Monthly Archives: Jun 2020

For 9 years, Winifred  Shaughnessy attended Leatherhead Court, a select girls school and below is information about the school that was her home during her formative years.

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LEATHERHEAD COURT, LEATHERHEAD SURREY.

 A RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

 PRINICIPAL  – MISS TULLIS.

The school is situated one –and-three-quarter miles from Leatherhead Station, one-and-a-half from that of Cobham, and nearly twenty from London.  The Front of the House faces a little west of south, is 110 feet in length, and contains the chief reception-rooms and several of the school bedrooms.  The Central Hall stands behind the chief reception rooms, is 66 feet by 27, and is open to the roof.  It is used as a school reading room, for musical evenings, etc. It is heated by radiators and an open fire, and lighted, like the entire house, by electricity. Eleven of the school bedrooms open from the gallery. A weekly pianoforte recital is given in the Central Hall and occasional School Concerts, and the furnishings include a Lipp concert grand pianoforte of the highest grade.  Also a Welte-Steinway pianoforte. The West extends back 162 feet and contains two Girls’ Sitting Rooms, Workshop, and four classrooms, all with School bedrooms over.  One of the Sitting Rooms is used as a School Library and contains over 1,000 books for reading and reference. Besides over 1,000 ordinary reading and reference books the Library and the Central Hall contain a large number standard works on architecture, sculpture, painting and music etc.  Some hundreds of photographs and lantern slides are used to illustrate the same subjects. The eastern side extends 187 feet, and contains, in addition to ordinary house ccommodation, the schoolroom, 50 feet by 20, and the studio, specially built and facing north, 25 feet by 20.  The corner room with the bay window is the dinning room.

The hours of the meals on ordinary days are:

Breakfast                       7.50

Milk                             11.00

Lunch                          12.15

Tea                                3.15

Dinner                           7.00

French is always spoken at two of the tables, and German at a third.

On the half-holidays the hours are:

Breakfast                       7.50

Milk and Bun              11.00

Dinner                          1.00

Tea                                4.30

Supper                           7.30

In warm summer weather the hour for tea on ordinary days is altered to suit the changed school-hours, and, whenever possible, the meal is taken to the garden. The Schoolroom, 50 feet by 20, is used for drill and dancing lessons, class singing, lectures and assemblies. Also for weekly and occasional dances, lantern lectures, and entertainments.  The end of the room has a fixed platform, which can be enlarged when necessary, fitted with head and foot lights, and a sheet for a very fine electric lantern is ready for use. The Studio is 25 feet by 20, and was specially planned for its purpose.  It is lighted by a large window facing north. There four Classrooms, all well lighted, warmed, ventilated, and furnished with single desks, etc. The Workshop contains the benches, etc., needed for carving, metal work, and other handwork. The Bedrooms are divided by curtains, so that each girl has a private cubicle containing bed, washstand, etc.  A few single bedrooms are also available. The Bungalow (a Sanatorium) faces south and has a lofty and pleasant invalid’s room with bathroom adjoining, a convalescent’s room and a veranda, as well as accommodation for a nurse and a maid. The chief courtyard is a quadrangle, and is used for drill and as an outdoor gymnasium when the weather is suitable.  One of the rooms overlooking the courtyard is fitted as a school kitchen for cooking lessons. Lacrosse is played during the winter and spring terms, and tennis in the summer. During the summer term the lacrosse field is divided into seven full-sized tennis courts. Each girl who desires it can have a small garden.