World Heritage Day

On World Heritage Day, we’re looking back at the history of our site here in South London. It’s a fascinating story, linking the present day The Laurels School to countries across the world, and ensuring that the buildings continue in their original purpose - educating children.

Our beautiful neo-Gothic surroundings, designed by William Wardell, were originally built  in the 19^th Century for the nuns of the Congregation of Our Lady of Fidelity, who had come to England from France with the intention of setting up a school and orphanage for Irish immigrant children.

The order was begun by Henriette De Forestier d’Osseville, a French aristocrat who founded her congregation in 1831, when she was only 28 years old. She arrived in Upper Norwood with 18 sisters in 1848, answering a request from Cardinal Wiseman to assist with the many local orphans, casualties of the Irish Potato Famine.

The site chosen had originally belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury and of course was, at that point, in the countryside, with a house named the Old Park Hotel, which was purchased and renamed St Mary’s Lodge.  The original house was outgrown and the buildings we now know and love were commissioned.

William Wardell, the architect, was born in London and studied under Pugin. A follower of the Oxford movement, which amongst its philosophies supported Gothic architecture as the only form worthy of God, he converted to Catholicism in 1843. He designed several churches in London, including Our Immaculate Lady of Victories in Clapham. In 1858, he emigrated to Australia with his family and is best remembered for St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne.  

Although the orphanage was disbanded after the Second World War, the nuns continued to run a secondary school, Virgo Fidelis, here until 2020. They are still active in the local community and one of them works part-time at The Laurels.

We, of course, moved to SE19 in September 2021, together with our brother school The Cedars, continuing the vision of an education that has existed here in South London since the 1840s.

More than a hundred and eighty years later strong foundations, used in a different context, still apply here today. They are the very ethos and embodiment of all aspects of education at The Laurels School. Early years for young people are, as every parent knows, a vital time for character development; gaining knowledge and confidence; adopting a sense of respect and responsibility; and attaining a feeling of fulfilment and wellbeing.