St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Far right: Housemistress Phaedra Gowen inspects plans for the House with her girls. Right: The time capsule for the History Department, one of the two buried under the steps of the new House at Gaudy 2013.

Jubilee (N) The first Jubilee girls started school in September 2012 under the superb guidance of Assistant Housemistress Miss Boast. Living in Cooper Lodge, the five boarders and two day girls have kept a close eye on the building work, donning high-visibility jackets and hard hats at every opportunity to inspect the progress. We have had full years for boarders in the Shell, Fourths and Lower Sixth from September 2013, so the House is noisy and fun. I joined the staff full time in January. Armela Lasku, a Jubilee girl who was one of the two winners of the 150th Anniversary Bursary, helped lay the date stone during the Topping Out ceremony. We hope Jubilee will continue the success of the other girls’ Houses while bringing its own character to the School. The gorgeous Cotswold stone building is already a landmark on the Field side and we know the girls are very proud of their new House. We hope the Jubilee girls will follow in the footsteps of our first seven girls, with a sound work ethic and the desire to be involved in as much of School life as possible. Pupils at St Edward’s are privileged to have many academic, sporting and social opportunities, and the first Jubilee girls have been involved in as many of these as their time has allowed. Phaedra (Fred) Gowen Housemistress, Jubilee (N)

Opposite: The stone before the Topping Out ceremony. Back row (left to right): Mick Hewer, Feltham Construction, Site Manager; Nick Hardy, TSH Architects, Principal Project Architect;andStephenWithers Green, Bursar; Front: Matthew Thornton; Warden Jones; Richard Hayes, Estates Bursar; Armela Lasku.

Below: Interior of the brand-new Jubilee House, 2013. Below left: The Topping Out ceremony explained by Warden Jones: (left to right) Richard Hayes, Matthew Thornton, Armela Lasku, Paul Thornton and Warden Jones.

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