Sankey’s
Sankey’s House is located on the western edge of the campus, with stunning views to the sea and up to the South Downs. Sankey’s is a day House for some 60 girls aged 13–18 years from as wide a field as Chichester, Horsham and Lewes.
Sankey’s is open from 7am to 9pm, enabling girls to take full advantage of the wealth of opportunities available in the extended Lancing day. Even from their first week at Lancing, the girls become part of a strong and collegiate group within and across the different year groups, eating together, working, socialising and actively participating and supporting each other. There is a rich diversity of talent in the House with keen and high performing sports, music and drama enthusiasts across the year groups. It is not uncommon for Sankey’s girls to have leading roles in the school plays and concerts.
There is a single common room where the girls gather every day for morning roll call, this is also the venue for regular gatherings in House to celebrate birthdays, to have afternoon tea, to play and to discuss House matters. Outside, the House has a large garden, picnic tables and plenty of space to enjoy the Sankey’s summer barbecues.
Former Sankey’s girls stay in touch after leaving, with over 70 former Sankey’s girls and friends gathering to celebrate the 10th Anniversary in October 2016.
MRS FERN BRITNELL
Housemistress, Chemistry Teacher
Meet the House Staff
Mrs Fern Britnell
Housemistress, Chemistry Teacher
Dr Marica Dowell
Assistant Housemistress, House Tutor, Head of Physics
Mrs Shell Mann
Matron
Ms Rachel Hopkinson
House Tutor, Head of Science
Mrs Laura Fryer
House Tutor, Head of French
Mrs Helen Harvey
House Tutor, Teacher of Mathematics
Ms Becky Miller
House Tutor, Teacher of Classics
Jennifer Curl
House Tutor, Teacher of Economics and Business
Mrs Delia Alarcon
House Tutor, Teacher of Spanish
Mrs Catherine Mole
House Tutor, Head of Economics and Business
History of the House
Sankey’s is a ‘Medway’ building constructed in 1973 on the site of one of the old epidemic wards of the Sanatorium (Health Centre). It was originally designed to allow an expansion of the Sixth Form by providing study bedrooms for those taking the ‘seventh term’ Oxbridge entry exams in the Autumn Term. When they left at Christmas, ex-heads of house and other deserving (or difficult!) Sixth Formers filled the places for the Lent and Summer terms. When seventh term Oxbridge ended, Sankey’s became an ‘overspill’ house for an inflated Sixth Form until balancing numbers and practical considerations (including co-education) led to its conversion into a girls’ all-through day house in 2002. It took over the House number 6 from the closed Sanderson’s. Miss Nikki Dragonetti, musician and the first female chorister of Salisbury Cathedral (with which Lancing has a long association) was appointed Housemistress. Before that, the House was run by Senior Tutors, several of whom became Housemasters at Lancing or Headmasters elsewhere. The House was named after John, Viscount Sankey OL, Lord Chancellor of England, a benefactor of the College, who endowed the scholarships which bear his name, and was Chairman of the governing council in the 1930s.