Welcome to
Our Heritage
Over 140 years of education.
In 2028, Ipswich High School will celebrate 35 years at Woolverstone Hall and 150 years as a school. Over the last 140 years, our school has continued to grow and provide a tailored education for our students, emphasising the individuality of every pupil who studies here.
Timeline
Our Journey
It is important to acknowledge the changes the school has gone through in the past and, undoubtedly, the exciting changes that it will go through in the future. At the heart of everything is our commitment to provide every pupil with the foundations to flourish.
In 2028, Ipswich High School will celebrate 35 years at Woolverstone Hall and 150 years as a school. Over the last 140 years, our school has continued to grow and provide a tailored education for our students, emphasising the individuality of each and every pupil that studies here.
1878
Ipswich High School was founded in 1878 out of a strong passion for women’s education, with Miss Sophie Youngman being the first headmistress of our school. The first site of the school was in the Assembly Rooms in Northgate Street, with the very first pupil count being 43 pupils.
1894
In 1894 invitations were sent out to students who had left school from the Higher Forms since 1880. The result was an around 70 girl-strong meeting, the very first meeting of our alumni network.
1899
Miss Youngman retired in 1889 after 21 years of service and Miss Bertha Louise Kennett succeeded Miss Youngman. We award the Sophie Youngman Prize for scholarly work and her portrait, painted by Marie Naylor, hangs in the Head’s office at Woolverstone Hall.
1906
Woolverstone Hall was occupied by the LNS Woolverstone, a branch of the London Nautical School. The branch provided education for boys aged over 14 who were bound for the Officer Class and the TS Exmouth.
1909
In 1909 Miss Kennett moved to the Perse High School. Miss Margaret Gale became Head and was already an Assistant Mistress at Ipswich High.
1914
Throughout the First World War, pupils of the school worked to knit and prepare ‘hospital necessaries’ for the Northgate Street depot. Many students went to work on the land or in the Aeroplane Factory at Orwell Works and a few girls joined the WACC.
1919
In 1919 Miss Gale was appointed Headmistress of Blackheath High School and Miss Ella Ransford was appointed to replace her.
1920
Early in 1920 two houses in Westerfield Road, next to Wood View, were bought by the Council of the Trust to be used as a Junior House and Junior Boarding House.
1921
In the Easter Holidays of 1921 then-head Miss Ella Ransford and Madame Dommell took a party of students to Paris for a fortnight. This was the first of many school trips that students and staff would enjoy.
1925
Miss Ransford announced that she was to leave at Easter 1925 to become Headmistress of Croydon High School. Miss Celine Williams succeeded Miss Ransford, coming from Farnham High School.
1928
In 1928 the school celebrated its Jubilee with a three-day programme including a Pageant of Education, a Thanksgiving Service at St. Mary-le Tower, a special Prize Giving, and a Headmistress’s Reception, Concert and Exhibition of Work.
1934
The construction of new buildings began which consisted of a gym, biology and physics labs and prep rooms. As more space opened in the school, so too did the opportunity to have multiple extra-curricular activities going on at the same time.
1936
Miss Williams announced that she would be leaving the school. Miss Louisa Neal succeeded Miss Williams as Head.
1938
The school celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, shortly before World War 2 began, with an Old Girls’ Day including hockey matches, an evening reunion and two parties.
1939
During the war, pupils took on the responsibility of knitting and creating hospitality garments and medical supplies to be put towards the war relief effort.
1946
The expansion of the school continued, and it was determined that the campus at Northgate Street could no longer accommodate the school’s growth. The Girls’ Public Day School Company purchased ‘Brakefield’ on behalf of Ipswich High School. The expansion plans included a laboratory, games fields, more classrooms, an assembly hall and a gymnasium.
1948
In 1948 it was recorded the inauguration of an annual festival of music, poetry and painting, was in the ‘small town’ of Aldeburgh. Each year the students competed in what has now become the Suffolk Festival of Performing Art and our students to this day still compete.
1951
In the early 1950’s the London County Council obtained use of Woolverstone Hall near Ipswich, Suffolk, to establish a secondary grammar boarding school for London boys.
1960
Miss Louisa Neal retired in 1960 after 24 years of service and Miss Babara Strong succeeded Miss Neal.
1963
The sixties were a time of great change which was reflected in many ways in the school. The now familiar cherry red and grey was introduced.
1966
Mrs Babara Strong announced that she would be leaving the school. Mrs Nina Middlemas succeeded Mrs Strong as Head.
1968
In 1968 the school celebrated its 90th birthday with a Commemoration Service in the Tower Church in the morning. In the afternoon four Old Girls came to talk about their school days.
1970
Co-education at Ipswich High School is not completely new, as during the 1970s and 80’s the school educated boys up to the age of seven.
1971
Mrs Nina Middlemas announced that she would be leaving the school. Miss Pamela Hayworth succeeded Mrs Middlemas as Head.
1975
Despite winning the 1970 Ipswich School’s Swimming Gala, Ipswich High School was still without a swimming pool of their own. The official opening of the swimming pool at Westerfield Road took place on September 23rd, 1975, carried out by Lord Belstead.
1978
In 1978 the school celebrated its centenary. On the day itself, lessons in prayer took the form of extracts from magazines and reports of the school’s activities during the previous century. There were concerts, a fancy dress parade, ‘it’s a knockout’ and a lunchtime disco.
1992
In 1992, the school decided to purchase and move into Woolverstone Hall. The Summer term of 1992 was spent packing and moving, culminating in a party on the penultimate day of term complete with a jazz band and a bouncy castle.
1993
Miss Pamela Hayworth announced that she would be retiring after 22 years of service. Miss Valerie MacCuish succeeded Miss Hayworth as Head. Our Theatre is called the Hayworth Theatre in recognition of Miss Hayworth.
1993
In June, upgrades to our facilities at Woolverstone Hall were completed. The facilities opened include a New Sports Hall and the Hayworth Theatre.
1998
The 120th birthday of the school was celebrated in 1998, with the Bishop of Dunwich in attendance to give a Thanksgiving service on 30th April.
2002
Woolverstone Hall saw the addition of our magnificent 25-metre, 6-lane swimming pool, which joined to the Hayworth Building, new astroturf courts for sport, a new canteen and a new Learning Resource Centre.
2006
Miss Valerie MacCuish announced that she would be leaving the school. Ms Elaine Purves succeeded Miss MacCuish as Head.
2007
Ipswich High launched the Woodland Prep-Prep, extending the age range of education at the school to ages 3 to 18
2013
Ms Elaine Purves announced that she would be leaving the school. Ms Oona Carlin succeeded Ms Purves as Head.
2015
Members of Ipswich High Science Club joined the Cambridge University space flight society to send Benjamin the Bear up to 90,000ft into space using a helium weather balloon.
2017
In 2017 Ipswich High School parted ways with the GDST and was purchased by Ipswich Education Ltd.
2018
We opened our doors in September as a coeducational school for Nursery, Prep School, Year 7 and Year 12.
2019
Our first boutique boarding house, The Dairy opened in September 2019 enabling us to educate pupils from further afield. The Dairy is a beautifully refurbished Grade II listed property.
2020
Ms Oona Carlin announced that she would be leaving the school. Mr Mark Howe succeeded Ms Carlin as Head.
2020
In November an ambitious planting project saw pupils planting a total of 11,000 daffodil bulbs in just three days. Hills Building Group, kindly provided the school with 11,000 King Alfred daffodil bulbs to add to the floral display down both sides of the school driveway.
2021
The Barns boarding house opened offering boutique interiors. The Barns includes a large open-plan social space with a contemporary kitchen, a stylish cinema room and a cosy quiet room.
2021
It was announced that our Boarding Houses, The Dairy House and The Barns, won the Boarding Schools’ Association award for ‘Best Boarding House Extension or Refurbishment’.
2022
It was announced that the school would start fundraising to restore our 19th-century cricket pavilion that once hosted the England team. In 2022, the roof was rethatched after donations came from the school community.
2023
Mr Dan Browning is Head at Ipswich High and is also a Founding Member of the Chartered College of Teaching, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and a member of the Headteacher Advisory Board of the PTI (formerly The Prince’s Teaching Institute).
