STUDENTS and staff at New College Worcester (NCW) will be celebrating the centenary of Chorleywood College, a residential school for girls with little or no sight.
The College opened in 1921 and in January 2021, a series of themed events will take place at NCW to commemorate the founding of Chorleywood College.
The school later merged with the Worcester based boy’s school, Worcester College, to become New College Worcester as it is today, a co-educational school for children and young people who are blind or vision impaired in Worcester.
Chorleywood College for girls with little or no sight was founded by the National Institute for the Blind (now the RNIB).
In January 1921 Miss Phyllis Monk, the first headmistress, was establishing the very first secondary school for girls with a vision impairment. Many girls from Chorleywood were to be pioneers, going on to university and into occupations including physiotherapy, engineering, education and the law.
The school was located in the Cedars, a large Renaissance-style mansion in Hertfordshire. The beautiful building and grounds of The Cedars in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire is now the site of the Cedars Retirement Village.
The boys’ school in Worcester and the girls’ school in Hertfordshire were both closed and merged to form the new school which opened on the Worcester site in 1987, with many students and some staff moving to Worcester to attend the new school.
On Thursday, January 21, NCW will be holding a day of celebration involving 1920s themed lessons and meals, historic displays and a virtual event where former students and staff of the school can celebrate and share their memories.
Visit www.ncw.co.uk/chorleywood-centenary-celebration for more.
