History of the School
In 1936 pupils numbered just 70. In 1940, during wartime the Headmistress of Bedgebury School was Miss E Bickersteth and during this time Bedgebury was considered a safe place to be. When the fear of invasion grew, parents began to get nervous about the safety of their children and on May 24th 1940 it was decided to evacuate the whole school to two large houses near Dolgellan in Wales.
During these years of evacuation, Bedgebury Park School was used as a geriatric hospital. Upon the return of Miss Bickersteth after the war had ended, she reported that the school was dirty and in a complete muddle and a blast wall had been erected on the terrace. The school was said to be full with 90 girls attending.
In 1949 the guest at speech day was Vita Sackville-West. In 1952 the school had grown to 108 girls. On Coronation Day in 1953, the girls went home to attend the Coronation celebrations with their families. Miss Bickersteth, the Headmistress, celebrated 21 years at Bedgebury in this year and in 1955, the school celebrated its 35th birthday.
In 1959 there were 127 girls at the school and a considerable amount of redecorating and refurbishment took place including the placement of a mobile classroom for the juniors. In 1962 the big lake was made an official reservoir with much work undertaken on the banks and dams. Numbers had grown to 135 and an additional hot water tank was installed to cope with the demand for hot water. In 1964, Miss Bickersteth retired after spending 32 years of her life at the school and Miss J Nixon was appointed Headmistress. By 1974 numbers had increased to 200. In 1976 it was announced that Bedgebury Park would amalgamate with Lillesden School, Hawkhurst and Hollington Park School, Hastings. In 1977 a riding centre was opened at Bedgebury Park.
In 1978 Miss Nixon left to become the Headmistress of a bigger school and Mr John Delaney took over as Headmaster of Bedgebury. After the amalgamation of the three schools, the number of girls stood at 340. John Delaney was headmaster for 7 years during which time many improvements were made to the buildings and facilities. In 1986 John Delaney left and handed over to Mrs M Kaye. In 1988 a major building programme was announced which would provide a new Arts Centre and Sixth Form Boarding House.
On the retirement of Mrs Kaye in 1995, Mrs Lindsey Jane Griffin joined Bedgebury as Headmistress, followed by Hilary Moriarty in 2002.