Old Salopian Girls Celebrate 10 Years of Full Co-education

Almost 100 people gathered at a London wine bar for the first ever OS Girls (+ Mr Reynolds & Mr Bell!) Night Out to celebrate 10 years since girls joined the Third Form.

(Clare Wilson L HSM of the Grove, former Grovites, Lauren Temple former Asst Head of the Grove now HSM of Moser's)

Nine members of staff travelled down on a bus from Shrewsbury for the event which was a testament to the dedication and commitment of the pastoral leaders who run the boarding houses and their teams. It meant almost everyone was reunited with their housemistress/master.

Girls were admitted to the Sixth Form in 2008 when the newly built Mary Sidney Hall opened under the leadership of Sara Hankin. All four MSH housemistresses were present at the reunion.

(4 HSMs of MSH Sara Hankin, Anita Wyatt, Anna Peak and Naomi Pritchard)

The second girls' house Emma Darwin Hall opened in 2011, the first housemistress Kait Weston was unable to attend as she is now Deputy Head of St George's School Vancouver.  When girls arrived in the Third Form in 2014 the Grove became a girls' house with Clare Wilson at the helm. That was followed by Moser's in 2017 when Dr Jane Pattenden took over from Dr Paul Pattenden. The fifth girls house Queen Elizabeth Hall opened in 2023.

(Top photo EDH HSM Will Reynolds with the girls of 'Eddies') (Bottom photo Dr Jane Pattenden - apologies for not recording everyone's name!)

 More than 40% of current pupils are now girls. Old Salopians at the party enjoyed swapping stories and experiences which varied considerably from the pioneers who were a minority in a former boys' school to those who have experienced the modern co-ed Shrewsbury of today.

Major credit to the Class of 2008, the first intake of girls into the Sixth Form, who were the last to leave the bar!