South Hampstead High School is an independent day school in Hampstead, north-west London, England, which was founded and is still supported by the Girls' Public Day School Trust (GPDST). It is for girls aged 4–18 and operates over three sites. Entry into the school is selective at ages 4+,7+,11+ and 16+.
The school was founded in 1876, the ninth school established by the Girls' Public Day School Trust, as the St John's Wood School, with 27 pupils. 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. It opened in its present form in 1980. In November the school will mark its 140th anniversary.
Victoria Bingham 2016 - presentSandrine Paillasse 2016 (acting)Helen Pike 2013–2016Elizabeth Nicholas 2013, one termJenny Stephen 2005–2013Vivien Ainley 2001–2004Jean Scott 1993–2001 (Chairman from 2001–6 of the Independent Schools Council, and also Head from 1986–93 of St. George's School, Edinburgh)Avril Burgess OBE 1975–93 (President from 1988–9 of the Girls' Schools Association)Sheila Wiltshire 1969–1974Prunella Bodington 1954–1969Muriel Potter 1927–1954Dorothy Walker 1918–1926 (Miss McGonigle 1926 one term)Mary Benton 1886–1918Rita Allen-Olney 1876–1886Edith Allen, mother of food writer Raymond Postgate and Dame Margaret Cole (who married G. D. H. Cole), and wife of classicist John Percival PostgateRosalind Goodfellow, who taught history Marianne Lutz, Headmistress from 1959–83 of Sheffield High School for Girls taught history from 1947–59.Margaret Nevinson, suffragette, and mother of the painter Christopher R. W. Nevinson (taught classics in the 1880s)In 2011, South Hampstead High School was ranked second in the country for A-Level results according to the Financial Times league table.
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.
"Mehr Licht" – More Light (German)—the reputed last words of Johann Wolfgang von GoetheNaomi Alderman, authorMadalyn Aslan, authorAlma Birk, Baroness Birk, 1970s Labour politicianHelena Bonham Carter, actressProf Julia BriggsIrene BruegelAnn Chegwidden, film editorJanet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico, author and former BBC governorJoyti De-Laurey, Britain's biggest female fraudster (and moreover, the daughter of the victim was herself an SHJS pupil).Lynsey de Paul, singer/songwriter/pianist/actressUna Ellis-Fermor, Hildred Carlile Professor of English from 1947–58 at Bedford CollegeLynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP since 2005 of Hornsey and Wood GreenDame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, actressAntonia Forest (Patricia Rubinstein), British children's authorJill Fraser MBE, theatre directorJane Green, authorVivien Greene (née Dayrell-Browning), wife of author Graham GreeneCharlotte Haldane (née Franken), writer, and first wife of evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane from 1926–45Amanda Harlech, model Margot Heinemann, left-wing writerElizabeth Irving (Lady Brunner), actress and founder of the Keep Britain Tidy CampaignElsie Janner, Baroness Janner CBE, wife of Barnett Janner, Baron JannerLaura Janner-Klausner, their daughter; Senior Rabbi, Movement for Reform JudaismMiriam Karlin, actress and activistSuzy Klein, radio and television presenter, writer and producerAngela Lansbury, actressUna Ledingham (née Garvin), physician in the field of diabetes mellitus and pregnancy, and daughter of James Louis GarvinNora Lee (née Nora Francisca Blackburne), actress and casting director E. C. R. Lorac, crime writerDaisy Lowe, modelRuth Mace, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology since 2004 at University College LondonJoanna MacGregor, classical & contemporary pianistLucasta Miller, writerKate Moross, graphic designerJulia Neuberger, RabbiFreya North, authorRuth Padel (prep school), poetMargaret Quass, educationalistNetta Rheinberg MBE, cricketerDiana Rowntree, architecture journalistJordan Scott, photographer, daughter of Sir Ridley ScottGeorgia Slowe, actressAnna Stothard (briefly), authorRachel Sylvester, senior columnist at The Times newspaperFlora Twort, English painterFay Weldon, authorOlivia Williams, actressSula Wolff, child psychiatrist