Given our Sixth Form is about to have a brand new, state-of-the-art home replacing the Dene, we thought it would be interesting to look back at how it has evolved since the school began. Here, Sue James, former Head of History and school archivist takes a look at Sutton High Sixth Form’s evolution…
There have always been sixth form girls in the school but numbers were small in the early years and there was no distinctive area for them until 1911 when the Trust bought a house opposite the school, called Fernwood, which was to house a Domestic Science School complete with a silent work-room; the first separate space for sixth form girls.
Since that time, the sixth form has moved from room to room within the school, including being given their first common room in 1972 in what the senior school staffroom is now. However, there have been three significant moves. In 1959 funds were raised as a Jubilee project to build a room above the library for the sixth form to study away from the rest of the school. The room was named in honour of Miss Charlesworth as she retired the same year as the room was built and because, it was said, that she treated the sixth formers as young adults and not children.
This wish for some separate space for these young adults was taken a step further as the new millennian came into being when the Trust bought the Dene Hotel and restored and reconfigured it for sixth form use. Now, the sixth form had a whole block to themselves with study and common rooms. Yet, the Dene proved not to be a long-term solution and twelve years later the sixth form moved again, into Suffolk House, which had been modernised and re-purposed. It provided both a sizeable study area called the Vue and a large common room with attached garden. It was closer to the school than the Dene but the sixth form students still had their own distinctive venue.
So, the wheel of change turns again and a new venture has been undertaken. A new block, purpose-built with sustainable construction and suitable for girls in 2025 and beyond.
