St. Francis' College

Story

St Francis' College is a boarding and day school for girls aged 3 - 18 in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The site is within the Letchworth Conservation Area, management of which is the responsibility of the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation (formerly the Letchworth Corporation). The College occupies a single campus of 3.1 hectares (7.66 acres) comprising a number of buildings, playing fields, gardens and other facilities.HistoryThe school buildings belong to the period from 1919-38 when Letchworth was being developed as the first Garden City. Originally built for St Christopher's School, it was acquired by the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary in 1933 to found St Francis' College, a connection which is reflected in several aspects of the buildings, including the chapel. Various buildings have been developed or improved since 1983, when the sisters withdrew.The main entrance is into the Broadway Building, a substantial building extending to four floors, plus a basement. It is constructed from steel uprights and beams, in-filled with concrete floor slabs and brick exterior walls. It was built in 1938; the foundation stone was placed by Bishop Eugène van Rechem. Extensions were made in the 1960s to the Dining Hall and Chapel above and the JCR (junior common room) and the Chapel Annexe was added. The Broadway Building contains inter alia the residential area for the boarders, classrooms, Sixth Form Centre, Head's and her Deputy's offices and some of the College administration staff.The Middle School Building was built in 1919 and Mrs Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Education trust, laid what was then a cornerstone to mark the occasion. With later additions in 1924 the cornerstone became a single faced stone in the east wall of the building. It is, in part, two storeys high, organised around a central courtyard, within which is a temporary building.