by Janet Pennington
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S. Mary's day school closed in 1853, the remaining pupils transferring to the boarding school, which then became the College of SS. Mary & Nicolas, (its motto Beati Mundo Corde) catering for the upper middle classes - sons of clergymen, professional men and gentlemen of limited means. S. John's moved out of Shoreham in 1850 and became Hurstpierpoint College with the Revd. E.C.Lowe as Head Master (served 1859-1872, becoming Provost of Lancing on Woodard's death).
This school catered for the middle classes - sons of tradesmen, farmers and clerks. In 1871 S. Saviours moved to Ardingly, in the heart of agricultural Sussex, taking sons of farmers, mechanics, small shopkeepers and clerks - the lower middle classes. Not until 186? CHECK did the Taunton Commission's report address the problem of the condition and needs of the middle classes. Woodard had anticipated this by nearly two decades when in 1849 he set out his tripartite classification.
St. George's Military and Engineering School, Leyton, Essex, which opened in 1851 for boys wishing to enter those professions, closed in 1855, a rare failure. In the same year Woodard paid lip service to the idea of education for girls, helping Miss CHECK Rooper, the Head Mistress of S. Michael's School, founded at Hove in 1844, to settle on a new site in Bognor. The School was conveyed to the Trustees of S. Nicolas College in 1864. It closed (as S.Michaels Burton Park, Petworth) in 1994. Woodard was uncertain himself whether girls really benefited from a public school education. Boys were heading for the world and public life, but he doubted whether the same destiny awaited girls and would, but for E.C.Lowe's intervention, and his strong friendship with Miss Rooper, probably have done nothing for female education at all. E.C.Lowe approved of university education for women, and under his direction, the Midland Division (CHECK DIVISIONS MENTIONED BY NOW) was keen for girls to be educated. In 1875 Woodard was writing 'It is no part of our duty to teach girls...If others can do it better, let them.' (REF) In 1880 he felt that 'so slippery are women that we must watch our own progress before we promise more...'CHECK (Otter p.274 NW to ?) and his private 1884 remark 'After all, we all know what women are for...' would not have endeared him to many. (NW to E.C.Lowe 9.10.1884 LC Archives) His reference to 'These fancy schools set up for girls are more fitted for show than solid and practical use' really sums up his true feelings on the subject. (Heeney p.108).
All Saints' School, Bloxham, had been opened by one of Woodard's first Shoreham masters in 1853, and became part of the Woodard Corporation in 1896. Woodard resigned his New Shoreham curacy in 1850 and in 1852 purchased Birvill's (Burwells) and Malthouse Farms on the South Downs in the neighbouring parish of Lancing. They came with 226 acres and cost £9,000. Building of the school began in 1854 and in 1857-8 the pupils of Woodard's Society of SS. Mary & Nicolas gradually moved up the hill from Shoreham. The school was eventually just known as the College of S. Nicolas, Lancing, and in due course Lancing College. Numbers grew under the influence of Head Master the Revd. Robert Sanderson (served 1862-89) and by 1871 there were over 100 boys, with more than 300 at Hurst and over 350 at Ardingly.
Against amazing odds, Woodard raised an estimated half a million pounds in forty years by the force of his personality and the exertion of his pen. The c.15,000 letters and pamphlets that survive as the Woodard Correspondence within the Lancing College Archives bear testimony to his powers of persuasion. Not only did he expect, and receive, donations from Prime Ministers, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, Archbishops, bankers, members of the legal profession and the aristocracy, but many supporters covenanted annual sums. Numerous fund-raising luncheons were held all over the country, when each guest, expected to contribute money on the day, was also given a subscription form. Woodard organised local and regional committees; land was purchased and the building of more schools begun. In 1862 the respect in which he was held was such that he was consulted by a diplomat from Russia investigating educational reform across that vast empire.
This school catered for the middle classes - sons of tradesmen, farmers and clerks. In 1871 S. Saviours moved to Ardingly, in the heart of agricultural Sussex, taking sons of farmers, mechanics, small shopkeepers and clerks - the lower middle classes. Not until 186? CHECK did the Taunton Commission's report address the problem of the condition and needs of the middle classes. Woodard had anticipated this by nearly two decades when in 1849 he set out his tripartite classification.
St. George's Military and Engineering School, Leyton, Essex, which opened in 1851 for boys wishing to enter those professions, closed in 1855, a rare failure. In the same year Woodard paid lip service to the idea of education for girls, helping Miss CHECK Rooper, the Head Mistress of S. Michael's School, founded at Hove in 1844, to settle on a new site in Bognor. The School was conveyed to the Trustees of S. Nicolas College in 1864. It closed (as S.Michaels Burton Park, Petworth) in 1994. Woodard was uncertain himself whether girls really benefited from a public school education. Boys were heading for the world and public life, but he doubted whether the same destiny awaited girls and would, but for E.C.Lowe's intervention, and his strong friendship with Miss Rooper, probably have done nothing for female education at all. E.C.Lowe approved of university education for women, and under his direction, the Midland Division (CHECK DIVISIONS MENTIONED BY NOW) was keen for girls to be educated. In 1875 Woodard was writing 'It is no part of our duty to teach girls...If others can do it better, let them.' (REF) In 1880 he felt that 'so slippery are women that we must watch our own progress before we promise more...'CHECK (Otter p.274 NW to ?) and his private 1884 remark 'After all, we all know what women are for...' would not have endeared him to many. (NW to E.C.Lowe 9.10.1884 LC Archives) His reference to 'These fancy schools set up for girls are more fitted for show than solid and practical use' really sums up his true feelings on the subject. (Heeney p.108).
All Saints' School, Bloxham, had been opened by one of Woodard's first Shoreham masters in 1853, and became part of the Woodard Corporation in 1896. Woodard resigned his New Shoreham curacy in 1850 and in 1852 purchased Birvill's (Burwells) and Malthouse Farms on the South Downs in the neighbouring parish of Lancing. They came with 226 acres and cost £9,000. Building of the school began in 1854 and in 1857-8 the pupils of Woodard's Society of SS. Mary & Nicolas gradually moved up the hill from Shoreham. The school was eventually just known as the College of S. Nicolas, Lancing, and in due course Lancing College. Numbers grew under the influence of Head Master the Revd. Robert Sanderson (served 1862-89) and by 1871 there were over 100 boys, with more than 300 at Hurst and over 350 at Ardingly.
Against amazing odds, Woodard raised an estimated half a million pounds in forty years by the force of his personality and the exertion of his pen. The c.15,000 letters and pamphlets that survive as the Woodard Correspondence within the Lancing College Archives bear testimony to his powers of persuasion. Not only did he expect, and receive, donations from Prime Ministers, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, Archbishops, bankers, members of the legal profession and the aristocracy, but many supporters covenanted annual sums. Numerous fund-raising luncheons were held all over the country, when each guest, expected to contribute money on the day, was also given a subscription form. Woodard organised local and regional committees; land was purchased and the building of more schools begun. In 1862 the respect in which he was held was such that he was consulted by a diplomat from Russia investigating educational reform across that vast empire.