International Women’s Day provided an opportunity to celebrate former SGS pupils who have gone on to do great things in their chosen field.
Singer/songwriter Maisie Peters, who left SGS in 2018, is currently supporting Ed Sheeran on his tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Maisie was dedicated in all areas of school life and completed music qualifications as an additional subject, performing in school shows and concerts.
Music teacher Jonathan Reeves said: “The key to her success has been raw talent, but mixed with a dedication and single mindedness that has given this talent a direction.
“She was already a complete YouTube legend with many thousands of followers before leaving SGS, and a key to her success and getting noticed was this relentless management of her YouTube channel to build a fan base. This was where she was noticed by the likes of Ed Sheeran and then signed to his record label.”
Maisie’s song Place We Were Made describes her teenage years growing up in Steyning, a track she wrote while still at school.
Outside of the music world, historian Elizabeth Norton has written 13 books about queens of England and the Tudor period and made many appearances as an expert on television. She achieved a first class degree from Oxford and completed a doctorate there in 2019.
Another former pupil, Jessica Shepherd is a highly respected botanical artist, painter, publisher and botanist who goes under the alias, Inky Leaves. She has demonstrated her skills in a BBC 4 documentary and held solo exhibitions in London as well as founding a podcast which discusses and promotes botanical art.
After leaving Steyning, Hannah Darcy studied at Cambridge Veterinary School in 2013 and then did specialist training in small animal medicine. She is a member of the American and European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and has worked in Sydney before returning to the UK where she works in a practice in Marlow.
Rebecca Allen is Director of the Centre for Education Improvement Science (CEIS) at the IOE, at University College, London. Here she oversees research into the economics of education, cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
Sarah Kerr-Dineen is now headteacher of Oundle School and a governor at four prep schools. Her teaching career spans more than 30 years and she has taught for the Open University and schools in London and Oxford.
She sits on the advisory board for the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation, which helps disadvantaged and vulnerable children from across the UK to access fully funded bursaries at leading schools.
Sally Randall, who taught at SGS for 37 years and now works in boarding, said: “These women are at the pinnacle of their careers and have done amazing things. In many cases they have just gone on and achieved a lot without much fanfare.
“It will be exciting to see what our current pupils go on to achieve.
“A lot of our boarding students do outreach work with primary schools and the church and there is so much potential here.”
