What is it that makes Sion School so memorable, unique, and extraordinary? Let’s take a look around. Sion School is an inter-denominational, co-educational school, situated in the heart of Worthing, West Sussex. Providing an all-round education in a caring family community, we are one of very few ‘through-schools’ in the area meaning that we offer a complete education from Nursery through to Sixth Form (3 to 18 years). Sion, is therefore four schools in one.
Sion School, is a school like no other – which can be felt as soon as you come through the front door, and throughout the whole school. Our motto is ‘Consideration Always’ but it is more than just something that exists just in the background, easy to forget or ignore. It is something which we believe in as a core part of a Sion education.
It is expected in Sion that our motto spins with great energy. It is alive and well and lives, breathes, resonates and vibrates along the corridors, within our classrooms and across our outside spaces.
This is what we mean when we say it is something that can be ‘felt as soon as you come through the front door’.
Indoor sports hall, Dance studio, Tennis courts, Netball courts, Astroturf hockey pitch, Chapel dating back to 1862 (now multi-use space), Science labs, Drama studio theatre, Music rehearsal rooms and recording suites, Fully equipped art studio, Learning kitchens, Age-appropriate ICT suites in each school, Learning Resource Centre / Libraries, Outdoor learning garden, and New VI Form Centre.
We have been providing high quality education since 1862, and we are proud of our long tradition of excellence; our GCSE and A-Level results are always superb, and the majority of our students go on to higher education at their first choice universities. Part of the school is still housed in the original buildings, built by the ‘Sisters of Sion’ in 1862. The school has been extended since that time, and new buildings have been added, but we are proud to be using the original school founded by the Sisters.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion was founded in France in 1842 by Theodore Ratisbonne and a small group of women. The Ratisbonnes were a well-known Strasbourg family, highly assimilated Jews, who knew very little of their Jewish faith. Theodore set out on a search for meaning. He joined a group studying philosophy, and slowly decided to become a Catholic and later, a priest.
Because of this journey, Theodore insisted on religious freedom in relation to the children who came into his care. He said: ‘The Religious of Sion will respect freedom of conscience and will allow each student to practice her parents’ religion.’ The Sisters were not to proselytise.
He wanted the Sion family to be respectful of each person in all her diversity and to be united in love.
A co-educational, independent school with a strong ethos, successfully providing education to children and young people from ages 3 – 18
