Netball Competition - Old Girls versus Current PF Girls

Old Girls narrowly lose Netball match:
The Second Old Girls’ Netball match was played on Saturday September 17. Old Girls included Melanie James (nee Powell OG 1992), Anne Ruddy (nee Prideux OG 1992) , Sam Schuter (Nee Bennett OG 1990), Claire Jenkinson (OG 2011), Sarah Philips (nee Gammell OG 1990 ) Juliet Pearse (OG 1990) and Jo Hasley (nee George OG 1992) and we were delighted to see them back at school.

The Old Girls played against a team of current girls made up from across the school years. The game was played in good spirits and once the Old Girls had remembered the rules and warmed up, a very competitive match took place! The current girls narrowly won 14-10, so well done to them.

After the match Old Girls and their families adjourned to the sports field for a picnic provided by the school catering team. Luckily, the weather held and we finished the day with tours of the school for those girls that had not been back for a number of years.

We are planning for the next matches to be on March 17 2012 and would love to be able to get an Old Girls hockey team together for the opening of the all weather pitch!

Any girls interested in playing or getting a team together please do get in touch with Mel James (nee Powell – OG 1985) via melanie.james@nhs.net or Sam Bushell via alumnae@priorsfieldschool.com

Old Girls' Day - Summer 2011

Last Saturday on, thankfully, a beautifully sunny day we welcomed back Old Girls and their families to the annual reunion. Head Girl Olivia Wilkinson and Deputy Head girls Alicia Collyear and Lou Callaghan helped to welcome our visitors who were served refreshments in the rose garden which always evokes so many memories for our alumnae. Many reminded us that during the war part of the rose garden was given over to planting vegetables.

We were thrilled to have so many back for the first time in years with their partners and children. There was great enthusiasm for exploring the school again, revisiting old stamping grounds and seeing new additions, including the Burton-Brown Library and the Sixth Form House.

Most of the Old Girls attended the AGM and one of the key decisions made at the meeting was to allocate £2,000 of the Old Girls’ budget to ordering and preserving the schools archives, an exciting project for our 110th year in 2012. The Old Girls also congratulated Mrs Roseblade on the school’s recent excellent inspection. Quite a hunger had been built up during the morning and everyone then adjourned to the Assembly Hall where a fantastic lunch was provided by the school’s catering team. Many of the Old Girls commented, as they do every year, that school food has certainly improved since their day! They also enjoyed looking at the archive display, including some embarrassing old school photos.

After lunch they were invited to a music recital given by current Prior’s Field girls in the music room. There was a strong attendance and the Old Girls were astonished by the confidence and talent of the current girls. Other Old Girls made use of the school’s facilities including the swimming pool. The day officially finished at 3:00pm with coffee in Oak Hall, but many stayed talking late into the afternoon.

Thank you to all current girls and staff who made the day so enjoyable.

Careers dinner

On Tuesday February 8, the school hosted a networking evening with the lower 6th and fourteen Old Girls. The event took place in the hall, so as you can imagine with over forty Prior’s Field ladies in one place there was no shortage of conversation!

The purpose of the evening was to give the lower 6^th a chance to meet young, successful woman in different careers, and to ask them questions concerning their area of work and their experiences, and to have an enjoyable time with girls who share in the school’s history. An evening like this had not been run before and it went incredibly well. The lower 6th found it a very useful and interesting experience. Not only did it help them develop networking and social skills, but they were able to find out about certain jobs which they are interested in.

The Old Girls’ professions ranged from finance, law, sports representation, fashion, journalism, television production to the military. To make sure that the lower 6^th spoke to as many of the women as possible, after every course the guests moved tables, which meant that everyone had a chance to talk to each other.

All in all it was a very interesting and enjoyable evening. Memories and laughter were rife among the Old Girls who shared stories of their time at Prior’s Field with the current girls.  This valuable event would not have been possible without the Old Girls who came and we are very grateful to them for giving up their time.

80’s  and 90’s reunion

On a cold January evening PF Old Girls from the 80’s and 90’s reunited at ‘Beyond the Valley’, a shop in Newburgh Street, London, for a glass of bubbly and a catch up.

Mrs Roseblade welcomed the girls to the event on behalf of Prior’s Field and then Lucy Barnes, Chair of the PF Old Girls’ Association, expressed her thanks to all those girls and teachers attending and reminded them of Old Girls’ Day on May 14, 2011. This will be another opportunity for Old Girls to come back to school.

It was wonderful so see so many Old Girls, current teachers and former teachers at the event and, by the level of noise created, they were all excited to see each other. Henny Allhusen (nee Smee left PF 1996) even bought her brand new baby girl to the event. The girls spent time looking at the archive photos and magazines which had been displayed in the shop’s gallery and much hilarity was caused over the 80’s and 90’s hair styles and clothes! This will be the first of a number of decade reunions.

Calling all 1970's PF girls

Dear all,

I have just returned from a really great day  out reuniting with 3 of my contemporaries from my year group at Prior’s Field whom  I haven’t seen  for 36 years !!! We had a perfect day last Monday with clear blue skies and Indian summer temperatures soaring to the 70s.  Phyllida Barnes (nee Hingston) organised a fantastic venue for lunch at one of the few remaining authentic English Inns (the Harrow Inn in Steep). I brought an old photo album with a few remaining photos of my time at Priors Field and we poured over the group of girls to try and identify people we had not been in touch with for such a long time. The conversation flowed, memories came flooding back about teachers, friends, boarding antics and it was fascinating to hear what everyone had been up to since leaving school.

This leads me to the reason for this letter to ask you, as ‘70s’ girls, to get in touch and give us a brief synopsis of what you have been up to since leaving Priors Field – I shall be doing one too !! Unfortunately we have had very little information on pupils from this decade and as I attended the school from 1971 – 74 have made it my task and ambition to encourage leavers from this era to get in touch again. If you would like to get in touch please contact sbushell@priorsfieldschool.com our Alumnae Co-ordinator so that we can include your news in the next magazine due out early 2011. We would also love any photos to add to our collection.  Please do encourage any of your Prior’s Field friends that may have lost touch with the school to do the same.

We shall be particularly focussing on the 1970s for our next Old Girls Day on the 14^th May, 2011 although every Old Girl on our records will receive an invite. Coffee will be served around 11am in the rose garden with some wonderful music from current pupils.  There will be tours of the school and plenty of time to reminisce about those boarding school days.  A delicious lunch will be served with choices of wine (and water!)  - all for £15.00. Any other suggestions are welcome – We are planning the possibility of an Old Girls Hockey/Lacrosse match although I think I might have to give this a miss and leave it to the younger members!!

We have received some lovely letters from last year’s Old Girls Day saying they wished it had gone on for longer and I would just like to urge you to put the next Priors Field Old Girls’ Day date in your diaries now and we promise to make it unforgettable !!  Bring your photos, memories and friends!!

With best wishes

Lucy Barnes (nee Hailey)
PFOG Chair
(PF 1971 – 74 pupil)

Baroness Warnock (PF 1941-1942) formally opens Prior’s Field’s own radio station, ‘Girls Allowed’.

The ‘Girls Allowed’ radio station is, we believe, the first and only independent girls’ school radio station in the UK Our radio frequency is 1431AM.  The Radio Club and media students plan to broadcast during and after school and at special events that are of interest to the wider community. 

After the opening, girls had a chance to interview one of the country’s most distinguished women philosophers and Prior’s Field Old Girl, Baroness Warnock,  a former member of the Independent Broadcasting Authority and a regular guest on BBC Radio 3.

Alison Jensen talks about her work during Old Girls’ Day 2009

Prior’s Field Old Girl Alison Jensen returned to the school on 9 May 2009 to give the annual Old Girls’ Day lecture on her career as an artist. Jensen says her love of art started at Prior’s Field but her formal training began at Byam Shaw School in London. This was followed by a year at the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen, after which she was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy schools in London. Alison is widely known for her portraits, landscapes and drawings of musicians, dancers and actors at rehearsal. She was elected to serve as Master of the Art Workers Guild for 2009 and brought a group of guild members to visit Prior’s Field in April 2009, to see a fine example of Charles Voysey’s architectural work.

Please click here for an in-depth interview with Alison Jensen.