School took part in Woldingham’s first STEM Solutions event, competing against students from five local independent schools. Our support of the Cardinal Hume Centre continued and we organised a collection for the Purley Food Bank from the Harvest Festival.
Woldingham continues to provide a range of support in the form of bursaries to enable students to attend Woldingham who would not be able to attend otherwise. Seven students – one in each year group - currently receive Jayne Triffitt
bursaries, named in honour of a previous Woldingham Head. Two academically able students from Poland joined Woldingham with bursary support and two additional Polish students were given places for 2022-23. A space was also given to a Royal Springboard Foundation scholar for 2022-23. As part of our support to SENCO teachers and exam officers in local schools, we hosted an annual JCQ (Joint Council for Qualifications) in our exams centre on key changes to exam regulations for the year ahead.
Woldingham aims to help students to #WriteYourOwnStory not just at school but throughout life. The Sacred Heart values, life skills and friendships developed at Woldingham last a lifetime. Our video with alumnae who attended Woldingham with support from a bursary illustrates the lifelong impact on their, and their families’ lives.
Alumnae over the generations share their views about the enduring influence of a Woldingham education.
From the moment girls join Woldingham they are introduced to these [Sacred Heart] values and, as they move up the school and into the world beyond, these values held to guide them as they develop their own personal values alongside them.
Irene B (1990)
I can remember my friends suddenly filling the room with cheering – it is a memory engrained in my mind never to be erased.
Hattie L (2014)
I left Woldingham with a sense I could enter the world with confidence in myself, with vision for my life. I also left with the understanding that such vision would only be fulfilled alongside kindness and otherness. It is this grounded, selfless confidence that I will always credit the school for.
Sofia R-L (2020)
Woldingham helped to give me the confidence to believe in myself. Woldingham says it helps students to ‘Write Your Own Story’ and I do think I have been able to do this.
Hannah B (2016)
Woldingham School, Marden Park, Woldingham, Surrey, CR3 7YA (for satellite navigation please use postcode CR3 7LR)
T: 01883 349431 E: info@woldinghamschool.co.uk
woldinghamschool.co.uk