St Anne's College, Oxford Information

St Annes College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Formerly a womens college, it has been coeducational since 1979. Founded in 1879 as The Society of Oxford Home-Students, St Annes received full college status in 1952. Formed to enable women from any financial background to study at Oxford, St Annes continues to strive towards this goal; in the most recent university admissions report, St Annes accepted the highest proportion of female students (55%) of any college. The college has around 450 undergraduate and 200 graduate students.

The college is situated between the Woodstock and Banbury roads, adjacent to the University Parks and the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.

In April 2017, Helen King took up her appointment as Principal, in succession to Tim Gardam. King is a former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner and was elected to the position of Principal upon her retirement from the police.

Alumnae of the college include Danny Alexander, Ruth Deech, Helen Fielding, Martha Kearney, Simon Rattle and Victor Ubogu.

What is now St Annes College began life as part of the Association for the Education of Women, the first institution in Oxford to allow for the education of women. It later became the Society of Oxford Home-Students. Unlike other womens associations, the Society had no fixed site, instead offering lodgings in houses spread across Oxford. This allowed students from a range of financial backgrounds to study at Oxford, as the cost of accommodation in the womens halls was often prohibitive. In 1942, it became the St Annes Society, which received a university charter to be founded as a women-only college in 1952.

The society allowed access to lectures and tutorials, as would any Oxford college. In 1910, the Society for Home Students, along with the other womens societies, were recognised by the University. In 1912, the society acquired its first tutors, in German, History and English Literature. In the 1920s, the principals of the Womens societies became the first women to receive degrees from the University. By the early 1930s, the society still had no centralised site. However, during this decade, the current site was chosen, and by 1937 construction of Hartland House was under way.

In 1942, the Society of Home Students was renamed the St Annes Society, and given its coat of arms by Eleanor Plumer (Principal, 1940–1953).

In 1952, the St Annes Society acquired a royal charter as St Annes College and in 1959 full college status along with the other womens colleges. The then Principal, Lady Ogilvie, pressed for a transition from many disparate dining rooms to a common building. This resulted in the construction of the dining hall, which was completed in 1959, and visited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1960. During this period, the student numbers grew to nearly 300, leading to a need for more accommodation. This led to the construction of the Wolfson and Rayne buildings in 1964 and 1968 respectively. In 1977, the decision was made to become coeducational, with the first male undergraduates matriculating in 1979.

Since then, St Annes has continued to use female words and pronouns to refer to current and former students, as in the word "alumnae". The College explains that this is because "on 17 June 1979, in the nervous time when the first male Fellows had been elected, and the first male students admitted though they had not yet arrived, a note from the Dean to Governing Body asks hesitantly Would Governing Body wish "he" (or "he/she") to be substituted for "she" throughout the College Regulations? Eventually the question was answered (or perhaps avoided) with the following carefully worded statement which still stands in the preamble to our Regulations: words importing the feminine gender shall include the masculine and vice versa, where the construction so permits and the Regulations do not otherwise expressly provide."

The annual magazine for alumnae of the college is known as The Ship. When it was still the Society for Home-Students, the college had its first common room in Ship Street, located in central Oxford.The Ship started to be published c. 1910, and by the centenary of the college, 1979, there had been 69 issues.The Ship celebrated its centenary 2010/2011 issue with some anniversary content.

The college grounds are bounded by Woodstock Road to the west, Banbury Road to the east, and Bevington Road to the north. The college extends as far south as 48 Woodstock Road, and 27 Banbury Road. These grounds house all of the colleges administrative and academic buildings, undergraduate accommodation, as well as the hall, which is among the largest in Oxford. The College formerly owned a number of houses throughout Oxford used for undergraduate accommodation, some of which used to be boarding houses of the Society of Oxford Home-Students. Many of these properties were sold off to fund the building of the Ruth Deech Building, completed in 2005.

St Annes can accommodate undergraduates on the college site for three years of study. Undergraduates at St Annes are housed in 14 Victorian houses owned by the college and four purpose-built accommodation blocks. The college also supplies accommodation for some of its graduate students. All undergraduates pay the same amount for their rooms, and every student has access to a communal kitchen in their building.

The college uses 1–10 Bevington Road, 58/60 Woodstock Road, and 39/41 Banbury Road (also known as "Above the Bar") as undergraduate accommodation, typically for freshers. The junior (undergraduate) post room is located in 10 Bevington Road, the college laundry in 58/60 Woodstock Road, and the college bar, including a pool room, in 39/41 Banbury Road. Five additional Victorian houses (27, 29, and 37 Banbury, and 48 and 50 Woodstock) hold teaching rooms, seminar rooms, music practice rooms, and college offices.

The Rayne and Wolfson Buildings were built in 1964 and are Grade II Listed Buildings; they are virtually identical in design, and house administrative offices on the ground floor as well as student rooms.

The Claire Palley Building, completed in 1992 and named after Claire Palley (principal 1984–1991), was the first accommodation block to have en-suite rooms. It also houses the Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre.

Trenaman House, built in 1995, holds student rooms as well as communal college facilities including the gym and, since 2008, the St Annes Coffee Shop (STACS). It was named after Nancy Trenaman, the sixth Principal of the college (1966–1984).

The Ruth Deech Building was named after Ruth Deech (principal 1991–2004) and completed in 2005. It houses extensive conference facilities (the Tsuzuki lecture theatre, seminar rooms, and dining facilities) on the lower ground floor, in addition to a new Porters Lodge on the upper ground floor, and 110 en-suite student rooms. One of the notable features of the building is the glass lift, which is the only part of the building to exceed the roof line. The building was awarded the 2007 David Steel sustainable building award by Oxford City Council.

Robert Saunders House, built in 1996, provides 80 rooms for graduate students in Summertown. It was named after a former bursar of the college, who did much to strengthen its finances.

Eleanor Plumer House (known until 2008 as 35 Banbury Road) is named after Eleanor Plumer (principal 1940–1953 ) and houses the Middle Common Room, and facilities including a study area, computer room, and kitchen. In addition, it houses some accommodation for graduate students.

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