Saint Felix School

Saint Felix School is a 2–18 mixed, private, day and boarding school in Reydon, Southwold, Suffolk, England. The school was founded in 1897 as a school for girls but is now co-educational.

History The school was founded in 1897 as a girls' school by Margaret Isabella Gardiner.

By September 1902, the present site of the school had been purchased and the first four boarding houses and teaching block completed. In 1909 Lucy Mary Silcox took over as headmistress from the founding head. The student roll grew and in 1910, the Gardiner Assembly Hall and a Library were built and Clough House followed in 1914.

Silcox was able to bring leading thinkers and artists to the school and money was found to buy sculpture and paintings. The modernist paintings inspired pupils like the artist Gwyneth Johnstone who remembered seeing work by Christopher Wood at the school. Silcox directed the girls in ancient Greek plays. The students knew she was President of the local National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies as she gave talks in surrounding villages in support of women gaining the vote. The school continued during the 1914–18 war and during the 1916–1917 school year there was an outpost of the school at Penmaenmawr as some parents were worried about their students' safety. The whole school was evacuated three times and the school took in some Serbian refugees.

Today The school accommodates toddlers from 2 years of age in the Little Saint Felix Nursery, and children up to the age of 18 in the Sixth Form. The school offers boarding throughout the term, weekly, or 'flexi' boarding.Saint Felix School Having joined the School in September 2023, Mr Matthew Oakman is the current Head.

Notable former pupils

Griselda Allan – artist Jane Benham MBE – artist and sailor who worked to preserve Thames sailing barges Dorothea Braby – artist and illustrator Dorothy Elizabeth Bradford – painter Stella Browne – feminist and abortion law reformer Natalie Caine – woodwind playerNatalie Caine, The Guardian, 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2013-01-05. Constance Coltman – the first woman ordained to Christian ministry in BritainElaine Kaye, Coltman, Constance Mary (1889–1969), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Katherine Laird Cox – model, magistrate Nora David, Baroness David – politician and life peerBaroness David, The Daily Telegraph, 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2013-01-05. William Ellard – swimmer Phyllis Gardner – artist and dog breeder Nick Griffin – Former BNP leader and MEP for North West England (1999–2014) Lilias Rider Haggard MBE – daughter of Sir Henry Rider Haggard and an author in her own rightHAGGARD, Lilias Margitson Rider, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 5 Jan 2013 Norman Heatley OBE – biochemist Gwyneth Johnstone – painter Emily Beatrix Coursolles Jones – novelist Nancy Lyle – tennis player Violet Helen Millar, later Countess Attlee, wife of Clement Attlee Mother Maribel of Wantage – Anglican nun and artistSister Janet, Mother Maribel of Wantage Published by SPCK, London (1973) pg 10 Anna Russell – singer and comedian‘RUSSELL, Anna’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 5 Jan 2013 Enid Russell-Smith DBE – civil servantJonathan Bradbury, ‘Smith, Dame Enid Mary Russell Russell- (1903–1989)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 5 Jan 2013 Mary Snell-Hornby – translation scholar Constance Tipper – metallurgist and crystallographerAnna Leendertz Ford, Tipper, Constance Fligg (1894–1995), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 5 Jan 2013 Hannah Waterman – actress Dame Barbara Woodward – diplomat Sonia Tumiotto, athlete and influencer

Notable staff Lucy Mary Silcox, headmistress from 1909 to 1926 Anne Mustoe, headmistress from 1978 to 1987Anne Mustoe – The Daily Telegraph obituary, 11 December 2009. Ivey Dickson, pianist'Ivey Dickson', obituary in The Daily Telegraph, 20 November 2014, p. 33

Saint Felix School

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