) , established = as St. Johns Wood School , closed = , type =

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

day school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head = Victoria Bingham , founder = , specialist = , address = 3 Maresfield Gardens South Hampstead, Greater London, NW3 5SS England , city =

South Hampstead South Hampstead is part of the London Borough of Camden in inner north London. It is commonly defined as the area between West End Lane in the west, the Chiltern Main Line (south), Broadhurst Gardens north and north-west followed by a non-road ...

, county = Greater London , country = England , postcode = NW3 5SS , local_authority =

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and ...

, ofsted = yes , urn = 100076 , staff = circa 160 , enrolment = 930 , gender = Girls , lower_age = 4 , upper_age = 18 , houses = Walker, Potter, Bodington, Benton, , colours =

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, publication = The Penguin (student magazine) , free_label_1 = , free_1 = , free_label_2 = , free_2 = , free_label_3 = , free_3 = , website = South Hampstead High School is an independent day school in Hampstead, north-west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, which was founded by the

Girls' Day School Trust The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) is a group of 25 independent schools, including two academies, in England and Wales, catering for girls aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each ye ...

(GDST). It is for girls aged 4–18 with selective entry at ages 4+, 7+, 11+ and 16+ (Sixth Form).

History

The school was founded in 1876, the ninth school established by the GDST (previously known at the Girls' Public Day School Trust), with 27 pupils. Until 1886, the school was led by Rita/Rebecca Allen Olney; she left to found another school nearby with her sister Sarah Allen Olney who had been an assistant head at this school. From 1946 until the late 1970s, it was a girls' direct grant grammar school, with around half the intake paid for by the local council. In January 2015, alumna Helena Bonham Carter, officially opened a new 7-storey building for the Senior School, designed by Hopkins Architects. In January 2020, the school unveiled a new state-of-the-art performance space, Waterlow Hall.

Staff

Head teachers

* Victoria Bingham 2017– present * Helen Pike 2013 - 2016 * Jenny Stephen 2005 - 2013 * Vivien Ainley 2001 - 2004 * Jean Scott 1993 - 2001 * Averil Burgess OBE, 1975 - 1993 * Sheila Wiltshire OBE, 1969 - 1974 * Prunella Bodington 1954–1969 * Muriel Potter 1927–1953 * Dorothy Walker 1918–1926 (Miss McGonigle 1926 one term) * Mary Benton 1886 - 1918 * Miss Allen-Olney 1976 - 1886

Former teachers

* Edith Allen, mother of food writer

Raymond Postgate Raymond William Postgate (6 November 1896 – 29 March 1971) was an English socialist, writer, journalist and editor, social historian, mystery novelist, and gourmet who founded the '' Good Food Guide''. He was a member of the Postgate fa ...

and Dame

Margaret Cole Dame Margaret Isabel Cole (née Postgate; 6 May 1893 – 7 May 1980) was an English socialist politician, writer and poet. She wrote several detective stories jointly with her husband, G. D. H. Cole. She went on to hold important posts in Lon ...

(who married

G. D. H. Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, and historian. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production organised ...

), and wife of classicist John Percival Postgate * Rosalind Goodfellow, who taught history * Marianne Lutz, Headmistress from 1959–83 of Sheffield High School for Girls taught history from 1947–59. *

Margaret Nevinson Margaret Wynne Nevinson (née Jones) (11 January 1858 – 8 June 1932) was a British suffrage campaigner. Nevinson was one of the suffragettes who split from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907 to form the Women's Freedom ...

, suffragette, and mother of the painter

Christopher R. W. Nevinson Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...

(taught classics in the 1880s) * Marie Orliac, who taught French in 1907–1910, founder of the University des Lettres Francaises (1910, Marble Arch, West London) that would become in 1913 the Institut Francais du Royaume-Uni.

Academic results

In 2019, South Hampstead High School was ranked 13th in the country for A Level results, based on data collated by the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the bus ...

(ISC). Typically around one fifth of the student body goes on to study at the universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

School motto

* "Mehr Licht" – More Light (German)—the reputed last words of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

Notable former pupils

Katya Adler Michal Katya Adler (born 3 May 1972) is a British journalist. She has been the BBC's Europe editor since 2014. Early life Adler was born on 3 May 1972 in Hampstead, north London, to German parents. She attended the independent, fee-paying S ...

, journalist *

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award a ...

, actress *

Janet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico Janet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico (born 4 July 1940) is a British lawyer and crime fiction writer. She is the daughter of George Edric Neel and Mary Isabel Budge. She was educated at South Hampstead High School, Hampstead, London, Eng ...

, author and former BBC governor *

Lilah Fear Lilah Fear (born 11 June 1999) is an American-born English-Canadian ice dancer. Representing Great Britain with her skating partner, Lewis Gibson, she is the 2023 European silver medalist, a four-time Grand Prix medalist, a two-time Challeng ...

, figure skater * Lynne Featherstone, Baroness Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP from 2005 to 2015 for Hornsey and Wood Green * Naomi Ishiguro, author *

Glynis Johns Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (born 5 October 1923) is a South African-born British former actress, dancer, musician and singer. Recognised as a film and Broadway icon, Johns has a career spanning eight decades, in which she appeared in more than ...

, actress *

Diana Kennedy Diana Kennedy MBE (; 3 March 1923 – 24 July 2022) was a British food writer. A primary English-language authority on Mexican cuisine, Kennedy was known for her nine books on the subject, including '' The Cuisines of Mexico'', which changed ...

, writer on Mexican food * Dame Angela Lansbury, actress and author *

Joanna MacGregor Joanna Clare MacGregor (born 16 July 1959) is a British concert pianist, conductor, composer, and festival curator. She is Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and a professor of the University of London. She is currently artistic direc ...

, pianist *

Aries Moross Aries Moross is an English graphic designer, artist, illustrator and art director based in London. They mostly focus on lettering and typography in their works of art. Aries Moross has been profiled in '' Dazed & Confused'', ''Vice'' magazine an ...

, graphic designer * Sophie Newton, entrepreneur *

Julia Neuberger Julia Babette Sarah Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, (née Schwab; born 27 February 1950) was the second woman to be ordained as a Rabbi in the UK, and is a British member of the House of Lords. She previously took the Liberal Democrat whip, but re ...

, rabbi * Margaret Quass, educationalist *

Devika Rani Devika Rani Choudhuri (30 March 1908 – 9 March 1994), usually known as Devika Rani, was an Indian actress who was active in Hindi films during the 1930s and 1940s. Widely acknowledged as the first lady of Indian cinema, Devika Rani ha ...

, Indian actress * Netta Rheinberg MBE, cricketer * Jordan Scott, photographer, daughter of Ridley Scott *

Rachel Sylvester Rachel Mynfreda Sylvester (born 1969) is a British political journalist who writes for ''The Times''. Education and career Sylvester was educated at South Hampstead High School, an independent school for girls in Hampstead in North West Lond ...

, columnist at ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' *

Fay Weldon Fay Weldon CBE, FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including ''Puffball'' (1980), '' Th ...

, author *

Olivia Williams Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is a British actress who has appeared in British and American films and television. After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakesp ...

, actress

References

External links

{{authority control Independent girls' schools in London Educational institutions established in 1876 Schools of the Girls' Day School Trust Independent schools in the London Borough of Camden 1876 establishments in England