South Hampstead High School
Encyclopedia
South Hampstead High School is an all-girls independent day school
situated in Hampstead
, north-west London
. The school was founded and is still supported by The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). The school operates over two sites, the Senior school and Junior school which are run as a single unit with 600 students. Also part of the school is a sixth form of about 160 students which has its own building, Oakwood House.
(the largest group of independent schools in the UK). It started life as the St John's Wood School. From 1946 until the late 1970s it was a girls' direct grant grammar school
, whereby around half the intake were paid for by the local council. In general, this had a beneficial effect on the academic standards of an independent school. It opened in its present form on 30 September 1980.
In 2010, South Hampstead High School was ranked 6th in the country for A-Level results and 11th for GCSE results.
Over one fifth of the student body goes on to study at the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge
, putting the school 18th in the country in terms of Oxbridge
admissions.
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
situated in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, north-west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The school was founded and is still supported by The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). The school operates over two sites, the Senior school and Junior school which are run as a single unit with 600 students. Also part of the school is a sixth form of about 160 students which has its own building, Oakwood House.
History
The school was founded in 1876 as the ninth school established by the Girls' Day School TrustGirls' Day School Trust
The Girls' Day School Trust is a group of 26 independent schools - 24 schools and two Academies - in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each year...
(the largest group of independent schools in the UK). It started life as the St John's Wood School. From 1946 until the late 1970s it was a girls' direct grant grammar school
Direct grant grammar school
A direct grant grammar school was a selective secondary school in England and Wales between 1945 and 1976 funded partly by the state and partly through private fees....
, whereby around half the intake were paid for by the local council. In general, this had a beneficial effect on the academic standards of an independent school. It opened in its present form on 30 September 1980.
Headmistresses
- Vivien Ainley 2001-4
- Jean Scott 1993-2001 (Chairman from 2001-6 of the Independent Schools CouncilIndependent Schools CouncilThe Independent Schools Council is a non-profit organisation that represents 1,234 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector...
, and also Head from 1986-93 of St. George's School, EdinburghSt. George's School, EdinburghSt. George's School is an all-girls independent school situated in Ravelston, Edinburgh, Scotland.The curriculum is based on the Scottish education system but also uses aspects of the English education system, for example A-Levels are available in sixth form....
) - Averil Burgess OBE 1975-93 (President from 1988-9 of the Girls' Schools AssociationGirls' Schools AssociationThe Girls' Schools Association is the professional association of the heads of independent girls' schools in the UK and overseas and is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council .-History:...
) - Mary Benton 1886-1918
Former teachers
- Edith Allen, mother of food writer Raymond PostgateRaymond PostgateRaymond William Postgate was an English socialist, journalist and editor, social historian, mystery novelist and gourmet.-Early life:...
and Dame Margaret ColeMargaret ColeDame Margaret Isabel Cole, DBE was an English socialist politician.Daughter of John Percival Postgate and Edith Allen, Margaret was educated at Roedean School and Girton College, Cambridge. While at Girton, through her reading of H. G...
(who married G. D. H. ColeG. D. H. ColeGeorge Douglas Howard Cole was an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. As a libertarian socialist he was a long-time member of the Fabian Society and an advocate for the cooperative movement...
), and wife of classicist John Percival PostgateJohn Percival PostgateJohn Percival Postgate was an English classicist, professor of Latin at the University of Liverpool from 1909 to 1920.... - Rosalind Goodfellow taught history
- Marianne Lutz, Headmistress from 1959-83 of Sheffield High School for Girls taught history from 1947–59.
- Margaret NevinsonMargaret NevinsonMargaret Nevinson was a British suffrage campaigner.Nevinson was one of the suffragettes who split from the Women's Social and Political Union in 1907 to form the Women's Freedom League...
, suffragette, and mother of the painter Christopher R. W. NevinsonChristopher R. W. NevinsonChristopher Richard Wynne Nevinson was a British figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer. He is often referred to by his initials C. R. W...
(taught classics in the 1880s)
Academic results
In 2011, South Hampstead High School was ranked 2nd in the country for A-Level results according to the Financial Times league table.In 2010, South Hampstead High School was ranked 6th in the country for A-Level results and 11th for GCSE results.
Over one fifth of the student body goes on to study at the universities of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, putting the school 18th in the country in terms of Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
admissions.
School motto
- "Mehr Licht" - More Light (German)—the reputed last words of Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
Notable former pupils
- Naomi AldermanNaomi AldermanNaomi Alderman is a British author and novelist.- Biography :Alderman was educated at South Hampstead High School and Lincoln College, Oxford where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then went on to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a novelist...
, author - Alma Birk, Baroness BirkAlma BirkAlma Lillian Birk, Baroness Birk was a British Labour Party politician and Government minister.Birk was educated at South Hampstead High School and at the London School of Economics...
, Labour 1970s politician - Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
, actress - Prof Julia Briggs
- Irene Bruegel
- Ann Chegwidden, film editor
- Janet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of PimlicoJanet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of PimlicoJanet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico is a British lawyer and crime fiction writer. She is the daughter of George Edric Neel and Mary Isabel Budge...
, author and former BBC governor - Joyti De-Laurey, Britain's biggest female fraudster (and moreover, the daughter of the victim was herself an SHJS pupil).
- Lynsey de PaulLynsey De PaulLynsey de Paul is an English singer-songwriter. Allmusic journalist, Craig Harris stated, "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career".-Early life:De Paul was born to Meta and Herbert Rubin, a property developer...
, singer/songwriter/pianist/actress - Una Ellis-Fermor, Hildred CarlileSir Hildred Carlile, 1st BaronetSir Hildred Carlile, 1st Baronet CBE was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician.- Early life :...
Professor of English from 1947-58 at Bedford College - Lynne FeatherstoneLynne FeatherstoneLynne Choona Featherstone , is a British Liberal Democrat politician, and the Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green....
, Liberal Democrat MP since 2005 of Hornsey and Wood Green - Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-DaviesGwen Ffrangcon-DaviesDame Gwen Lucy Ffrangcon-Davies, DBE was a British actress and centenarian. She was born in London of a Welsh family; the name "Ffrangcon" originates from a valley in Snowdonia...
, actress - Antonia ForestAntonia ForestAntonia Forest was the pseudonym of a British children's author who was christened Patricia Giulia Caulfield Kate Rubinstein...
(Patricia Rubenstein), British children's author - Jill FraserJill FraserJill Fraser, MBE was a British theatre owner and director.The daughter of the actor Alec Fraser, who played the Vagabond King in New York, and the West End actress Guinevere Fraser, she co-owned , and was artistic director of, the Watermill Theatre from 1981 until her death.The Watermill Theatre...
MBE, theatre director - Jane GreenJane Green (author)Jane Green , is the pen name of Jane Green Warburg, an English author of women's novels. Together with Helen Fielding she is considered a founder of the genre known as chick lit....
, author - Vivien GreeneVivien GreeneVivien Greene was the widow of the distinguished novelist Graham Greene and an authority on doll's houses....
(née Dayrell-Browning), wife of author Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world... - Charlotte HaldaneCharlotte HaldaneCharlotte Haldane was a British feminist author. Her second husband was the biologist J.B.S. Haldane.- Biography :...
(née Franken), writer, and first wife of evolutionary biologist J. B. S. HaldaneJ. B. S. HaldaneJohn Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS , known as Jack , was a British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist. A staunch Marxist, he was critical of Britain's role in the Suez Crisis, and chose to leave Oxford and moved to India and became an Indian citizen...
from 1926–45 - Amanda Harlech, model
- Margot HeinemannMargot HeinemannMargot Claire Heinemann was a British Marxist writer, drama scholar, and leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain ....
(briefly), left-wing writer - Elizabeth IrvingElizabeth IrvingDorothea Elizabeth Irving OBE, JP was a British actress, the daughter of actors H. B. Irving and Dorothea Baird, and the grand-daughter of Victorian era stage star Henry Irving. Her older brother was the Hollywood set designer and art director Laurence Irving...
(Lady Brunner), actress and founder of the Keep Britain TidyKeep Britain TidyKeep Britain Tidy is a British campaign run by the Keep Britain Tidy environmental charity, which is part funded by the UK government. The majority of their campaigning is around the issue of litter. They have been using "Keep Britain Tidy" as their slogan for almost fifty years...
Campaign - Lady Elsie Janner CBE, wife of Barnett Janner, Baron JannerBarnett Janner, Baron JannerBarnett Janner, Baron Janner was a Lithuanian-born British politician who was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament and later as a Labour MP. -Early life:...
- Angela LansburyAngela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
, actress - Una Ledingham (née Garvin), physician in the field of diabetes mellitus and pregnancyDiabetes mellitus and pregnancyFor women with diabetes mellitus, pregnancy can present some particular challenges for both mother and child. If the woman who is pregnant has diabetes, it can cause early labor, birth defects, and very large babies....
, and daughter of James Louis GarvinJames Louis GarvinFor the basketball player, see James Garvin James Louis Garvin , was an influential British journalist, editor, and author... - Nora Lee (née Nora Francisca BlackburneNora Francisca BlackburneNora Lee was a Casting Director.Nora Francisca Blackburne was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina daughter of a banker John Devereaux Blackburne and Francisca Magaria Lopez. Nora was educated at South Hampstead High School and then RADA...
), actress and casting director - E. C. R. LoracE. C. R. LoracEdith Caroline Rivett was a British crime writer. She was born in Hendon, Middlesex . She attended the South Hampstead High School, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. She was a member of the Detection Club...
, crime writer - Daisy LoweDaisy LoweDaisy Rebecca Lowe is an English fashion model who has modelled for editorial photo shoots and commercial advertising campaigns and has worked as a runway model...
, model - Prof Ruth Mace, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology since 2004 at University College LondonUniversity College LondonUniversity College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
- Joanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
, classical & contemporary pianist - Lucasta MillerLucasta MillerLucasta Frances Elizabeth Miller is an English writer and literary journalist.-Education:Miller was educated at Westminster School and Lady Margaret Hall Oxford, receiving a congratulatory first in English in 1988. She was awarded a PhD at the University of East Anglia in 2007.-Career:Miller...
, writer - Kate MorossKate MorossKate Moross is a designer and illustrator based in London. Her achievements include a nationwide billboard campaign for Cadburys and a signature clothing range for Topshop...
, graphic designer - Julia Neuberger, Rabbi
- Freya NorthFreya NorthFreya North is a British author.Her novels centre around strong female characters and their raunchy exploits. One of the precursors of Chick lit, her books have been critical and financial successes....
, author - Ruth PadelRuth PadelRuth Sophia Padel is a British poet, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London. She also writes non-fiction and more recently fiction, broadcasts on wildlife, poetry and literature for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and is Writer in Residence at The Environment Institute,...
(prep school), poet - Margaret QuassMargaret QuassMargaret Quass OBE was an educationalist. Between 1974 and 1986, she was Director of the Council for Education in World Citizenship .-Personal life:...
, educationalist - Netta RheinbergNetta RheinbergNetta Rheinberg MBE played for the English women's cricket team in a single Test, but was a notable figure in the women's game as an administrator and journalist. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, the former England captain, said of her work as an administrator, "Netta was an action girl...
MBE, cricketer - Diana Rowntree, architecture journalist
- Jordan ScottJordan ScottJordan Scott is a British photographer, filmmaker and actress. She is the daughter of director Ridley Scott and advertising executive Sandy Watson. She is the niece of director Tony Scott and half-sister of directors Luke and Jake Scott....
, photographer, daughter of Sir Ridley ScottRidley ScottSir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I... - Georgia SloweGeorgia SloweGeorgia Slowe is an English actress.-Background:Georgia grew up in a Jewish home as the daughter of parents, Michael and Zsuzsi. Her Hungarian-born mother, Zsuzsi, was hidden in a cellar during the Second World War after her mother Litzy was murdered by Hungarian Nazi soldiers. Her father had been...
, actress - Anna StothardAnna Stothard- Writing History :Her first novel, Isabel and Rocco, , was published when she was 19. "Dazzling... remarkably accomplished," wrote The Observer. She has written for a number of newspapers, including columns for The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph.She read English at Lincoln College, Oxford...
(briefly), author - Flora TwortFlora TwortFlora Caroline Twort was an English painter who specialised in watercolours and pastels of the scenes and people of Petersfield, Hampshire....
, English painter - Fay WeldonFay WeldonFay Weldon CBE is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.-Biography:Weldon was...
, author - Sula WolffSula WolffSula Wolff a prominent British child psychiatrist, was born in Berlin, Germany in 1924. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 she and her family came to Britain...
, child psychiatrist - Olivia WilliamsOlivia WilliamsOlivia Haigh Williams is an English film, stage and television actress who has appeared in British and American films and television series.-Early life:Williams was born in Camden Town, London, England...
, actress - Miriam KarlinMiriam KarlinMiriam Karlin, OBE was a British actress who worked on screen for over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Paddy in The Rag Trade, a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom , especially for her catchphrase "Everybody out!"...
, actress and activist