South Hampstead High School

{{Short description|Private school in South Hampstead, Greater London, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}} {{Use British English|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox school | name = South Hampstead High School | image = South Hampstead High School Logo.png | caption = | image_size = | coordinates = {{coord|51.5462|-0.1773|type:edu_region:GB_dim:100|format=dec|display=inline,title}} | motto = More Light<br />({{langx|de|Mehr Licht}}) | established = {{start date and age|1876}} as '''St. Johns Wood High School'''<ref name=orb/> | closed = | type = [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|Private]] day school | religious_affiliation = | president = | head_label = | head = Anna Paul | founder = | specialist = | address = 3 [[Maresfield Gardens]] | city = [[South Hampstead]] | county = [[Greater London]] | country = England | postal_code = NW3 5SS | local_authority = [[London Borough of Camden]] | ofsted = yes | urn = 100076 | staff = circa 160 | enrolment = 965 | gender = Girls | lower_age = 4 | upper_age = 18 | houses = Walker, Potter, Bodington, Benton, | colours = [[Gold (colour)|Gold]] and [[Navy (color)|Navy]] {{color box|#FFFF00}} {{color box|#000080}} | publication = The Penguin (student magazine) | free_label1 = | free_text1 = | free_label2 = | free_text2 = | free_label3 = | free_text3 = | website = {{URL|www.shhs.gdst.net}} }}

'''South Hampstead High School''' is a [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private day school]] in [[Hampstead]], north-west [[London]], England, which was founded by the [[Girls' Day School Trust]] (GDST). It is for girls aged 4–18 with selective entry at ages 4+, 7+, 11+ and 16+ (Sixth Form).

==History== Founded in 1876, the ninth school established by the [[Girls' Public Day School Trust|GDST]] (then known as St John's Wood High School) with 27 pupils, until 1886, the school was led by Rebecca Allen-Olney; she left to found another school nearby with her sister [[Sarah Allen Olney|Sarah Allen-Olney]] who was assistant head.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Olney, Sarah Allen (1842–1915), headmistress|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-52261|access-date=2020-08-01|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/52261}}</ref> The cross-dressing [[Mary Benton]] who had previously taught at this school returned as headmistress when morale was low; the "Brigadier-General" built up the school until in the 1920s it was claimed that half of the school's students then at university were studying scientific subjects.<ref name=orb/>

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.<ref>{{cite Hansard |house=House of Commons |volume=423 |column_start=233 |column_end=236 |author=Mr. K. Lindsay |author2=Miss Wilkinson |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1946/may/31/grammar-schools-direct-grant-status |title=Grammar Schools (Direct grant status) |date=31 May 1946 |access-date=26 January 2011 }}</ref>

In January 2015, alumna [[Helena Bonham Carter]], opened a new 7-storey building for the Senior School, designed by Hopkins Architects.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/education/actress-helena-bonham-carter-opens-hampstead-school-new-building-1-3937757|title=Belsize Park actress Helena Bonham Carter reminisces about Hampstead schooldays|last=Blake|first=Imogen|website=Hampstead Highgate Express|date=30 January 2015|language=en|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref> In January 2020, the school unveiled a new state-of-the-art performance space, Waterlow Hall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/education/helena-bonham-carter-and-olivia-colman-open-south-hampstead-school-hall-1-6489197|title=Royal guests: Crown stars Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Colman open South Hampstead school's arts hall|last=Boniface|first=Michael|website=Hampstead Highgate Express|date=29 January 2020|language=en|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref>

==Staff==

===Headmistresses=== * Anna Paul (2023–present) * Victoria Bingham (2017–2023) * Helen Pike (2013–2016) * Jenny Stephen (2005–2013) * Vivien Ainley (2001–2004) * Jean Scott (1993–2001) * Averil Burgess (1975–1993) * Sheila Wiltshire (1969–1974) * Prunella Bodington (1954–1969) * Muriel Potter (1927–1953 ) * Dorothy Walker (1918–1926) (Miss McGonigle 1926 one term) * [[Mary Benton]] (1886–1918)<ref name=orb>{{Cite ODNB |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48672 |pages=ref:odnb/48672 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/48672 |access-date=2023-02-25 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}}</ref> * Miss Allen-Olney (1876–1886)

===Former teachers=== * Edith Allen, mother of food writer [[Raymond Postgate]] and Dame [[Margaret Cole]] (who married [[G. D. H. Cole]]), and wife of classicist [[John Percival Postgate]] * [[Rosalind Goodfellow]], who taught history<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rosalind-goodfellow-first-woman-moderator-of-the-general-assembly-of-the-united-reformed-church-964175.html Rosalind Goodfellow]</ref> * Marianne Lutz, Headmistress from 1959–83 of [[Sheffield High School (South Yorkshire)|Sheffield High School for Girls]] taught history from 1947–59. * [[Margaret Nevinson]], suffragette, and mother of the painter [[C. R. W. Nevinson]] (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|Institut Francais du Royaume-Uni]].

[[File:South Hampstead High School.jpg|thumb|right|300px|South Hampstead High School, Maresfield Gardens]]

==School motto== * "Mehr Licht" – More Light (German)—the reputed last words of [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]

==Notable former pupils== {{see also|Category:People educated at South Hampstead High School}} * [[Katya Adler]], journalist<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shhs.gdst.net/news/culture-list-for-lockdown/|title = Culture List for Lockdown|date = 19 May 2020}}</ref> * [[Julia Briggs]], academic, literary critic and biographer<ref>{{cite news| last=Light | first=Alison | title=Obituary: Julia Briggs | work=The Guardian | date=30 August 2007 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/aug/30/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries | access-date=7 October 2025}}</ref> * [[Ella Bright]], actress<ref>{{cite web |title=GDST student stars in Malory Towers |url=https://www.gdst.net/news/gdst-student-stars-in-malory-towers/ |website=GDST Girls' Day School Trust |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504212333/https://www.gdst.net/news/gdst-student-stars-in-malory-towers/ |access-date=20 August 2024|archive-date=4 May 2022 }}</ref> * [[Helena Bonham Carter]], actress * [[Janet Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico]], lawyer and crime fiction writer * [[Lilah Fear]], figure skater<ref name=CNJ161215>{{cite news |url= http://www.camdennewjournal.com/ice-dance-world |title= Ice dance sisters are set to take on the world |first= Charlie |last= Corbett |work= Camden New Journal |date= 15 December 2016 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20170124201859/http://www.camdennewjournal.com/ice-dance-world |archivedate= 24 January 2017 |url-status= dead |access-date= 28 January 2017 }}</ref> * [[Lynne Featherstone, Baroness Featherstone]], Liberal Democrat MP from 2005 to 2015 for [[Hornsey and Wood Green (UK Parliament constituency)|Hornsey and Wood Green]] * [[Naomi Ishiguro]], author * [[Glynis Johns]], actress * [[Diana Kennedy]], food writer and expert on Mexican food<ref>{{cite web | last=Jaine | first=Tom | title=Diana Kennedy obituary | website=the Guardian | date=27 July 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/27/diana-kennedy-obituary | access-date=9 January 2025}}</ref> * [[Dame Angela Lansbury]], actress and author * [[Daisy Lowe]], model * [[Joanna MacGregor]], pianist * [[Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger]], rabbi * [[Sarah Patterson]], actress * [[Margaret Quass]], educationalist and activist<ref>{{cite news | first = John L | last = Lipscomb | title= Margaret Quass: An internationalist in education | url= https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/dec/24/guardianobituaries.highereducation | work = [[The Guardian]] | date = 2003-12-24 | accessdate = 9 January 2024}}</ref> * [[Devika Rani]], [[Bollywood]] actress<ref name="Bollywood – A History">{{cite book |last1=Bose |first1=Mihir |title=Bollywood – A History |date=2006 |publisher=Tempus Publishing |location=Stroud |isbn=0-7524-2835-7 |page=106}}</ref> * [[Netta Rheinberg]], cricketer<ref>{{cite news |title=Netta Rheinberg |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1523258/Netta-Rheinberg.html |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112205003/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1523258/Netta-Rheinberg.html |archive-date=12 November 2012}}</ref> * [[Sarah Sackman]], Labour MP and Solicitor-General * [[Jordan Scott (filmmaker)|Jordan Scott]], filmmaker and photographer<ref>{{cite web | last=Standard | first=The | title=A reel life: Jordan Scott | website=The Standard | date=10 April 2012 | url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/a-reel-life-jordan-scott-6801670.html | access-date=9 January 2025}}</ref> * [[Rachel Sylvester]], political journalist * [[Fay Weldon]], novelist * [[Olivia Williams]], actress * [[Christina Larner]], Historian, Author

==See also== * [[List of direct grant grammar schools]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== + {{official website|http://www.shhs.gdst.net/}}

[[Category:1876 establishments in England]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1876]] [[Category:Private girls' schools in London]] [[Category:Private schools in the London Borough of Camden]] [[Category:Schools of the Girls' Day School Trust]]