Open Days - 17 May: Prep (4-13) / 18 May: Senior & Sixth Form (13-18)
LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE - The perfect opportunity to gain an insight into the school, view the facilities and gather all the information you need.House Ethos
As members of Meynell House, Claire and her assistants want the girls in the house to enjoy being part of a vibrant community that is made up of a multitude of talents. Some are great listeners, while others are outstanding runners, academics or musicians. All are welcome and every girl has an important part to play in making Meynell the community it is.
Every girl is encouraged to express her own individuality and personality, and to support the other girls in the house. They are able to get involved in a wide range of extra-curricular activities and house events in order to develop well-rounded social and life skills.
Ultimately the experience should be fun and the girls are always involved in decisions concerning the house, so that there is a genuine life-long attachment to the community.
House History
Meynell House is named after Prebendary Henry Meynell, one of Nathaniel Woodard’s closest associates. Meynell was instrumental in the creation of the Woodard Schools at Denstone and Worksop. He was at King’s from 1897-1902 in the role of Provost (a post equivalent to school council leader) and rapidly raised pupil numbers as well as masterminding an ambitious building plan. His fundraising ability led to the building of the school Chapel, Lady Chapel and cloister corridor.
It is hard to overstate Meynell’s impact on King’s in the early years of the 20th century and we are proud to continue his name. Meynell House was one of the original four school houses, located on the top floor of the main building. It moved into its current home in the Unmack building in 1962. Originally a boys’ house Meynell was chosen to become the first girls’ house of the new fully co-educational school in 1991.
Meynell Today
Meynell is located centrally within the King’s College grounds, being part of the same building as science, history and geography.
Being a modern building, it has wide, long corridors but the décor enables it to feel warm and welcoming. It has two common rooms available for the girls to get together with their friends from other houses and chat, eat, watch movies or play on the Wii. There is also a house common room with Sky TV and Xbox and doors which lead out into an outside seating area with a table tennis table and space for summer BBQs. Therefore there are plenty of spaces for the girls to relax and watch TV or DVDs as well as kitchens which can be used for making drinks and snacks, and forays into cake baking are actively encouraged.
All boarders in the junior years have a bed in a shared dorm with other girls in their year. Both day girls and boarders have a desk in a shared study downstairs. In the sixth form, most girls have a single study bedroom but there are also a few shared rooms available.
Fundraising
The House supports a number of charities each year. Last year the girls supported Taunton Association for the Homeless and by buying items as Christmas presents. Over the past few years we have raised over £3,000 by organising a “Silent Disco”, an ice cream stand and a “sleep out”, the money being donated to various national and local charities, including the British Heart Foundation, The MS Society, Macmillan Cancer Care and The Alzheimer’s Society”.
Houseparent
Mrs Claire Phillips is our Meynell Houseparent. Claire was a house assistant in Meynell before taking on the role of Houseparent. She lives with her husband and son, and as well as being your main point of contact in the house, Claire also teaches in our busy physics department.
Prior to entering education, Claire worked in the racing industry, attending college and studying a national diploma in thoroughbred horses, before landing a job at Paul Nichols’ yard, where she spent the next seven years working as a groom. She has fond memories looking after and riding Grand National winner Silver Birch, as well as high performer Royal Auclair.
Claire is still able to enjoy her love of horses by helping at our equestrian centre. She also supports our girls’ rugby programme.