{{Short description|British academic, educator and politician}} {{About|the British educator|the founder of the Rhode Island School of Design|Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|Helen Metcalf '''Dame Helen Metcalf''', DBE, FRSA (née Pitt; 7 October 1946 – 3 December 2003) was a British academic, educator, and politician.
==Biography==
Born as '''Helen Pitt''' in Enfield, Middlesex, she attended Enfield Grammar School and Manchester University and earned a teaching diploma at Roehampton University. Later she earned her Master's in Economic History at the London School of Economics (LSE). In 1968 she married David Metcalf, a fellow student at Manchester University, and later a professor of economics at the LSE; they had one child, a son, Tom.<ref name="Telegraph"/>
Among the schools at which she taught were Dame Alice Owens from 1972; Islington Green Comprehensive from 1974; and Acland Burghley Comprehensive from 1982. She took a hiatus from teaching after being elected as a Labour councillor in Islington in 1971. She resigned from local politics in 1978 and returned to teaching. She became headteacher at Chiswick Community School in 1988.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1449054/Dame-Helen-Metcalf.html |title=Dame Helen Metcalf |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=9 December 2021 |date=11 December 2003}}</ref>
For most of her time as head of Chiswick Community School (1988–2001) she was ill, battling breast cancer which had been initially diagnosed in 1991. She died in 2003, aged 57, in London. In recognition of her achievements, Helen Metcalf was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her "services to education" in 1998.<ref name="Chiswick W4">{{cite news |title=Dame Helen Metcalf loses battle with cancer: Universal praise for former head of Chiswick Community School |url=http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=conschools20.htm |access-date=9 December 2021 |work=Chiswick W4 |date=4 December 2003}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalf, Helen}} Category:1946 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Heads of schools in London Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors Category:People from Enfield, London Category:People educated at Enfield Grammar School Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester Category:Alumni of the University of Roehampton Category:Women councillors in England Category:Deaths from breast cancer in England Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts