Tracing Our Heritage on a Wild Friday Adventure
Year 7 & 8 students had the unique opportunity to step back into Roedean’s early history and trace the School’s remarkable journey from the site we know today to its original home.
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As part of their Wild Fridays programme, our Year 7 and 8 students made a meaningful connection with Roedean’s history by walking from the School’s current site to Lewes Crescent, where Roedean first opened in 1885 as Wimbledon House.
Founded by the Lawrence sisters Dorothy, Millicent and Penelope, the school was created to offer young girls a well-rounded education. The sisters believed wholeheartedly that girls deserved the same educational opportunities as boys. Their founding vision centred on healthy and active living, strong academics, independent thinking, character development, and a firm foundation of personal and moral values.
When the School was first founded, it had only ten pupils. Since September, our Prefects have been ringing the Chapel bell ten times at the start and end of each day to honour those first ten students.
Our Year 7 and 8 Wild Friday groups set off from the Old Ref, making their way through the secret tunnel to the undercliff path before heading west towards Brighton. The 1.3 mile journey encouraged the students to observe their surroundings and recall key pieces of Roedean history. Among the facts they collected were the year of the School’s founding, the number of steps leading down the Tunnel, and the surprising discovery of a statue of a stilt walker on a balcony in Arundel Terrace. A blue plaque at 25 Lewes Crescent marks the School’s original site and commemorates its early beginnings, when it opened with just two teachers.
Roedean moved to its present location in 1899. Set high on the cliffs and framed by the South Downs, the School enjoys magnificent views over the English Channel. The iconic lime-washed buildings, complete with towers, turrets and a cloister, were designed by the architect Sir John Simpson and continue to inspire all who study and work here.
This walk, which links today’s students with the very first Roedeanians, marks what we hope will become an annual pilgrimage to Lewes Crescent, celebrating our heritage and the vision that continues to shape the School today.
