St Tibb's High School is a private, all-girls school located a few miles south of Mettleham town centre, in Cheshire, England. It offers education for girls aged 11 to 18, with the final two years being optional 'sixth form' as commonly understood in the UK educational system. This picture shows the main building (referred to by students and staff as "Marringdon Hall" or simply "Hall") set back 200m from the road leading into Mettleham, situated in just over 150 acres of scenic grounds, and which houses four floors of regular classrooms and administration offices dealing with the school and its pupils. More modern, specialized teaching facilities (e.g., the science block with its subject-specific laboratories, the Dame Judith O'Hara Centre For Swimming Excellence, two sports halls, and so on) have been constructed behind the Hall as needs have demanded and funding has allowed, along with kitchens, workshops, maintenance, etc. Marringdon Hall, however, remains the façade which represents the grand history and traditions of the school's 170 years. The Hall originally housed the Viscount Marringdon and his family (evidence of Marringdons in the area goes back to their being listed in the Domesday Book of 1086). The estate was sold off in 1850 to finance the viscount's growing debts and it was bought by a corporation that had been set up to establish an all-girls school catering to the increasing population of middle-class families in the area. It took two years to convert the estate into a boarding school suitable for housing and teaching up to 200 girls, and St Tibb's officially opened on the first Monday of September 1852, with 131 girls being accounted for in the dormitories on the night prior to the school's first day. The founders believed that the girls in their target market should be given a solid educational background to stand them in good stead for when they entered the adult world and started making positive contributions to whichever section of society they became involved with, and this has driven the aims, outcomes, and goals of the school ever since. Academic success and achievement is important, reflected in the school's exemplary record of exam results and its high number of students going on to reputable universities, but so is developing the students' characters, personalities, and natures, instilling in every girl who goes through its doors a self-confidence to propel her to the top of whichever path she chooses in life. The school's motto ("POSSVMVS ET NOS COGNOSCETIS"---translated into English, this reads "We are able/capable, and you will learn about/become aware of us"), visible on the sign above the main entrance in the picture, encapsulates the intention of the founders that, by attending St Tibb's, girls will be prepared to make a name for themselves. The only major upheaval of any import was when the school changed from a boarding institution over to day attendance at the start of the 1967-68 academic year. This made extra room for enrolling more students once the dormitories and domestic services that were no longer required were converted to classrooms. Currently, the school caters for a maximum population in Years 7 through 11 of 70 girls per Year (grouped into three forms per Year), and up to 50 girls in Year 12 and 50 in Year 13, giving a maximum population of 450 students, although Years 12 and 13 rarely reach their full capacity now that the range of options available for 16-year-olds (apprenticeships, training, etc) has increased in recent years. Over the years, St Tibb's has steadily increased its reputation to become one of the premier fee-paying schools in the north-west of England, its fame and good name drawing attendees from locations throughout the region, including many from nearby cities such as Chester, Liverpool, and Manchester. In this picture, the viewer is standing on the path that runs down the middle of the Front Lawn, with the school's hockey field to the left of the Front Lawn, and the Oratory of St Agnes (a private chapel once used by the Marringdon family and the only other pre-1850 building still on the site; information about the Oratory coming soon) to the right of the Front Lawn. (Posed and rendered in PoserPro 11, postwork in PSP 2022.)