Howell's School, Llandaff


Howell’s School is an independent school for girls in Llandaff, a district in northern Cardiff, Wales. It consists of a nursery, junior, senior school and a sixth form. The sixth form became coeducational in September 2005 and was renamed Howell's College.

History

In 1537, Thomas Howell, a Welsh merchant trading in Bristol, London and Seville, bequeathed 12,000 gold ducats to the Drapers' Company to provide dowries "every yere for Maydens for ever." His "Merchant’s Mark" is still used as a logo for the school. The school's magazine is called the Golden Ducat in reference to the bequest.
After founding a girls' school of the same name in the town of Denbigh, the Company started building the Llandaff school in 1859 and opened to girls the following year. In 1899 it was expanded to accommodate boarders but the boarding programme has been discontinued. The school still retains its links as the Company has a representative in the school board. It was originally housed in a building designed by Decimus Burton, on the outskirts of the village of Llandaff. The school admitted its first pupils, with Miss Baldwin as the first Headmistress. Today it occupies a large site north of Cardiff city centre.
In 1980 the school joined the Girls' Day School Trust and is under its governance. It is the only member school in Wales.
Novelist Roald Dahl spent part of his childhood at Cumberland Lodge, which was later acquired by the school.
In 2005 The school opened the GDST's first co-educational sixth form with the admission of 26 boys into year 12.

Key dates

Howell's is one of Wales' top performing independent schools. In 2011 it made the top 100 schools in the United Kingdom based on GCSE results and ranked first in Wales.

Notable former pupils

Alumnae are known as Hywelians and are entitled membership of the Hywelian Guild. It was founded in 1906 by old girls and is also open to former staff members and teachers.