MIRI R, YEAR 7

As you can imagine, life as a Q student 100 years ago was very different from now. It was just after Queenswood had moved from London to where we are now (1925). The uniforms have changed, the boarding rooms have changed and even Trew changed.

Let's start with Boarding. Boarding was very different to how it is now! The beds looked like hospital beds with a metal frame and curtains. This is what they looked like:

This is what the rooms in Stamp look like now:

In the Boarding House they had a hair dressing room! In the Queenswood Archives Room, there are pictures of girls in Fifth Form getting their hair set. This is what it looked like:

There were some downsides to boarding in the past. One girl lost her voice due to stress and the staff thought it was nothing more than a pretence! Some girls felt unable to talk over their feelings other than with their close friends - this is very different to today when we have so many people we can talk to.

On Wednesday nights, after supper, they spent their time writing letters to family and friends and on Saturdays, they had a total of five hours of study and one hour of practice and silence. In between that, there were prayers, break and lunch.

Moving on from boarding, did you know that Trew burned down on 20 February 1936? If you didn’t, then keep reading!

It all started with a light setting fire in boarding room number 22. The girls who were in there went to tell Miss Thompson, their house mistress. As they were going downstairs, as Miss Thompson told them to, the fire alarm went off. All of the girls knew what to do as they had done drills like this but this was real. The fire brigade quickly put the fire out and no one was hurt or injured.

The uniforms have changed a lot. They have gone from separate summer and winter uniforms to uniforms for all seasons. In the past, they had long summer dresses which were white and winter uniforms similar to the current one only the skirt is white and the blazer is purple. The sports kit has also changed. Above is a picture of the girls in their sports kit. You can also see that the girls are on the same climbing frame that we have in the Old Gym (the gym in the picture) today! We are now very fortunate to have Queenswood Hall for our indoor sports and whole-school gatherings.