who was a pupil at Slepe Hall School from 1930-1940, a time she remembers with affection and gratitude. She believes her education there, with its emphasis on self-discipline, was very suitable for its time, and she would have sent her own daughters there too, had it not closed in 1966.

Click Oliver Cromwell (who once lived here) to go to contents list.

The interests of the Rev. Lloyd proved to have a great influence upon Slepe Hall School, as he gave support to Christian missionaries at home and abroad, the anti-slavery movement, education and practical help for the poor, appreciation of music, the Temperance movement, the study of science, Church history and travel. This nonconformist school provided for boarders as well as day girls. The day girls often had to cycle past the boys' council school wearing their distinctive uniforms, panama or velour hats, gloves etc and had to receive jeers and taunts with controlled dignity - as later on I had to do. On the other hand, the day girls had to be lowered by ropes from the dormitories during fire practice!

During the 1930s Miss Hilda Newton became Headmistress (known as "Taddy" Tadpole!) The total number of pupils was approximately 50, day girls (like me) being in the minority. Boarders enjoyed the privilege of bread and dripping with their milk at 11am break! The Kindergarten (attended by my husband-to-be) was housed in an adjacent building known as "The Dovecot", and Miss Winifred Gray taught both boys and girls aged 5-7. Sea shells were used in arithmetic lessons. Form 2 moved to the main building and by the 3rd-5th forms, boys were excluded. Day girls' fees were £4 14s 6d per term, a small extra charge being made for books, piano lessons, uniform, e.g. blazer 21/6d, badge 6d, hatband 2/6d.


A reunion of old girls was held in the 1960s just before closure. The current schoolgirls were sitting in front. Behind them is the school building, now Slepe Hall Hotel. The room seen on the left of the ground floor, now the hotel bar, was the school dining room. The room to the right of it was the staff room. Beyond the main entrance was the school library, and on the extreme right, the Headmistress's study. If you are looking for anyone in particular, there is also a larger version of this photo.

The curriculum in the 1930s (when I was there) included:
English literature, grammar and composition, and compulsory holiday reading of a "classic" book. A school library was provided and a school magazine was published annually with articles and poems by the pupils (including me, aged ten!), together with news of old girls. I still have a copy.
Religious instruction. New Testament taught by Miss Phillips and Old Testament by Miss Duckering.
History. dates, Kings, Queens and rulers had to be memorised.
Geography. Pride in the extent of the British Empire!
Art. Leading to Royal Drawing Society exams.
French. Taught by a succession of "Mademoiselles" visiting from France.
Music. Including piano taught by Miss Lilian Prust and Miss Dorothy Warren, violin, Miss Maguire and choir all joining in concerts with St Ives music groups and societies. Staff concerts introduced pupils to classical and orchestral music and drama.
Embroidery - silks used were charged individually.
Elocution taught by Emily Lewis.
Biology (later extended to science) taught by Miss Hughes. Girls were provided with their own area of garden to cultivate, and at the end of the summer term all the pupils were allowed by the school gardening society to collect wild flowers, awards being given for the highest number of named varieties and the best arrangements.
Mathematics covered geometry, algebra, mental arithmetic and trigonometry, taught by Miss Owen.
Physical Education taught by Eileen MacLean included gym and dance (classical wearing Grecian dress, national and modern). See the pictures below.



Gym on the hard court.


Grecian dancing on the front lawn. I was third from the right!




The gymnasium was this wooden building equipped with parallel bars, a horse and benches. The photo shows it being used by the hotel as a storeroom.






We also played hockey on the school field across the road (later the town's cricket field, and now a children's play area and home to car boot sales), and tennis, with two grass courts in the school garden and one hard court, now the hotel car park. A sports day was held annually on the school field and included three-legged, egg and spoon, sack, slow bicycle and obstacle races in addition to hurdles, high jump and competition between the two houses, Hague and Geneva.
Swimming in the open air town pool (now used as a base by the Sea Scouts) enabled pupils to acquire Royal Life Saving qualifications. The very cold river water was a toughening experience!
Latin and psychology were taught by the Headmistress in the 5th and 6th forms.

Girl guides joined with the town to present a masque of Empire and learnt to signal morse and semaphore messages using flags. They also gave a gym and dance display using Indian clubs and dumbbells.
The Zenana mission sale and concert in 1935 raised £44 16s 8d and gave support to schools in South India, China and Madagascar.
A free boarding place was given to a girl from China.

The boarders were taken on an annual picnic, and an Empire Fancy Dress Dance challenged them to use their imaginations and their sewing skills. They also walked in crocodile to the Free Church every Sunday endeavouring to set a good example to Miss Patrick's, the other, smaller, girls' school in Church Street, St Ives.

Each day started with a religious assembly in the dining hall, all the girls having silently queued in the corridor. If anyone murmured a word, the queue had to be reformed and the procession repeated. The school hymn was Jerusalem and the school motto "The utmost for the highest". In the 1930s one pupil was excused as she was a Roman Catholic. To sum up the aims of Slepe Hall, the Rev. J.S.Whale, Principal of Cheshunt College in Cambridge, said on Speech Day in 1935, "The school is the nursery of God whence we set out on our journey through the vale of soul making."

Miss Buckfield succeeded Miss Newton as Headmistress, and the school closed and became a hotel in 1966.

Betty Yeandle is also the author of "Robb's Walk", the history of her family's rope making business in St Ives. This is available from the Norris Museum and from Walkers Bookshop in Crown Street.

A brief account of life in the original Slepe Hall School in Cromwell Place in the early 1840s can be found here.


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