It’s a blustery Saturday in June and Worcester Woman, that middle-Englander beloved of pollsters, is out in force. More than 500 middle-class, mostly middle-aged women, have packed Worcester Cathedral to say an emotional goodbye to a girls’ school that most of them have not visited in decades. After 124 years, the city’s leading girls’ independent school, Alice Ottley, is closing, and in September it will merge with the co-educational Royal Grammar School, next door.
The address by the Venerable Dr Joy Tetley, a member of the school’s governing council, talks about the excitement of a new beginning, but acknowledges the “anger and bewilderment” lurking below the surface of what’s been billed as a “service of thanksgiving and celebration”. It feels like being present at the uncomfortable family party to celebrate a shotgun marriage. This merger is one of economic necessity, as the Alice Ottley, with just 400 pupils, is not a viable long-term business. This outcome is the best one for the school - the site can be kept intact, and 300 of the girls and some of the teachers will transfer to the optimistically named Royal Grammar School and the Alice Ottley School (RGSAO).
