Independent Girls' School of the Year 2022 Winner: South Hampstead High School GDST

As part of the Girls’ Day School Trust, founded by pioneering women 150 years ago, South Hampstead High School has a long legacy of empowering girls to stand up for what they believe in and to make a positive difference.

A Sense of Purpose

South Hampstead is “full of go-getters.” Excellence is endemic: award-winning choirs; county champion netballers; the UK’s top debaters; fencing for England at this summer’s Commonwealth Championships; national Philosothon winners… But beyond outstanding grades and externally validated achievements, pupils give the very best of themselves.

Our Scientists were finalists in the Cambridge University inventors’ challenge with a recalibrated pulse oximeter to overcome racial bias; another student won the RSA Pupil Design Awards for her project challenging systemic racism.

South Hampstead High School GDST

All pupils contribute to at least one social action initiative: learning Makaton to sustainability projects with Rwandan schoolchildren. Students joined COP26 in Glasgow and, as school trips resume, journeys abroad are carbon offset. 90%+ of pupils embark on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, contributing thousands of volunteering hours.

During the pandemic, pupils wrote to isolated care-home residents and forged new partnerships with foodbanks and our local hospital charity. Recently, pupils mobilised a whole school walk, raising over £7,000 for the DEC Humanitarian Appeal and we welcomed our first Ukrainian refugees to the school community.

Championing Equality and Leadership

A feminist ethos is pervasive. Our award-winning Debate Hub empowers hundreds of young women to find their voice through regular coaching and competitions. Pupils champion issues with PRIDE and Neurodiversity Weeks… In the wake of Everyone’s Invited, we collaborated with our neighbouring boys’ school to discuss consent.

The Head Girl Team successfully lobbied to introduce self-defence training for all pupils; musicians teach their teachers instruments via our Grade 1 Challenge; students run Wingspan – an online platform for feminist opinion pieces and scientific articles; Art Scholars design our pupil diaries, currently emblazoned with a Ruth Bader Ginsburg drawing and the quote: “Women belong in places where decisions are made.”

South Hampstead High School GDST

Our Director of STEM is part of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools collaborative, researching how to build girls’ confidence, presenting findings in Boston this summer.

Creativity and Joy

Emerging from the clutches of the pandemic, collaborative creativity has been celebrated: a fantastic first Rock & Pop Concert; the return of our writer-in-residence… one pupil plays the lead in a BBC series, another’s starring in a new Bollywood film, one teacher’s incredible periodic table tapestry – a seven-year undertaking – hit the BBC News…

At Free Thinking Fridays, sixth formers to go off timetable and broaden horizons; our whole school Speaker Series welcomes high-profile guests: alumna Katya Adler on Brexit; foreign correspondent Christina Lamb on war’s impact on women…

Our Positive Perspectives course, Wellness Weeks, and school dog Maple augment pupil wellbeing – and fun pervades school life: the wonderfully competitive staff netball fundraiser; Physicists exploring G-force at rollercoaster theme-parks; Giving Joy club crafting toys for children’s charities – just some of the many activities that imbue an unparalleled sense of community, camaraderie, and purpose.