James Allen's Girls' School
Established	1741
Type	Public School
Headmistress	Mrs Marion Gibbs
Chairman of the Governing Board	Lord McColl of Dulwich
Founder	James Allen Warden and later Master of The College of God's Gift in Dulwich
Location	East Dulwich Grove, Dulwich London England
Students	1050 (approx.)
Gender	Girls (7 - 18) Mixed (4 - 7)
Ages	4 to 18
School colours	Red and blue             // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... The term public school has three distinct meanings: In the USA and Canada, elementary or secondary school supported and administered by state and local officials. ... Dulwich New College buildings. ... , Dulwich (pronounced or ) is a settlement mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England. ...
Former pupils	JAGS Old Girls
Affiliation	Alleyn's College of God's Gift
Website	www.jags.org.uk

James Allen's Girls' School, or JAGS, is a private (ie public, or independent) school situated in Dulwich, South London. It has a daughter school, James Allen's Preparatory School - JAPS - and a pre-preparatory school - JAPPS. Alleyns College of Gods Gift, (Dulwich), is partly a co-ed day school, Alleyns School and partly a boys school with some day boys and some boarders, Dulwich College. ... , Dulwich (pronounced or ) is a settlement mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth. ... South London area South London (known colloquially as South of the River) is the area of London south of the River Thames. ...

History

The school is part of a foundation established by Edward Alleyn, which also includes Dulwich College and Alleyn's. It was founded by a Master of Dulwich College, James Allen, in 1741, as a free reading school for the local poor. James Allen was born on 4th May 1683 in Hornsey, North London, but later moved to Sussex. His father, also James Allen, drowned in an accident in 1690, after which his mother, Elizabeth, moved the family to Westminster and remarried. Edward Alleyn (September 1, 1566 – November 25, 1626), English actor, was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of Dulwich College and Alleyns School. ... Dulwich New College buildings. ... Alleyns School Alleyns School is an independent co-educational day school situated in Dulwich, South-East London. ... Dulwich New College buildings. ...

By 1701, James Allen was a clerk in the Cursitors' Hall, the clerical branch of the Court of Chancery. In 1712, he became the Warden and later Master of the College of God's Gift at Dulwich. Allen believed that there ought to be a school where poor boys could learn to read and write, and girls to read and sew. He purchased the freehold of six houses in what is now Kensington Church Street, the annual rental of which provided income for the school. The Reading Schools opened on 25th June 1741 in Dulwich Village, with two mixed classes of children between six and ten years of age. Tuition was free. Entry was restricted to the children of poor families living within a one mile radius of Dulwich.

James Allen died on 28th October 1746, leaving a bequest to his school to secure its future down the centuries. The final part of his legacy was used to establish the Scholars' Fund in 1997.

By 1814 the school was expanding rapidly. It had been renamed the Dulwich Free School. In 1842 the boys were removed to become the nucleus of Alleyn's School nearby. The remaining girls were the first pupils of JAGS as a single sex school, as it is now. Alleyns School Alleyns School is an independent, fee-paying co-educational day school situated in Dulwich, South-East London. ...

The school moved to its present building in September 1886, and has undergone continued development since. JAGS usually has a four class entry at 11+ (sometimes 5), with some 750 girls in the senior school and over 1000 in the three schools combined. Staff is mixed female and male.

The school prides itself on its high academic standard and the quality of its artistic, sporting and cultural provision. It ranks high in national school league tables, normally inside the country's top 20 schools ^[1]

Houses

JAGS currently has four houses: Bettany, named after Caroline Bettany, one of the early headmistresses of JAGS; Clarke, named after famous botanist Lilian Clarke who taught at the school and planted their botanical gardens in 1896; Desenfans, named after Margaret Desenfans, the wife of Noël Desenfans, who founded the nearby Dulwich Picture Gallery; and finally Holst, named after the composer Gustav Holst, who was once music master at the school, and after whom the school's main hall is also named. The houses compete annually for the Quarmby Shield. Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, London. ... Gustav Holst Gustav Holst (September 21, 1874, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - May 25, 1934, London) [1] [2] was an English composer and was a music teacher for over 20 years. ...

Most of the charity events in the school are organised on a House basis, and there are various competitions during the year from which points towards the house shield can be earned. The competions in which houses compete include sports day, house music and many more. At JAGS your house is treated like your family.

The school magazine

Originally started in 1926, the school magazine is in part written and edited by the pupils, in particular by those in year 12 and 13.

Notable Alumnae

Dates given are the years of birth and death, if known.

• Dharshini David, economist and news presenter
• Anita Brookner, author (1928-
• Muriel W. G. Smith, who compiled the first National Apple Register. Former employee of MAFF ^[2]
• Frances Line, former Controller of BBC Radio 2 and the person credited with creating the radio name Pop Go The Beatles.
• Lisa St Aubin de Téran (briefly ^[3]), author (1953-)
• Judith Cook, Secretary to the British Ambassador to Ireland, killed by an IRA carbomb (1951-1976)
• Shani Anderson, GB Athlete (1975-) ^[4]
• Sally Hawkins, actress (1976-)
• Alakina Mann, actress (1990-)
• Catherine Shepherd, daughter of actor Jack Shepherd (actor) and an actress in her own right (1975-)^[5]
• Charlotte Ritchie, member of the classical/pop group All Angels.
• Sudi Pigott, food writer (1960-)
• Jill Quantrill, charity worker
• Shadia Syed, TV presenter and quiz show contestant

Dharshini David, economist and news presenter, was born and raised in London, England. ... Anita Brookner (born July 16, 1928) is an English novelist and art historian born in London. ... The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a UK government department, first created in September 1793 (relaunched in 1889) and called the Board of Agriculture. ... BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBCs national radio stations and the most popular station in the UK. As well as having most listeners nationally, it ranks first in all regions above local radio stations. ... Considering that Northern Ireland has been ravaged by conflict for over thirty years, it would be simply impossible to include every single event that took place during that time. ... Sally Hawkins (b. ... Alakina Mann (born August 1, 1990 in Surrey, UK) is an English actress. ... Catherine Shepherd (born 1975) is an English actress. ... Jack Shepherd (born October 29, 1940, Leeds, Yorkshire) is a British actor, well-known for playing avuncular policemen, army personnel, and clergy. ... All Angels are a British classical/pop group consisting of Charlotte Ritchie, Melanie Nakhla, Laura Wright, and Daisy Chute. ...

Interesting facts

• A letter to The Times in August 2006 asserted that, as a result of its name, alumnae of the school never had difficulty with the use of apostrophes.

• There is a tale that a daughter of the British cartoonist and illustrator Ronald Searle attended JAGS. It is said that Searle drew inspiration for the costumes for his St Trinians girls from the gym-slips worn by JAGS girls. However, Searle's daughter did not go to this school. She was a pupil at Saint Paul's, junior and senior. She was born in 1947. St Trinian's and its uniforms were born around 1940-ish. Those uniforms were current all over and especially in Cambridge where Searle was born. His sister's uniform was more likely the inspiration. Any similarites between St Trinian's and JAGS are purely co-incidental.

• The school is a leader and partner in the unique SSLP scheme. The Southwark Schools' Learning Partnership is a collaboration of nine schools, six state and three independent, a sharing of ideas for teachers and pupils. There is a link to the Web site below.

• The school was last inspected in February 2008.

• JAGS is a no smoking school.

• The school Library was opened by Princess Anne to celebrate the school's 250th birthday.

• the school usually has 26/7 girls in a form, four forms in a year and seven years in total, but have five forms in their most recent year seven.

The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom (and the Kingdom of Great Britain before the United Kingdom existed) since 1788 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. ... For the prime symbol (′) used for feet and inches, see Prime (symbol). ... Ronald William Fordham Searle (born March 3, 1920) is an Internet Coffee Phone. ... St Trinians is a fictional girls school created by Ronald Searle, a British cartoonist. ...

External links

• JAGS Website

• Prep school

• Southwark Schools' Learning Partnership

• The school's learning platform

References