When I discovered Facebook and some time afterwards the Paddock Wood FS page, there were just over 30 students on it; now some 18 months later, we have 131 members in our group.

Girls who weren’t in the same year or at the school the same time as each other, are now friends on Facebook, sharing their experiences and photos from this lovely school of ours.

Whether you like Facebook or not, there is absolutely no doubting it is where people go to look for others.  If you’re not a member of FB, you may be able to visit our page as it’s an open group, by clicking on this link.  You can create yourself a page just so you have a presence, so people can find you.  You don’t have to use it in the way it was designed if you don’t want to.  In essence, if you put into place the privacy settings which you want, you can use it as little or as much as you wish.  Please don’t be frightened in getting started with it, I’m more than happy to help you if you email me.  It is definitely where people go to search for friends and if you’re not there, they won’t find you.  In the words of one PWSF lady who signed up recently:

“To tell you the truth, it was that fear factor about this FB thing that kept me from it, and as mentioned before, I'm still circumspect about it. In this case with the PW group page, it has been unbelievably astounding how easy it's been to simply say "Hello there” after all of these years and  that's not even mentioning the brand new friendships that have blossomed because I’ve been able to connect with PW girls on Facebook.

Mrs. Savill really did start something she just never, ever dreamed of what was to become...I'd say she was ahead of her time.”

If you are a member of FB, please click on this link and add yourself as a friend to the group called “Paddock Wood Finishing School - All years welcome”.  We’ve got nearly 300 photos on our Facebook group page; please feel free to view them and if you’re signed up to FB, please add your own photos for the girls to see too.

If you’re not a member and don’t wish to belong to Facebook, please email me, so at the very least I can add you to the database, our Alumna.  This way, if anyone from your time at PW wants to contact you, I can drop you an email letting you know they’ve been in touch, before passing on your and their details. 

Friends Reunited has been some help though responses are far slower than on Facebook.

You may find another PWFS group on Facebook too; it looks like this:

This is a group was started by my good friend Maria Lucia Saaibi, a student at PW in 1979.  It was a group she started for the girls who were with her in 1979 but grew to the size it is now, as girls - until my “All years welcome” group arrived - had no where to belong to.  Thankfully Maria Lucia had the foresight not to turn girls she didn’t know away, but very kindly accepted them, so they could belong.

Maria would like one day I’m sure, to return her group to just the 1979 girls, so please if you’d be so kind, don’t add yourself to her group, add yourself to the “All years welcome” group, as this is for every former student, no matter when you attended, no matter how old or young you are.  We look forward to welcoming you to our group on Facebook; a very friendly group of lovely girls.