This term, our Year 3 pupils had the pleasure of visiting the Blackheath High School archive at the Senior School. As they have already been studying the history and geography of our local area, this was the perfect opportunity for Year 3 to learn more about the history of our school. 

Established in 1880, Blackheath High School has an incredibly rich history which we were able to bring vividly to life with items such as photos of pioneering Headmistress Florence Gadesden, original registration records, flyers for school plays and musicals and even school uniform from the 1960’s. Year 3 hugely enjoyed examining and talking about these objects, then recording video presentations of their findings. We were also delighted to be joined by GCSE and A-level History students, who led a very informative and inspiring Q&A session for their younger Historians.  

After a delicious Senior School lunch, the group got to see many familiar faces from Years 7, 8 & 9 as they were given tours of Senior School. One of the highlights of the tour of course was meeting the school guinea pig ‘Coffee’ in the Science Lab. We look forward to discovering more about the history of Blackheath High School in our Humanities lessons this term. 

Did you know...? 

• Blackheath High School was founded in 1880. The original Junior School in Wemyss Road was the first purpose-built school in the Girls’ Private Day School Trust 

• The school was opened by Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise  

• Philosopher and politician John Stuart Mill, a prominent pro-feminist, had an indirect hand in the establishment of Blackheath High School. His stepdaughter Helen Taylor, a passionate suffragist and campaigner for women’s rights, persuaded him to take a petition to Parliament that ultimately won women the right to vote. Helen was one of the first governors of Blackheath High (more on their links to Blackheath here) 

• Legendary headmistress Miss Gadesden arrived in 1880, quickly establishing Blackheath High as the largest school in the GDST and securing its reputation for academic achievement and social service for the less fortunate. She also appointed the school's first professionally qualified Games mistress, and leased a playing field in Kidbrooke for the school – still in use today 

• During WWII, the school temporarily left Blackheath for the safer confines of Tunbridge Wells followed by Taunton. Pupils returned in 1945 

• The Senior School was located at Wemyss Road until a major redevelopment in 1994 saw the Senior School relocated to Vanbrugh Park.

• A substantial £18million redevelopment of the Senior School was completed in 2019, which added the iconic glass-lantered library and resource centre (the "Mini Louvre"), advanced learning environments for Art, Design & Technology and Music, our exhibition space (the Wollstonecraft Room) and fitness suite, among a number of other new facilities. 

• Today, Blackheath High School is one of the best schools in South-East London and continues to go from strength to strength.

Written by Mrs Helen Cannell, Year 3 Teacher, Library, RE, Diversity and Joint Transition Lead