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North London Collegiate School

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North London Collegiate School is a selective independent day school for girls from the ages of 4 to 18.

It was founded in 1850, and so is one of the oldest girls' schools in Britain and claim to take pride in their history of providing an ambitious, stimulating and broad education for able girls.

History

North London Collegiate School (NLCS) was founded in April 1850 by Frances Mary Buss in the family home at 46 Camden Street, Camden Town. All the family assisted in the school including her brother Septimus and her father, R.W. Buss.

The School soon developed a reputation for providing an excellent education for its students, and many women involved in the campaign to improve the education of women visited the school, such as Emily Davies who was to persuade the authorities to allow women to become students at London University. The two women became close friends and became involved in the campaign to secure the admission of girls to the Oxford and Cambridge examinations.

In 1871 Buss took the decision to modify the school's status from private school to endowed grammar school. Although this resulted in a loss of income, the school could now offer an education to those girls whose families could not afford private fees. The school, as it grew bigger, moved to Camden Road and then to Sandall Road.

In 1880 Frances Mary Buss began to suffer from a debilitating kidney disease, although she continued running the North London Collegiate School until her death in 1894.

In 1927 the site at Canons in Edgware was "discovered" by the then Headmistress, Isabella Drummond. Canons had once been home to James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, although the grand house was pulled down on his death. The site was bought in 1929 but the school did not move there fully until 1939. A new building was designed by Sir Albert Richardson, known as the Richardson Building, to adjoin an older house put up after the death of Chandos.

1976 saw the withdrawal of NLCS's Direct Grant and resulted in the school changing status and becoming an Independent school with charitable status. In 2000, North London Collegiate School celebrated their 150th anniversary with a service at St Paul's Cathedral and a wide range of other events.

Today NLCS is one of the foremost girls' schools in London and indeed in the UK. It regularly takes the position of best performing girls' school in terms of its A level results. In 2004 100% of students went on to university. The school came top of the A level league tables in both The Times and The Telegraph in 2001 and 2003. The school has offered the International Baccalaureate as an alternative pathway alongside A levels in the Sixth Form since September 2004. The results from the first batch of IB students revealed that all girls got 42 points or above (out of a possible forty-five), with 5 girls gaining full marks.

Headmistresses and dates of Headship

  • 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 (1944 – 1965)
  • Madeline McLauchlan (1965 – December 1985, previously at Henrietta Barnett School)
  • Joan Clanchy (1986 – 1997)
  • Bernice McCabe (1997 - present)

Noted Alumnae

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