Welcome to Clarence House! We are an exciting House with a warm, friendly, fun atmosphere, which complements our aim to help you make the most of your many talents, whatever they may be.
Clarence is home to 31 girls from age 14 upwards and everyone brings something special to the House. In Clarence we strive to be ourselves, while at the same time forming a unit; strong friendships are a real feature of the House. Our regular House meetings and gatherings ensure that everyone gets to know the whole House and that every girl feels she is a ‘Clarence girl’.
The Housemistress, Miss Judith Kilburn, came to Clarence in November 2010 and became Housemistress in January 2011. As a former boarder at HLC, she knows and understands College boarding life very well indeed. Miss Kilburn graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a BA Honours in Physical Education, Sport and Dance and has QTS. After University, she lived and worked in France for a year and in America for 6 months. Once back in the UK, she took up posts which involved working with children and adults with learning difficulties.
Miss Catriona Crowley is our Assistant Housemistress and she has been in Clarence for just over a year. She spent her formative years in boarding schools, first at an all-girls boarding school not unlike HLC, and later at Glenalmond in Scotland. She attended The University College for Creative Arts, specialising in Metal Work and Jewellery Design. As well as looking after the girls in House, she is College’s Boarding Activities Coordinator and as such makes full use of, and shares, her keen interest in Art – she can often be found helping girls out with their portfolios or preparing an art-based project in which all boarders can get involved.
Mrs Fiona Buchan is our Boarding House Tutor. She holds a BA (Hons) from Manchester University and an MA (TESOL) from the University of Leeds. She has been teaching for ten years in both government and private institutions and in a variety of locations, including the Middle East. She enjoys running and cooking – two interests for which she will find enthusiasts in Clarence!
Green is our House colour and you will be able to spot us very easily in our bright green House hoodies at the many House competitions – sporting, dramatic and musical. And House spirit does not stop there; we organise a whole host of Clarence-based activities and also events to which girls from the other Houses are invited – baking sessions, dessert making competitions, creative art evenings, hair and beauty and many more. We also have Whole House events – our parties are renowned!
We have a great deal to celebrate in Clarence; not just the 31 birthdays, but all the achievements the girls enjoy either within House (last year’s Head of House, Hannah, is now the Head of Tower House and College Head of Boarding), or in the wider context of School – Katie, is Head of Choir, two Clarence girls, Nkechi and Amelia, are now House Captains in College and last year’s Upper 5 achieved outstanding GCSE results in August. We are lucky to have some extremely talented musicians and sportswomen – as well as a few ‘drama queens’! In every area of College life, Clarence girls are always ready and willing to take part, to try something new, mastering new pieces of music, winning sports matches, raising money for charity, performing in School productions and challenging themselves at every opportunity to broaden their experiences and enhance their life-skills – all the while striving to improve their academic grades.
This year, Clarence is being led by Masha, our Head of House. Masha has been a boarder for four years and is a very responsible, approachable young lady whose energy, enthusiasm and leadership skills are invaluable to the House. Masha is supported by her Deputy, Sarah who is also a well-established boarder who knows the ins and outs of Clarence and HLC.
Miss Kilburn and Miss Crowley have high expectations of their Clarence girls in every area of life at HLC and look forward to witnessing the Clarence girls’ impressive achievements again this academic year.