In 1912 three incredible women – Alice, Katrine, and Mary Baird – opened a boarding school for girls in an old family home called ‘Abbot’s Hill’. The Scottish roots of the Baird sisters are reflected in the Black Watch Tartan of our uniform and in our Clan system. Clan events, such as our annual Clan Music Competitions are hotly contested.
The school’s founding motto was Vie et Virtute – meaning ‘Strength and Power – and this spirit lives on through our values, which underpin all that we do. Diverse pupils with wide-ranging talents and backgrounds come together in a close community that is large enough to offer choice and flexibility but compact enough to ensure that no child is overlooked.
From small beginnings, the School grew but remained true to its foundation to provide an education to “young women of character”. In 2003, the School, up to now offering boarding, became a day school but the sense of family spirit, of belonging to something, has never left.
We are all very proud of where the School started, and continue to build on the legacy of those three remarkable sisters.
Facts About Abbot’s Hill
- The house was originally built by John Dickinson, founder of paper mill in Hemel Hempstead, who acquired the Basildon Bond stationery brand;
- John Dickinson was reputedly obsessed with his staff coming and going so did not build a staff entrance so he could see them using the Main Entrance;
- If you view the School from the lawns, you will see a observatory is not functional anymore. The rumour is that Dickinson built it but had gone partially blind by the time it was completed and so never used it.
- Again, rumour has it that the house was inspiration for Charles Dickens’ Bleak House; he was an acquaintance of John Dickinson and used to spend weekends here with him;
- Dickinson left the building to his grandson. the renowned archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, who was born here – there is a blue plaque at the Main Entrance. Arthur Evans was responsible for the excavation of the Minoan Palace of Knossos in Crete.
- Evans sold the building to the Baird sisters, from Scotland, who transformed it into an expansion of their other successful schools. The school tartan still seen in the uniform today is the Baird family tartan.
- The school logo was redesigned to incorporate the history of the School: paper envelope (Dickinson), tartan (Baird Sisters), stripes (famous grass stripes).
