# North London Collegiate School

North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam, and Singapore, all of which are coeducational day and boarding schools offering the British curriculum. It is a member of the Girls' Schools Association.
The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the 150 best private schools in the world and among top 30 senior schools in the UK. NLCS Jeju is also included in this index as one of top 15 school in China and Southeast Asia.

## Location

North London Collegiate School is located at the western edge of Edgware near Canons Park. It is accessed by car through Canons Drive from Edgware's High Street. However both Stanmore tube station and Canons Park tube station are within walking distance.

## History

The North London Collegiate School was founded by Frances Buss, a pioneer in girls' education. It is generally recognised as the first girls' school in the United Kingdom to offer girls the same educational opportunities as boys, and Miss Buss was the first person to use the term 'Headmistress'.
The small school opened in 1850 at No.46. later renumbered No.12 Camden Street, London. Buss believed in the importance of home life and it remained a day school. In 1929, the school bought Canons, a modest villa built by William Hallett Esq, on the site of a palatial residence originally built in the early 18th century by the Duke of Chandos, and relocated to the property (designed by Sir Albert Richardson) in 1940.
Lucinda Elizabeth Shaw, mother to George Bernard Shaw was a director of music at the school, followed in 1908 by Lilian Manson, J.B. Manson's wife. Her ambitious revival of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 1910 gained coverage in The Times.
The school introduced a house system in 2014, with the houses being named after noted past pupils. The houses have colours, and each house has two house captains amongst the pupils (a year 9 and a year 11), and a staff head of house.
Today the school caters to girls from ages 4 to 18. It comprises a Junior School (Reception to Year 6) and Senior School (Year 7–13). Former pupils are known as ONLs, short for Old North Londoners. The uniform of North London Collegiate School is light blue and dark brown in colour, however uniform is not compulsory in sixth form.
The co-ed boarding North London Collegiate School Jeju opened in Seogwipo, South Korea in 2011. The school opened another international school in Singapore in August 2020.

## Curriculum

North London Collegiate is one of the most academically successful schools in England, having been placed in the top two in the Daily Telegraph exam league tables every year for over a decade. It has been an International Baccalaureate World School since October 2003 . Girls may choose to take the traditional A Levels or the Pre-U or the IB curriculum.
The girls are also encouraged to participate in non-academic pursuits. The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is available similarly to all independent schools. They may also take part in activities such as World Challenge Expeditions, Young Enterprise, Model United Nations and various community service projects.

## Alleged malpractice in deciding teacher-assessed grades

In 2021 90% of its A-level entries got A* grades, whereas in 2019 the figure was only 34%. In December 2022 the Guardian revealed that the school had been the subject of an investigation by an A-level examination board into the teacher-assessed grades given to pupils in 2021. A spokesperson for NLCS claimed that there was no centre malpractice by the school. However, a whistleblower told the Guardian that the school had made decisions "that had little integrity, even though they appeared to be within the rules".
Teacher assessment grades replaced the formal exams that were cancelled due to Covid. North London Collegiate School was not the only private school under investigation. In 2021, the percentage of A* grades from English private schools was 39.5%, but only 16.1% in 2019. Dr Jo Saxton, Ofqual’s chief regulator, confirmed in October 2022 that private schools were being investigated when she appeared before the education select committee.

## Headmistresses

* Frances Mary Buss (1850 – December 1894)
* Sophie Bryant (1895–1918)
* Isabella Drummond (1918–1940, previously Head of Camden School)
* Eileen Harold (1941–1944)
* Dame Kitty Anderson DBE (1945–1965)
* Madeline McLauchlan (1965 – December 1985, previously at Henrietta Barnett School)
* Joan Clanchy (1986–1997) previously Head of St George's School, Edinburgh
* Bernice McCabe OBE (1997–2017, previously at Chelmsford County High School)
* Sarah Clark (2018–2022, previously at Queen's School, Chester)
* Vicky Bingham (2023–present, previously at South Hampstead High School)

## Notable former pupils

* Roma Agrawal (engineer)
* Barbara Amiel (journalist)
* Peggy Angus
* Agnes Arber [née Robertson] (1879–1960) (botanist)
* Virginia Astley (musician)
* Alice Beer (TV presenter)
* Alison Britton (ceramicist)
* Eleanor Bron (actress)
* Sara Burstall (teacher, headmistress) (headmistress of Manchester High School for Girls)
* Tanya Byron (psychologist)
* Esther Cailingold, fought with the Jewish forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and died of wounds received
* Jo Coburn BBC political broadcaster
* Clara Collet (civil servant and promoter of women's education and employment)
* Gillian Cross (children's writer)
* Anne Digby (novelist)
* Sophie Duker (comedian and writer)
* Jo Dunkley (Professor of Physics at Princeton University)
* Fenella Fielding (actress)
* Margaret Fingerhut (pianist)
* Lindsey Fraser (Olympic athlete, Team GB diving coach)
* Caroline Sylvia Gabriel (artist)
* Dame Helen Gardner (academic/writer)
* Stella Gibbons (1902–1989) (novelist)
* Margaret Gilmore (former BBC correspondent)
* Eleanor Graham (1896–1984) (publisher and children's writer)
* Noreena Hertz (b. 1967) (academic)
* Caroline S. Hill (b. 1961) (scientist)
* Judith A. Hill (b.1959) (historian)
* Amy Horrocks (1867-1919) (composer)
* Gabrielle Howard (1876–1930) (plant physiologist)
* Mary Vivian "Molly" Hughes (1866–1956) (writer, educator)
* Margaret Calkin James (1895–1985) (graphic designer and artist)
* Dame Emily Lawson (head of the NHS COVID-19 vaccine programme)
* Lilian Lindsay [née Murray] (1871–1960) (first female dentist)
* Jane Lunnon (born 1969, headmistress of Alleyn's School)
* Ishbel MacDonald
* Sheila MacDonald Lochhead
* Anna Madeley (actress)
* Marilyn Malin, publisher, editor and literary agent
* Judy Mallaber (MP)
* Jane March (actress)
* Jan Marsh (expert on pre-Raphaelites)
* Katharine McMahon (author)
* Valerie Mendes (author)
* Margaret Theodora Meyer (1862–1924) (mathematician)
* Jessie Millward (music hall artist)
* Susie Orbach (psychologist/journalist)
* Kate O'Toole (actress)
* Ruth Padel (poet)
* Pat Phillips (diplomat, ambassador)
* Myfanwy Piper [née Evans] (1911–1997) (librettist)
* Jessie Pope (1868–1941) (poet)
* Anna Popplewell (actress)
* Catherine Alice Raisin (1855–1945) (geologist and educationist)
* Louie Ramsay (actress)
* Esther Rantzen (television personality)
* Ethel Sargant (1863–1918) (botanist)
* Victoria Sharp (High Court Judge)
* Stevie Smith (1902–1971) (poet)
* Marie Stopes (1880–1958)(palaeobotanist,birth control advocate)
* Netta Syrett (1865–1943) (novelist and playwright)
* Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor (1879–1966) (geographer and historian of science)
* Gillian Tett (journalist)
* Angela Tilby (author, Anglican priest and Canon Emeritus at Christ Church, Oxford)
* Natasha Walter (writer)
* Olivia Wayne (news presenter)
* Judith Weir (composer)
* Rachel Weisz (actress)
* Anna Wintour (fashion journalist; editor of Vogue)
* Frances Wood (historian)

## Notable former staff

* Edith Aitken (founding head of Pretoria High School for Girls)
* Peggy Angus (artist, tile and wallpaper designer), teacher 1947-70
* Edward Aveling, teacher of elementary physics and botany (1872–1876)
* Hannah Robertson, led middle school, later tutor of women at Leeds University from 1905 to 1921.