NLCS Annual Review 2021-2022

Annual Review

WelcomeAs an academic historian, I have a fascination with times of flux and transition. In our national history, this year, 2021 – 2022, will certainly be marked as such a period, with the death of our longest serving monarch and the transition to a new head of state. As I reflect on this year at NLCS, I am reminded that we too have witnessed change and transition, as we recover from the effects of lockdown and focus on rebuilding our vibrant and dynamic Canons community.

In the last few months, we have reasserted the School’s vision and ambition to centre on its founding principle: an unashamedly academic education for young women. We are proud of what this provides for our students: the confidence and academic credentials to fulfil their ambitions anywhere in the world. It is pleasing, therefore, that our examination results continue to reflect this academic excellence. This year, the cohort of 2022 Year 11 students achieved 94% Grade 8/9 with an impressive 79% Grade 9. This is a wonderful achievement and puts our students in an excellent position as they begin their Sixth Form studies. We also celebrated an excellent set of A Level and Pre U results. Overall, our students achieved 87% A*/A equivalent and an impressive 63% A*. Around one third of students gained three or more A*s.

As a school, we are proud of our international focus. Through our partnerships, international sister schools, our curriculum and our enrichment programme, our students develop a truly global perspective on the world. As the pandemic’s restrictions on travel ebb away, we are looking forward to resuming our programme of academic exchanges so students can experience other education systems.

It is particularly gratifying, therefore, that this year saw one of our largest cohorts ever taking the IB. Across all students taking the IB globally, there are typically only a very small number of students (less than 1%) who achieve a ‘perfect’ score of 45 points. This year 6% of our students achieved this result and a further 12% scored 44 points. This is an outstanding achievement, and one that underscores North London Collegiate’s status as one of the leading IB schools not only in the UK, but in the world.

I have further noted in the past few years, an increase in the number of our students wishing to study abroad. While the majority of our Sixth Formers go on to study at Oxbridge and Russell Group Universities here in the UK, in 2022, a number also went onto US universities, including Yale, Columbia, Notre Dame and Brown.

Fundamental to these impressive achievements by our students is the broader education NLCS offers through a rich and dynamic programme of extra-curricular activities. These set out to develop an appetite within our students for academic enrichment in all its forms, and I am happy to report that, post lockdown, this

programme is very much back and at the centre of school life, continuing to be popular with students, ambitious in its content and very well-attended.

From Nicholson Lectures given by our staff specialists, debates with internal and external speakers, a programme of Senior Societies run by the students, lunchtime clubs, specialist symposia with other schools, mini MUN sessions, student journals, podcasts and films, and a rich external speaker programme, our girls have opportunities to interrogate and absorb perspectives on the subjects they study and issues of broader concern in the world.

This year, we counted 179 extra-curricular clubs and societies currently running in the Senior School and some 60 in the Junior School – all of them presenting the opportunity for our students to dive deeper, differently and independently into their studies, and for the students running these clubs to further develop their leadership skills

In addition, we have continued our specialist subject weeks to free our staff to expand their teaching beyond the curriculum confines and take our students on a truly academic adventure. In the Summer Term, we saw the English Department and Philosophy pairing to teach cross-disciplinary sessions on everything from morality to the value of subjective interpretation.

The relaxation of post-pandemic measures has also meant a return to school trips, many of them residential. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award resumed this year with students across all levels embracing the range of its challenges. Year 7s were able to visit Warwick Castle and Bourneville on a residential weekend; Year 8s visited the Peak District for a week of outward-bound challenges; Geography field trips came back, although only as day trips and our Model United Nations programme saw our students visiting many other schools and venues. This year too, we recommenced visits to theatres, galleries, exhibitions, concerts, external lectures and all the rich facilities of London life to which our location gives us access.

At NLCS, we are immensely proud of the academic subject specialists who make up our staff body and, so, post-lockdown, I have been delighted to prioritise the continuing enrichment of their subject specialism. As a founding partner of the Prince’s

Teaching Institute, we are privileged to have access to the full gamut of subject specialist courses. While these have continued online in lockdown, it has been heartening to see the return of the residential and ‘irl’ courses.

In May, Downing College, Cambridge, formed a beautiful backdrop to the first weekend immersive subject course for Art, English and History teachers in two years, which many of our staff were able to enjoy.

But not all change has positive consequences. We are very aware that in the wake of the pandemic there have been more concerning developments for some of our community, thanks to two years of disruption to routines, socialisation, and academic continuity. As we have returned to a regular teaching timetable, the well-being and positive mental health of our students has been a single-minded focus for our Pastoral Team. The appointment of a Pastoral Liaison Manager at the start of the Summer Term has already strengthened the department’s proactive strategies in supporting students’ mental health and resilience.

Nor has this been an initiative limited to specific individuals. This year, we initiated three themed school-wide weeks, which celebrated positivity, kindness and consideration for others, making these school-wide concerns. A culture of kindness to peers and others is something which differentiates our collegiate community, and reasserting this as a core value has helped rebuild our strong school society, as well as proving very popular with students.

Change, transition and dynamism are very much part of life here at NLCS: indeed, my Biology colleagues would attest that these are essential signs of vigorous life. As we look back on the academic year of 2021-2022, I hope you will agree with me that the changes we have initiated are all delivering on our school’s most important objective: helping our girls to flourish at their highest possible level.

Hazel Bagworth-Mann Interim Headmistress

We are so proud of all our Year 11 and Year 13 students who sat public examinations for the first time in 2022, having endured extraordinary disruption due to Covid 19. They demonstrated resilience, scholarship, and the highest levels of motivation throughout, working hard to achieve an impressive set of results.

GCSE 94% of grades were awarded 8/9 with an impressive 79% at Grade 9.

BIOLOGY

8 2 0

2 3 0 0 COMPUTER SCIENCE 2 1 1 0 0 DRAMA

7 0 0 0 ECONOMICS

9 5 3 0 ENGLISH 16 11 4 1 0 FRENCH 6 4 2 0 0 FURTHER MATHEMATICS 15 6 6 1 2 GEOGRAPHY 6 3 1 2 0 GERMAN 2 2 0 0 0 HISTORY 13 4 4 4 1 ITALIAN 1 1 0 0 0 LATIN 4 1 2 1 0 MANDARIN 2 2 0 0 0 MATHEMATICS 47 32 8 6 1 MUSIC 1 1 0 0 0 PHYSICS 12 10 1 0 1 POLITICS 8 6 2 0 0 RELIGIOUS STUDIES 9 6 3 0 0 RUSSIAN 1 1 0 0 0 SPANISH 8 7 1 0 0

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

once again achieved highly in this challenging and enriching qualification, achieving an average score of 40.7 points. This year, saw our largest cohort ever. Across all students taking the IB globally, less than 1% achieve a ‘perfect’ score of 45 points. This year, 6% of our students achieved this result

outstanding achievement, and one that underscores our status as one of the leading IB

not only in the UK, but in the world.

The impressively wide range of disciplines taken up at Higher Education by the class of 2022 include: Anthropology, Archaeology, Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies, Automotive Engineering, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Biology, Biomedical Science, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Classical Civilisation and English, Classics, Computer Science, Drama and English, Economics, Russian, English Literature, Financial Mathematics, French, Geography, German, Global Development, Health & Medical Sciences, History, History and Politics of the Americas, Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Italian, International Relations,

Academic Highlights Enrichment

The start of the academic year brought a sense of optimism and excitement as we returned to some sense of normality following the restrictions of the previous years due to the pandemic. Student-led events, a central pillar of the enrichment programme at NLCS, could recommence, alongside Music, Drama, and Sports, with students in every year group taking part in a rich and diverse menu of opportunities.

Our key priorities for Academic Development throughout the year focused on the following:

• Enabling students to excel through quality formative assessment and feedback.

• Inspiring subject passion, intellectual curiosity and excellence through active learning within the classroom.

• Re-establishing our community and connections through academically ambitious and student-led enrichment.

VISITING SPEAKERS

Throughout the year, we welcomed more than 200 visiting speakers for a range of events, from lunchtime and after-school meetings to Senior Societies, Science Café, and Evening Talks.

Our Keynote Lecture, delivered by Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian, commenced the annual Senior Societies programme. His erudite discussion examined changes in the press over the past decade and the problems facing the industry in an age of social media. Other speakers this year have included:

• Sophie Scott, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, gave a lively and engaging lecture on the science of laughter.

• Sir Andrew Large, previous Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England and a member of its Monetary Policy Committee, spoke about ‘what central banks do and how they do it’.

• Professor Giles Yeo, 2013 winner of The JBS Haldane Lecture, an award which recognises an individual for outstanding ability to communicate topical subjects in genetics research, discussed the link between genetics and obesity at Science Café, followed by 2021 winner Professor Matthew Cobb, who discussed the history of our ideas about brain and behaviour at Senior Societies.

• Betty Webb, a former decoder at Bletchley Park, spoke about her experiences as a woman in the Armed Forces, how feminism has changed since the early 20th century and offered a fascinating insight into her career at Bletchley.

COMPETITIONS

Stretching our students beyond the prescribed curriculum and embedding subject scholarship and passion has enabled students to achieve excellence across many areas, and there have been many examples of success across departments this year:

• We received the School’s best-ever results in the IMC Junior Maths Challenge, with a record number of students (110) qualifying for the second round in the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad.

• In Computer Science, 14 students reached the second round of the Perse Coding Challenge (attaining a rank within the top 25% of 6000 entries).

• NLCS qualified for the final of the International Cyber Centurion competition as the top female-only team.

• NLCS entered all six VEX competitions, with one team receiving a Judge’s Award.

• A team from NLCS won the National Spanish Debating Competition, and students were awarded Silver and Bronze certificates in the UK Linguistics Olympiad.

• Two students won The Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Competition, and our MFL department had two students win the Anthea Bell prize run by Queen’s College, Oxford.

• Four students competed in the final of the University of Cambridge Translation Bee.

• A student in Year 10 was awarded first prize in the Oxford University Creative Writing Competition.

STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Student-led journals and publications have also been a feature of the Enrichment programme. Across the year, over 40 publications have been created and can be read online HERE . In addition, some of our societies have created specialist blogs and podcasts:

Our Mental Health & Wellbeing Committee created a fortnightly podcast featuring interviews and discussions, and our scientists created ‘NLCS TechTalk’ a future-looking online tech magazine.

SUBJECT FOCUS WEEKS

In addition to our celebration and commemoration of annual events, such as Holocaust Memorial Day, Pride Month, Neurodiversity Week, World Book Day and International Women’s Day, several subject-focus weeks have taken place. For many of these, students ran events, invited speakers, held seminars, and produced outstanding journals. Subject weeks have included History and Politics, Languages, Science and Classics, all providing fascinating opportunities for students to explore topics and their passions beyond the current curriculum.

SCIENCE WEEK

Growth was the theme of this year’s event, and to celebrate, a plethora of lectures, activities and interactive sessions were organised. Middle School Science Club enjoyed a Vaccine Hunt, which matched different vaccines with their respective diseases, hidden around the School. Young Medics club explored cloning with cauliflower experiments before learning about the science behind Dolly the Sheep. Other activities included a Middle School Science Discussion Group, exploring the mysterious title “Drugs, Chemistry and Mirror Images”, a hands-on session on the theme of ‘Growth in the Context of Chemical Reactions’, a Science Café talk on the topic of regenerative medicine including the synthesis of artificial tissues and organs and a mind-blowing discussion hosted by the Space and Astronomy Club about the expansion of the universe from the Big Bang.

LANGUAGES WEEK

We hosted a vibrant and dynamic languages week on Language Diversity. The week opened with a thought-provoking assembly on Cockney rhyming slang to illustrate that language diversity is all around us. A Modern Foreign Languages Symposium focused on the understanding of Pidgins, Creoles, Dialects and Minority Languages with a talk from Lecturer in Linguistics, Dr Melody Pattinson from Cardiff University, and the power of Catalan, delivered by Dr Isabel Crespí and Professor John London from the Department of Linguistics at Queen Mary University, London. A highlight of the week was the IX Hispanic Theatre Festival. The quality of the performances and the incredible effort of all participants were outstanding. NLCS participants were once more recognised for their brilliance with many accolades.

It was not only diversity in languages celebrated all around the School; different societies embraced the theme through the Science of phonemes or dialects in Ancient Roman and Greek Civilisation.

MODEL UNITED NATIONS

MUN has continued to move from strength to strength, winning many accolades across all events, including the Highly Commended, Distinguished Team and Best Delegate categories. Following the success of our Senior School NLCSMUN conference in 2020, we introduced the activity to our Junior School students. Most schools only offer the MUN club to older students as it is a challenging and complex simulation of United Nations Conferences, but our Year 6 students engaged with great enthusiasm, taking on the challenge with poise. Following the success of the event, we launched our inaugural mini-NLCSMUN conference welcoming Year 5 students from Bute House, Pembridge Hall, and St Christopher’s to join NLCS pupils to form four committees. It was a fantastic event and was entirely student-led by our expert MUN leaders in the Sixth Form and Year 11.

SUMMER FESTIVAL

The year culminated in the annual Summer Festival, for which the theme this year was ‘Platinum: A Celebration of the Past Seventy Years’. This was our first Festival without the limitations imposed on us by the pandemic and across the week, over 30 events were hosted. From concerts to performances and lectures, our students led a range of events that allowed the NLCS community to engage with this theme in a highly academic and focused manner. As ever, the Festival Afternoon saw every Society lead a session for the younger students, with sessions

ranging from a discussion about the nature of the monarchy to changes in attitudes to Mental Health, and debates about the Queen’s Speech. Visiting speakers included Professors from Oxbridge, with talks given on issues as complex and engaging as sentencing law over the past seventy years through to the changes in the role of women. As ever, our students had tremendous fun, with particular highlights including a treasure hunt organised by our MFL Department and Polyglot Society to find the ‘missing’ Crown Jewels and a student-led concert highlighting music from the past seventy years.

YOUNG ENTERPRISE

Three Year 12 student companies participated in the Young Enterprise North and Central London Showcase and Competition Final.

This was the first major London round in this Europe-wide competition which challenges groups of students to set up and manage their own businesses to develop and launch a product or service. The standard set on the day was incredibly high. In an exceptionally strong field, Team IRIS won the coveted ‘Best Teamwork’ award for their infectious team spirit, effective use of HR to manage challenges and their 18-strong team. Team ORNA came second place to win ‘Best Company – Runner Up’ for their ethical and sustainable tote bags, and Atlas Hoodies received high commendation for their professionalism and dedication.

Pastoral Highlights

Promoting positive mental health remained at the heart of the pastoral team’s work as, for the first time in almost two years, we were able to bring our school community back together. In-person assemblies became a particularly important way of conveying key messages to students to support their mental health and well-being. Connecting with others was at the centre of our messaging, with topics ranging from being brave, not perfect, and the importance of sleep to the power of resilience and flexibility. The appointment of a Pastoral Liaison Manager at the start of the Summer Term has allowed the Pastoral Team to further enhance strategies to support our students’ mental health and well-being.

A WEEK OF WELL-BEING

Feel-Good Week was packed with variety and choice; there needed to be something for everyone. We celebrate our students’ wide range of interests, passions and aspirations; we want to support them in fulfilling their unique ambitions. Our week included form time carousels where year groups could mix up and try a completely new activity. Workshops included sessions in art, and dance, including contemporary and Latin, yoga and Qi Gong. Students had the opportunity to play traditional games such as sack-racing, to ‘walk and talk’ around the beautiful grounds with our peer mentors, to be still and reflect whilst colouring in and to enjoy scenes from feel-good movies. At the end of each day, the community received the light-hearted digital Afternoon Tea Feel Good Newsletter, which included pictures, positive quotes, recipes, uplifting music recommended by the staff and students, news stories, as well as links to books, podcasts, websites and further information on some of the activities of the day.

PASTORAL PRIORITIES FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR:

• To ensure that every student is well known and cared for, ‘everyone matters’.

• To promote a sense of community across the entire school, where kindness and consideration for others are central to our ethos.

• To continue to develop our well-being agenda, supporting students with challenges they face whilst also recognising and celebrating their strengths and successes.

Our popular themed weeks continued to be embedded in the calendar and spotlighted the promotion of positive mental health. Kindness Week and Feel-Good Weeks challenged issues of low self-esteem, comparisons with others and perfectionism offering a wide variety of workshops and activities.

‘One Kind Word’, was the theme for Anti-Bullying Week, encouraging students to show kindness to others and opened discussions on kindness to ourselves. Our Upper School Mental Health Committee launched a fantastic podcast about mental health and the role students have in being kind to each other.

OTHER ACTIVITIES INCLUDED:

Year 11 had a workshop from the Self Esteem Team about preparing and protecting our mental health during the exam period.

Mental health campaigner Natasha Devon spoke to Year 8 and their parents on the role of a friend, building a healthy community and understanding when adult support is needed.

The Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation presented their production of “I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won’t Die”. This powerful piece of ‘Theatre In Education’ allowed students to explore challenging social situations developing knowledge, empathy and understanding surrounding the issues of drugs.

Talks delivered by the RAP project continued to be a very important element of our well-being work; these included:

• ‘Altered, Airbrushed and Unrealistic’,addressing body image issues and how 24/7 access to social media, advertising & the internet affects self-esteem.

• Everyone’s Invited - Now What? - an empowering presentation providing personal safety advice on how alcohol and drugs interfere with consent. It defined the laws on sexual offences and the necessity of practicing mutual respect and mutual consent.

Online parental talks continued to be a real strength of this year’s work, with the programme designed to meet the needs of our parents. Areas covered included encouraging healthy work habits, the importance of sleep, dealing with transitions and navigating social interactions.

To support this series of in-house events, parents also have the opportunity to draw on a whole array of materials and webinars offered by ‘Tooled-Up’ education.

Pastoral Highlights

PEER MENTORS

One of the first assemblies of the year focussed on rebuilding connections across the School and the role Sixth Form students play in promoting positive relationships. The work of our Peer Mentors has been impressive, and they have forged strong connections with students across all year groups. A brunch was held to welcome the new Year 7 students, and individual support was offered to Middle School and Upper School students in our popular ‘Tea and chat’ and ‘Walk and Talk’ sessions. During the exam season, ‘Ask the Peer Mentor’ sessions were created to give advice and share good practices to help support younger students. There were also successful connections built with the Junior School, with Peer Mentors being available in the Medical Centre to speak to Junior School students. A rota has also been set up with Peer Mentors visiting students from Years 3 to 6 to answer their questions.

HEALTHY LIVING

A Safer Internet Day form time activity designed by the Year 9 Internet Safety Reps on the topic of ‘Cool to be Unkind?’ considered online relationships, particularly online games, and how to protect ourselves and others from harmful interactions.

SPORTS

The PE Department worked closely with the whole school to promote positive mental health and resilience through a programme of mindfulness and physical activities activities. Mental Health & Well-being Week featured ‘Mindful Moments’ where tutors introduced students to different mindfulness techniques each morning. This provided students with various strategies to use in times of need. FeelGood Week included a range of physical activity opportunities, including yoga, Latin dancing and old-fashioned sack races.

A Middle School PE Day was also held at the end of the Autumn Term. All students were given the opportunity to engage in fun physical activities, which were linked with ongoing work in PSHE and form time on the importance of embedding physical activity into everyday life.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION

Our assemblies were used as a starting point to encourage discussions around equality, diversity and inclusivity. Topics included an examination of the original film “West Side Story” and the challenges the cast felt regarding discrimination against Latin actors and inappropriate casting choices, and the comparison with the second adaptation and the attempts to right the wrongs of the first movie by casting accurately. Another assembly focussed on the life of Sidney Poitier and his impact on the film industry as a black actor, and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. As part of Pride Month, an assembly was held to examine the current focus of the event and trace the history of Pride from the Stonewall Riots; this was supported by a discussion by the Year 11 Mental Health Society in their excellent podcast. Assemblies and form time activities led by Feminist Society allowed all students to assess the importance of equality in a diverse community and demonstrate ways to promote it.

Societies and departments have also worked hard this year to promote respect and celebrate differences and similarities within our school community. LGBTQI+ ran several very successful events during Pride Month, and the History Society organised talks and activities during Black History Month. Our Afro-Caribbean Society also led numerous events across Black History Month, including a Senior Societies talk, assemblies to students in both Senior and Junior Schools, and various lunchtime options.

TRIPS

All sections of the School benefitted from practical presentations by Chartwells (some in Ready, Steady, Cook style!) building an awareness of how to cook for oneself creating balanced healthy meals in a short timeframe. Focus was also placed on eating a healthy breakfast and how eating well supports mental and physical health.

The return of residential trips for Years 7, 8 and 9 resulted in the improvement and maturity of students’ relationships with peers and growing independence as they spent time away from home (for some, this was their first opportunity to do so ever, and for most, it was their first opportunity to stay away from home following the pandemic).

Extra-curricular Highlights

DRAMA

Following a year of curated online events, students embraced the thrill of live performance opportunities. Reflecting our whole-school goal of reuniting the community, projects and productions gave the students a forum for creating together. The department also launched a new Technical Theatre Club, teaching a range of stagecraft led by our Theatre Technician. Students from across every year group joined and were actively involved in building sets for our productions, making props and scenery, and supporting with lighting and technical backstage.

To open the Performing Art Centre again after the pandemic, our senior students took to the stage in their ever-popular Musical Theatre Evening, and the ‘Glimmers’ Showcase took over the Old House in their promenade production inspired by the 165th anniversary of George Bernard Shaw’s birth. Drama Productions have been superb and have included the Year 9 Production of ‘The Wardrobe’, the Senior School production of ‘Treasure Island’, and the Year 7 and 8 production of ‘Anansi’.

In the Summer term, we became the first school in the world to perform ‘SIX: TEEN EDITION’, a new version of the hit musical ‘SIX’ about the six wives of Henry VIII.

On the opening night, we had the immense privilege of welcoming the writers of the musical Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss to mark the special performance. Six talented Year 10 students took to the stage and gave stunning performances as the Tudor Queens. After the show, the writers celebrated with the cast and gave the production rave reviews.

This was truly, truly a sensational production. Every cast member was so talented and charismatic and had such ownership over the material. They made me laugh in ways I hadn’t before over the songs. Such congratulations to everyone!! 5 stars!

- Toby Marlow

MUSIC

The Autumn saw a return to mixed-year ensembles, orchestras, and choirs, ensuring an exciting array of repertoire and opportunities for younger students to be inspired to collaborate with our more senior students, resulting in a real buzz of musical activity once again.

Our Winter and Spring concerts featured a host of larger ensembles and choirs to sell out audiences.

Students have embraced opportunities to perform live to audiences once again, showcasing their talents in our Old House Concert Series and Drummond Recitals. Our annual Year 13 Gala Concert celebrated all the diverse musical talents in Year 13, including performances on viola, veena and violin, and featuring Debussy, Muse and French-Brazilian pop.

We continue to celebrate a wealth of student musical successes. Several girls have won places in national orchestras and the highly prestigious National Youth Orchestra. Students have been selected for the National Children’s Orchestra and National Youth Choir, and our Chamber musicians went through to the finals at St John’s Smith Square of the National Chamber Music Competition.

Extra-curricular Highlights

FANTASY FASHION

For the past 25 years, NLCS has been showcasing the talent and creativity of our students in our Fantasy Fashion event, founded by Old North Londoner Stephanie Lee in 1999 to raise money for the Karenni Student Development Programme (KSDP). This year’s theme, “Myths and Legends”, provided the audience with some breathtaking designs, including pieces inspired by Pericles and Medusa, to name but a few. We were delighted to welcome three fantastic judges this year, Fashion Designers Helen Hutton, Louise Bennetts and Stella McCartney, who had the tricky task of picking the winning designs. Whilst the judges deliberated, there were chances to bid on some excellent prizes in the auction. Since the event was set up, NLCS has raised over £161,000, and in 2021 we raised a record £7,188.38.

TRIPS AND EXPEDITIONS

More than 130 students have participated in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards Scheme, completing their bronze, silver and gold awards throughout the year, including expeditions to the Cotswolds, Brecon Beacons and Yorkshire Dales. In addition, there have been over 50 trips across the Senior School, including visits to Chessington World of Adventures, the Royal Opera, museums, galleries, and productions in the West End. Our residential trips programme has again resumed, and our Year 9 students challenged themselves physically and mentally on their adventure week in the Peak District whilst Year 8 explored the historic cities of Bath and Bristol.

Sports

‘Uniting the Movement’ is an integral part of Sport England’s 10-year strategy, and there is no better example of the principles that underpin this than in the ethos for Physical Education (PE) and Sport at NLCS, which places physical activity as a key contributor in the School’s mental health and well-being strategy. The Physical Education and Sport vision mimics the three pillars of the NLCS education and focuses on challenging and stretching our elite athletes, inspiring those athletes who represent the ‘future potentials’ on the pathway to elite sport, and enabling choice for those students who wish to engage in a more recreational pathway of physical activity.

Our PE curriculum continues to offer a wide range of sports uniquely nestled alongside the traditional staples of lacrosse, netball, tennis, and athletics. Badminton, basketball, bouldering, water polo, dance, gymnastics, yoga, HIIT, touch rugby, football, dance and ultimate frisbee are just some of the 23 sports and physical activities available to our students.

We have been working with pioneering and innovative organisations, including Future Action, the Youth Sport Trust, the Well HQ and the Research in PE and Sport groups, to develop programmes that put mental health and well-being at the heart of Physical Education. Similarly, at NLCS, we focus on a ‘handsoff approach to coaching’ that takes the view that young people thrive on the competition of sports, so coaching concentrates on teaching decision-making skills, alongside encouraging the benefits of physical activity and embedding positive habits for a lifetime of exercising.

Encouraging sport for all aims to counter the trend, identified by a recent Sport England research project, of girls becoming less engaged in sports as they go through their teens. At NLCS, whilst the students compete inwardly to be the best version of themselves, it is a non-judgmental environment and students are encouraged to try new activities and find those at which they can excel and derive enjoyment with a clear focus on fun.

The Middle School Sports afternoon continues to be a highlight of the sports calendar, with multi-sport House events held at the end of each term, and the Winter and Spring Festivals of Sport, enable students to compete in Super6 Lacrosse and Fast5 Netball competitions. All students can engage in enjoyable, competitive physical activities, whilst our older students take on leadership opportunities organising activities for PE Week and supporting Year 7 in their annual Dance Display. Our Sports Captain, Chair of the Sports Committee, Individual Sports Captains, and Sports Committee lead activities encouraging students to try something new.

Sports

TEAM ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2021-2022:

• Our Athletic team qualified for the Track & Field “B” final, and NLCS represented Harrow Borough at the Middlesex Schools Athletic (SAAM) finals.

• In the Herts & Middlesex County Badminton League our U13 were Gold Medalists and U18 Silver Medalists.

• In the Harrow Borough Cross-Country we were awarded 3 x Gold, 3 x Silver, and 2 x Bronze Medalists. 15 students from Years 7 to 13 were selected to represent Harrow at the Middlesex Championships, and 1 student qualified for the English Schools Competition.

• Our U11 team came 1st place in the ISGA Regional Qualifier; 5th place in the ISGA National Finals for Gymnastics

• We were awarded National Schools Lacrosse U19 Division II Champions; U13 reached the Quarterfinals in the U13 National Schools Tournament, finishing in the top 16 out of 72 schools in the country.

• U16 Middlesex County Netball Champions; U13 Bronze Medalists at the London Youth Games.

• Quarterfinalists in National Schools Tennis Doubles

ELITE SUCCESSES:

• Elite Athlete Mentoring Programme worked with 90 identified high-level and Future Potential students on an all-around holistic programme of support focusing on cutting-edge athlete support.

• 1 student finished in the top 5 in the Public Schools Fencing competition

• 40 students are trialing or currently on the National Lacrosse Talent Identification pathway and programs, 2 were selected for the U21 Home Nations Championship, 1 first draft for the Senior (Over 18) Elite “Fly” National competition

• 20 students are involved in the Franchise and National talent pathway for Netball

• 2 students qualified for the British Nationals Ski Championship, 1 Bronze Medal at English Alpine Ski Championships

• In Watersports, 1 swimmer is ranked third in her age category in GB

• In tennis, 1 student is ranked top in GB’s U14 category.

Our students continue to excel in all areas, whether individually or as part of a team, with successes in gymnastics, netball, and lacrosse, to name but a few.

Junior School

STEAM

A team of STEAM Ambassadors and Subject Leaders devised a STEAM day for Year 5 based on the physics of pulleys and levers. The design brief followed Wallace and Gromit’s ‘The Wrong Trousers’, and the pupils were tasked with designing a home invention. Their finished designs were filmed and presented using Adobe Spark. STEAM activities have been a regular feature of the Clive Curiosity Lab, with challenges that included building an ice palace for Elsa from the Disney film Frozen.

First School Mixer Days featured STEAM challenges, such as creating the best insulating coat for an ice cube on Polar Mixer Day and making a carriage during Jubilee Mixer Day. At a STEAM careers fair organised for Year 6, students worked with professionals from within STEAM industries and tried out a variety of experiments.

A Lower School STEAM project was the focus used to celebrate our ‘shared heritage’ and consisted of a map of the school showing all the important places which are part of our shared culture. Pupils made different elements from the base map to the buildings, landmarks and people. Techniques inspired by different artists (e.g. Giacometti, Lowry, Mychael Barratt, Mark Bradford and Julie Mehretu) and a range of materials were used to construct this collaborative piece.

TECHNOLOGY

We have integrated the use of iPads and all students now have an iPad for use at school. As a result, students have learnt how to use technology safely and become more digitally literate, collaborative, independent, and creative in exploring different ways to demonstrate their learning. This has created students with an ambidextrous skill set which will prepare them well for the future.

A wide range of exciting projects have been introduced, including:

• Reception designed and made their own virtual sea creatures using AR maker.

• First School students used Shadow Puppet Edu to film their own Spanish fashion show.

• Lower School students used ‘Chatterpix’ to make an ‘ear talk’ about its features. This technique was also used in Geography and History to make countries and historical figures talk about themselves.

• •

Students learnt to create e-books on Apple Pages and presented on Keynote using screen recording.

PASTORAL CARE

At the start of the year, pastoral days were held to ensure that all the students settled back happily into School and their new classes. This helped pupils to adapt to new routines, get to know their form teachers and develop a ‘class identity’ before academic lessons began.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY

This year’s Black History Month included a drama presentation by ‘The Bigfoot’ Theatre Company on the theme of ‘Proud to Be’. The students then researched an aspect of their own heritage, which they presented to their peers. Other events included a theatrical presentation about the Notting Hill Carnival, an assembly on artist Alma Thomas’s work, cooking Caribbean cuisine, and reading about black history and culture.

Celebrating differences was the focus of Neurodiversity Week, and assemblies have provided the opportunity further to reinforce the sense of inclusivity within the School. These have included a moving assembly about Down’s Syndrome, kindness and mutual respect, and belonging to a community. In addition, diverse sports icons, updated book corners and new displays and lessons have featured topics such as diversity in the performance industry and sports.

Following their trip to Preston Montford, Year 5 students collated their experiences into Adobe Page Websites.

We held a variety of pastoral activities and initiatives for different year groups, including:

• A team-building day for Year 5 girls as they settled into their new forms.

• The School Counsellors and Pastoral Liaison Manager led transition sessions in the Summer Term for Year 6, moving into the Senior School.

• For the first time, the Year 6 students had a workshop entitled ‘The Big Leavers Talk’ provided by the RAP project.

• Year 3 Hot Chocolate parties with the Head of Junior School.

• Friendship Fridays in Year 4.

• ‘Let’s Leap’ ran sessions about well-being, collaboration and taking risks for all year groups.

• A new Mental Health and Wellbeing week promoted ‘Mind Your 5’, the self-care programme, and a new Kindness week with associated activities promoted a culture of courtesy and consideration.

• CORAM life workshops were provided to pupils in Years 2, 3 and 6 on topics such as Physical and Mental Health and for Year 6 on ‘Meet the Brain’ and decision making.

Following the installation of a green screen, various projects have taken place, including a shared heritage project called ‘Follow Me to my Special Place’ and video entries for the Young Geographer of the Year competition. The use of audio recording equipment has also enabled girls to make their own podcasts.

The School’s membership of ‘Tooled Up Education’ with its extensive resource library was launched in September to all parents across the School by Dr Kathy Weston. A full programme of webinars on topics such as sleep, and anxiety was presented by researchers and experts in each field as part of Mental Health and Wellbeing week.

Junior School

EXTRA-CURRICULAR AND ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT

A full extracurricular programme was reestablished in the Autumn, with some 60 clubs available each week. These vary across various disciplines, including languages, sports, STEAM, well-being, art and literature. It is lovely to see so many students enjoying these activities.

A special two-week Book Festival on the theme of ‘Books are FUNny’ took place to celebrate the new Junior School library in the Learning Hub. This included author visits, creative activities, and the publication of new book lists, including a list of ‘50 books to read before you leave the Junior School’. First School girls created their own characters for their dress-up day, and the festival culminated in a Book Oscars ceremony with an official opening ceremony.

A Club Passport was launched to encourage pupils to develop a wide range of extracurricular interests. The students enjoyed using these passports as they could reflect on their choices and engage in clubs from different disciplines, supporting them to develop wide-ranging skills and interests.

THE CURIOSITY CLUB

Twenty-eight students participated in The Curiosity Club, which encourages individual student research, supported by a series of guided research activities in which pupils presented in various ways. This club is an ideal way of developing curiosity, research skills and pupils’ interests beyond the curriculum. We look forward to involving students from the Senior School to support and guide the younger students with their presentation skills.

MINI-MUN

Model United Nations Society is hugely popular amongst our Senior School students. Following the success of our inaugural Senior School NLCSMUN conference, we wanted to introduce the activity to students further down the School. Most schools only offer MUN to older students as it is a challenging and complex simulation of United Nations Conferences, but we felt sure that NLCS Year 5s would throw themselves into a conference with great enthusiasm and take on the challenge with poise, and we were proved right. The Mini NLCSMUN conference was a true reflection of the community spirit which is in the DNA of all North Londoners. Following this successful event, and led by our Senior School students, we hosted the first-ever Mini–NLCSMUN conference inviting Year 5 students from Bute House, Pembridge Hall, and St Christopher’s School for a thrilling day of debate and delegation.

TRIPS

It has been fantastic to resume our programme of external trips and visits this year. These have included a day at the Wallace Collection for Reception, Legoland adventures for Year 1, and Year 2 learnt about the Great Fire of London during a history walk through the city in which they followed the path of the fire.

Our residential trips, a highlight of the Summer term, saw Year 4 take part in a two-day bushcraft trip in Oxfordshire, Year 5 visit Preston Montford Field Studies Centre in Shropshire and Year 6 embrace outdoor challenges in their visit to Norfolk.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Our team reached the Finals of Herts Maths Challenge: 2 teams made it through to the final 27 out of 265 teams.

• Four local schools attended the first NLCS Singing Festival held in person in the Performing Arts Centre.

• We held our annual Netball tournament, welcoming 21 teams from local schools on a bright February Saturday morning.

• The dance squad attended the Great Big Dance Off 3rd place in the regional competition.

• In an online National Reading Championship Quiz the NLCS team were the top-scoring primary school.

• The Canons Choir won the children’s choir category at the North London Festival of Music and placed first in the overall choir prize. The choir was also a finalist in the Music for Youth Competition with a performance at Birmingham Symphony Hall.

CHARITY

Students raised money for Just One Tree, a charity supporting countries severely affected by mass deforestation. We were pleased to welcome the founder, Amanda Bronkhorst, to an assembly to talk about the charity’s work. Junior School joined other children and schools across the world and participated in Just One Tree day wearing something green or dressing up as a tree and donating £1. This fundraising event, along with Canonaid collections, raised £760. £1 plants one tree, and with further fundraising events planned, the Junior School is well on its way to planting its target of 1,000 trees.

Other activities included a collection for Teddy Trust for refugees organised by a Year 4 pupil, and alongside Canonaid in the senior School, money was raised for the Emergency Disasters Appeal to support Ukrainian Refugees from an Easter Holiday Reading Challenge organised by a Year 11 student.

Junior School

All students have enjoyed and embraced a broad range of performance and musical opportunities creating an outstanding collection of productions.

In Drama, the focus has been on building up live performance skills. This included risktaking in improvisation, creating atmosphere on stage, interpreting and directing scripted work, naturalism in performance, ensemble work and responsiveness to other actors. Over the Year, parents and staff were treated to outstanding performances, including the Year 3 play ‘The Invisible Things’, Year 4s ‘Five Children and It’ and the First School production, Adventures in Neverland. Year 6 performed ‘Finding Zara’ an immersive adventure, as their last performance in the Junior School, performing in familiar spaces in the school overlayed with the fictional world of the play.

The ‘Breakfast Busking’ scheme has become more popular and continues to be over-subscribed with girls wanting to perform to their peers. Whole school singing together, Year group choirs, Canons Choir, NLCS Young Singers, Orchestra and 10 music ensembles have all resumed following the restrictions. The Performing Arts Centre was filled with melodies from a variety of musicals as the girls entertained with instruments and voices in both the Winter Concert and the Lower School Summer Concert. The Canons Choir enjoyed a spectacular year winning the children’s choir category at the North London Festival of Music placing first in the overall choir prize. The choir was also invited to perform at the Music for Youth National Festival at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, an outstanding achievement. Four Canons Choir members have now gained a place at the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, one of the top UK youth choirs.

SPORTS

It has been wonderful to see all our Junior School girls participating in fun and competitive sports over the year. They have embraced the challenge, sportsmanship and competition with enthusiasm and abundant energy. Activities have included swimming, dance, gymnastics, football, lacrosse, netball and athletics, to name but a few.

Year 5 and 6 Athletics teams excelled on both the track and field, winning numerous competitive events. Students as young as Year 3 have been developing their netball skills, and having missed out on an entire season last year, Year 5 and 6 netball squads have worked hard on developing their skills, tactical awareness and understanding of the rules.

We were finalists in the London Schools Swimming championships and had cricket successes for all our Lower School teams. A group of five Year 6’s competed at the ISGA National 2-piece competition and emerged victorious. Alongside their overall team win, one student placed 2nd, and four finished in the top 15 competitors.

We were delighted to welcome many parents to our Lower Schools and Rainbow Sports Days. In the glorious sunshine, girls competed in their colour teams and demonstrated their athletic prowess in the different events to an excellent standard, and it was a wonderful end to a busy and vibrant year at NLCS.

Partnerships

We were delighted to re-establish our of our links with academic partner schools following the restrictions placed in previous years due to the pandemic. Our Autumn term Year 13 cross curricula Symposia with Eton, Whitgift and Queen Elizabeth’s School (QE Boys) remained online, but gave an opportunity for our students to hone their skills in research, argument, debate and presentation.

The Spring Term saw a return to our in-person style symposia and marked an opportunity for younger years to become involved with academic partner schools. We organised an Environment Day with QE Boys for Year 7 students, 24 students from Year 8 enjoyed an English symposium with Sacred Heart Language College and our IB workshop for Year 10, was an opportunity to showcase the IB Diploma Programme ahead of Sixth Form options was shared with Abbot’s Hill School.

In the Summer Term, Sacred Heart Language College joined us for a Year 7 music workshop and a philosophy conference for Year 9 students. Finally, in July we held a Year 10 cross curricula symposium with QE Boys involving the whole year group.

Whilst the main purpose of these events is to support the academic enrichment of the students and to advance their collaborative skills, a secondary purpose is to provide multi-disciplinary working in an environment with students from different school settings, including boys’ schools. This partnership working also provides opportunities for coeducational work to ensure the transition to this way of working at university is a smooth one.

ENGLISH SYMPOSIUM

Year 8 students joined with their counterparts from the Sacred Heart Language College in Harrow for a workshop exploring Shakespeare’s Henry V, and how it might be staged. The day’s activities consisted of learning about the play’s plot and themes alongside the technical aspects of staging. With the help of glossaries and secondary material on character, themes and motifs, the students then applied what they were learning to video clips from various productions. Such comprehensive knowledge was then put to work in preparing group presentations.

The presentations were of an exceptionally high calibre.

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE – IB WORKSHOP

Year 10 students were joined by their peers from Abbot’s Hill School for an IB workshop. This forum provided an extended opportunity for the students to explore the core subject requirement of the Baccalaureate – Theory of Knowledge (ToK). Alongside an introduction to the various areas of knowledge potential Sixth Form IB students can expect to encounter – such as knowledge and technology and knowledge and indigenous societies – the students examined the nature of knowledge and how it is that we know things. Encouraged to deploy razor-sharp critical and open minds, the students considered issues surrounding the knowledge, such as the context of that knowledge, its source, its impetus, and how it has been delivered. The students returned to their learning environments as newly fledged and resourceful ‘knowers’, ready to navigate the world around them with even more of a spirit of enquiry.

Sustainability

We are incredibly proud of our school community’s support and commitment to help us minimise our impact on the environment. We are on our way to becoming Carbon NetZero by 2030 and have worked extremely hard over the past year on many sustainability initiatives. In the summer, we were delighted to have been selected as one of the finalists in the Environmental Achievement category in the Independent School Parent Awards. Our Environment Strategy outlines our commitment to becoming a leading ‘eco-school’ and we are very proud that this has been recognised by our nomination in these prestigious awards.

You can find out more about how NLCS are working towards the goal of becoming Carbon Net-Zero HERE .

TRANSPORT FOR LONDON’S (TFL) STARS AWARD

We a delighted to have achieved the Bronze level award of Transport for London’s (TfL)STARS accreditation scheme. STARS stands for Sustainable Travel: Active, Responsible, Safe and our participation in the scheme contributes toward NLCS’ environment strategy and commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by well-being scheme inspires young Londoners to travel to school sustainably, actively, responsibly and safely by championing walking, scooting and cycling. In addition, STARS supports students’ wellbeing, helps to reduce congestion at the school gates and improves road safety and air quality. Our team of NLCS travel ambassadors in Years 7, 8, and 9 have led a variety of activities and assemblies for students centred around travel to and from the school in a safe and responsible manner, whilst being active and cutting emissions. By taking part in the scheme and working through the levels of qualifications we hope to improve students’ emotional health and wellbeing by contributing to their 60 minutes a day of physical activity and encouraging healthier travel behaviours.

VOICES FOR FUTURE – TACKING CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBALLY

One of our Middle School students was selected as one of four winners of the National Grid’s ‘Voices for a Green Future’ competition and awarded a £5,000 grant for NLCS to put towards climate change and STEM-related activities within the school. Katya’s speech highlighted the importance of education, asking that climate change be taught alongside geography and science curriculums in the UK and even suggested launching an eco-app that

ECO PARTNERSHIP DAY

Year 7 joined with students from Queen Elizabeth’s School (Boys) for a partnership day focused on the broad topic of Ecology and the causes and effects of Climate Change.

Students studied some of the science involved, acquiring new specialist vocabulary and considering how the media communicate these pressing issues. They also learned how to interpret data and examined examples of where statistics are misinterpreted. They also examined persuasive materials through the analysis of various articles and poems. The day cumulated in presentations prompted by the question, ‘What is the climate crisis, and why should you care?’. Each group was assigned a different audience, from politicians to primary schools. The results were uniformly excellent, each delivering its hard-hitting messages with expertise and conviction.

would track how green your lifestyle is. Katya’s speech was delivered to world leaders and delegates as part of the COP26 Summit. Watch Katya’s film here.

Students also joined a live talk organised by The New York Times Climate hub and featured Malala Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala Fund and Climate Justice activist, Vanessa Nakate.

The conference discussed how girls’ education can be nurtured in the specific context of climate action and how schools can use the climate challenge as an opportunity for future leadership and women-led innovation.

Development & Alumnae

NLCS is dependent on philanthropic support to raise money for important capital projects and bursaries. The provision of bursary places is central to the ethos at North London; allowing bright girls to benefit from the world-class education on offer, irrespective of their social or financial circumstances. During 2021-2022, funded by donations, franchising, and investment income, NLCS awarded 78 bursaries to students, 64 of which were on 100% remission of fees. We are incredibly grateful to our donors, a group that includes staff, ONLs, Governors and parents for their generous support. We also want to say a special thank you to the outgoing Year 13 parents who donated their school deposits to the Bernice McCabe Bursary Fund.

We were incredibly fortunate to have welcomed Emily Abrahams and Claudia Marks, two young ONLs to the Development Office during 2021-2022 to reignite our Alumnae Relations programme. We congratulate them both on reinvigorating the alumnae programme after lock-down. Emily and Claudia stayed for 12 months before leaving to continue their studies in law and education, respectively. We also welcomed Tara Stephens as Development Office Administrator, who has years of experience in development, including working on London Business School’s £125 million campaign and the successful launch of St Helen’s School’s online networking platform.

In preparation for strengthening our network of friends and preparation for future fundraising, we enlisted the expertise of consultancy firm Graham-Pelton. They were able to assist us to survey our entire contactable network. Demonstrating how supportive our alumnae and friends are, around 2,000 members of our community responded. We also carried out smaller discussion groups. The results of these conversations and survey feedback are directly influencing our development programme for the years ahead, as well as fuelling our plans and future objectives.

We were thrilled to welcome back ONLs and friends for several in-person events again. Guests arrived in their droves; between July 2021 and August 2022, we welcomed back 837 guests for on-site reunion and stewardship events. Highlights included our first Staff Reunion, which was such a treat for us all. We also held a special reunion for the Classes of 2019 and 2020, who had missed out on some of the fond farewells and end of school pomp and ceremony due to the pandemic. Other events included the 10-, 20-, 30- & 40-Year Reunion (for both the previous year and 2021), which included the Classes of 1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2010, and 2011, the Big Six Dinner, and the ONLA Summer Picnic.

In April, we produced the first ONLine magazine after a hiatus of nearly threeyears. The magazine’s theme ‘Doing Good’ contained some remarkable ONL stories many of which demonstrate the positive difference ONLs are making not just in the UK but around the globe. We encourage our ONL community to let us know their news as we are always on the hunt for new editorial features and snippets.

Meanwhile ONL Connect, our alumnae networking site, continued to attract new signups growing to around 1,500 active users. The dedicated site allows friends to reconnect. In addition, 73% of users have generously offered their expertise and assistance to current students and fellow ONLs, bolstering our career and mentoring services.

We finished the year with the launch of the The 1850 Club, providing a way for us to recognise and thank our supporters who make a recurring gift to NLCS. Designed to be accessible to all and make donating a positive experience, The 1850 Club enables the School to make longterm commitments to its most pressing funding priorities, whilst providing a sociable platform to thank regular supporters. To find out more please visit nlcs.org.uk/support-us/the-1850-club

We would like to express our gratitude to all mentors who took the time to support and mentor students and young ONLs for the next phase of their educational or career journeys. Our heartfelt thanks also go to our volunteer parents and ONLs including regional committee members and networking group organisers.

We continue to reach out to more and more ONLs to strengthen our network. However, if you are aware of any ONLs who are not receiving communications directly from the Alumnae Relations Department, please do ask them to contact us at onla@nlcs.org.uk.

Letter from the Chairman of Governors

Each year as I write this letter, I am struck by the challenges the academic year has presented and the resilience and agility with which the community of NLCS has weathered them. In this year, the sometimes vertiginous turnarounds as lockdown restrictions were eased; a lack of certainty about the public exams, and the sudden change in school leadership have been significant challenges. Yet as ever, the School has negotiated these with aplomb. My thanks are particularly due to the leadership which Dr Bagworth-Mann has displayed in stepping in as Interim Head and steering the School so skilfully through these ever-changing times.

As an academic girls’ school, our focus is always on ensuring the continuity of our student’s education, equipping them to gain the academic credentials they need to open the doors to the next stage of their education. Yet for the 21-22 cohort of GCSE, A Level and IB students, this year’s exam season was a particularly fraught experience. Some in Year 13 were in the unique position of having never prepared for a formal or public examination. Students and staff alike deserve our praise and respect for their hard work and resilience in this daunting situation.

Without doubt the School’s programme of pastoral resources and positive mental health strategies contributed to the calm and focused approach demonstrated by NLCS students. It is inspiring to observe how the Pastoral team have communicated positive messaging about mental health and stress management across all age groups of the school. This has clearly proved effective as the 2022 cohort of examination candidates maintained NLCS’s record of excellence in public examinations, in GCSEs, A Levels and IB. Knowing how to access the broadest and most engaging subject knowledge is something on which we pride ourselves at NLCS. Our sophisticated and ambitious enrichment programme returned this year, largely in person, enabling our students to explore their subject passions beyond the confines of any curriculum.

One such passion, consistently ranked as the most important current world issue by our students, is the Environment. Strengthening our eco credentials continues to be a priority as we consider how best to lessen our environmental impact while maintaining our beautiful building and grounds. It was pleasing, therefore, in Summer 2022, to see the School’s efforts rewarded by being shortlisted by the Independent Schools Awards, as one of the top schools in the country for sustainability – no small challenge for a London school.

Rich though the School is in talent, success and resources, this year has seemed proof of the old adage that the only thing we can reliably expect in life is change. I would like to thank the whole community of North London Collegiate School for their work this year. The versatility, creativity and commitment of the teaching and support staff; the dedication of our student body and the support of our parents have enabled us once again to flex and adapt to the changes we are learning to expect. It is the interplay between these elements of our community, working together with one aim, which allows us to continue to provide an unashamedly academic education for the girls in our care.

ROBERT HINGLEY Chairman of Governors