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 - present
Sandrine Paillasse 2016 (acting)
Helen Pike 2013–2016
Elizabeth Nicholas 2013, one term
Jenny Stephen 2005–2013
Vivien Ainley 2001–2004
Jean 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 1969–1974
Prunella Bodington 1954–1969
Muriel Potter 1927–1954
Dorothy Walker 1918–1926 (Miss McGonigle 1926 one term)
Mary Benton 1886–1918
Rita Allen-Olney 1876–1886
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
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 Goethe
Naomi Alderman, author
Madalyn Aslan, author
Alma Birk, Baroness Birk, 1970s Labour politician
Helena Bonham Carter, actress
Prof Julia Briggs
Irene Bruegel
Ann Chegwidden, film editor
Janet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico, 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 Paul, singer/songwriter/pianist/actress
Una Ellis-Fermor, Hildred Carlile Professor of English from 1947–58 at Bedford College
Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP since 2005 of Hornsey and Wood Green
Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, actress
Antonia Forest (Patricia Rubinstein), British children's author
Jill Fraser MBE, theatre director
Jane Green, author
Vivien Greene (née Dayrell-Browning), wife of author Graham Greene
Charlotte Haldane (née Franken), writer, and first wife of evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane from 1926–45
Amanda Harlech, model
Margot Heinemann, left-wing writer
Elizabeth Irving (Lady Brunner), actress and founder of the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign
Elsie Janner, Baroness Janner CBE, wife of Barnett Janner, Baron Janner
Laura Janner-Klausner, their daughter; Senior Rabbi, Movement for Reform Judaism
Miriam Karlin, actress and activist
Suzy Klein, radio and television presenter, writer and producer
Angela Lansbury, actress
Una Ledingham (née Garvin), physician in the field of diabetes mellitus and pregnancy, and daughter of James Louis Garvin
Nora Lee (née Nora Francisca Blackburne), actress and casting director
E. C. R. Lorac, crime writer
Daisy Lowe, model
Ruth Mace, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology since 2004 at University College London
Joanna MacGregor, classical & contemporary pianist
Lucasta Miller, writer
Kate Moross, graphic designer
Julia Neuberger, Rabbi
Freya North, author
Ruth Padel (prep school), poet
Margaret Quass, educationalist
Netta Rheinberg MBE, cricketer
Diana Rowntree, architecture journalist
Jordan Scott, photographer, daughter of Sir Ridley Scott
Georgia Slowe, actress
Anna Stothard (briefly), author
Rachel Sylvester, senior columnist at The Times newspaper
Flora Twort, English painter
Fay Weldon, author
Olivia Williams, actress
Sula Wolff, child psychiatrist
