North London Collegiate School

Our View

Possibly the best advertisement for girls-only education in the country.

Head

Since 1997, Mrs Bernice McCabe BA MBA PGCE, (a glamorous mid-fifties). Mrs McCabe had exemplary, if not wholly predictable, credentials for this top job in girls' independent education. An English graduate, she spent 23 years teaching in the state sector and was appointed to her first deputy headship in 1986 at Heathlands School, Hounslow. Her various responsibilities there helped her gain the expertise needed for the effective running of a modern school and she took her MBA during her first headship at Chelmsford County High (qv). Chelmsford, under Mrs McCabe's seven year tenure, became one of the country's leading state schools.

She teaches all year 7 – an excellent principle and one that all heads should practise, in our view. She is not interested in drilling or ranking girls, 'we have no class positions, no prize-giving except when they leave... I want the staff to find out what the girls are good at and develop their potential, not just teach them to jump through hoops'. She lunches with her Big Six – the committee of sixth form girls who act as a conduit between her and the school community. She fosters a democratic community which is generally appreciated and comfortably taken for granted now.

Mrs McCabe is clever, charismatic and good company. She is also stunningly pretty and elegant – clearly a role model in all ways for her girls who appear to adore her. Her deep dark red nail varnish is imitated by half her sixth form. She is relaxed, dedicated to education in its truest sense and committed to sharing what she and her school has with the wider world, notably with those who teach or learn in the state sector. Hence her directorship of The Prince's Teaching Institute, a high calibre residential project to reinvigorate subject teaching in schools and reinspire the teachers. At NLCS, she is, clearly, very much in charge and the regime is benign, respected and popular. It is also now a long-standing one. 'She is simply wonderful', say parents in unison.

Academic Matters

Second to none and, as with all truly top schools, it is achieved through a preparedness to teach beyond the curriculum and celebrate the pleasures of learning for its own sake. NLCS offers the IB in tandem with A levels and IB is now taken by around a third of the year. The IB points score is 'phenomenally high' – an average of 42 points per pupil, something achieved by only three per cent of students worldwide, and four NLCS students in 2008 achieved the maximum 45 points. Top IB school in the UK for last four years. A level results are as good – around 92 per cent of subject grades are A and 99 per cent are A/B. The curriculum has no surprises though it is good to see a healthy Greek contingent at A level and five modern langs too – French, German, Russian, Spanish and Italian. Mandarin now an option for the sixth. RS is popular as are biology and chemistry but maths and English are way ahead of the rest in terms of take-up. GCSE results equally impressive – 96 per cent getting A*/A.

Long-serving, sensible, deputy head is i/c SEN. No current statements and a very few with special needs. Of those, most are mild dyspraxics and some use laptops and have extra time in exams. No withdrawal from classes or in-class support. SEN here mostly means even more Gifted and Talented than the rest and the latest inspection report paid tribute to the individual help given to these as well as to dyspraxics and the use of IEPs where appropriate. School's philosophy was articulated by past head – 'Everyone matters' – and now, in Mrs McCabe's words, 'I try to do everything I can to put them in charge of their own destiny'.

Games, Options, the Arts

The endless playing fields and superb facilities – with which no other London girls' school can compete – inspire sporting enthusiasm and prowess. Options abound – even, now, riding, scuba and golf along with the trad games. Lacrosse especially successful (school has players in national squads) but cross country thrives too. Art practised joyfully by many – as the super paintings and other exhibits round and about demonstrate – witty, fluid in style and imaginative. Music is celebrated and many play to top standards. Good music tech. Very good music hall with gallery – light and inviting. Grand pianos seem to breed here. Numerous ensembles, choirs, tours and concerts and much success in major musical competitions, festivals etc – as you'd expect from girls with this amount of creativity, energy, opportunity and encouragement.

The new Performing Arts Centre (PAC) is a superb facility. Its auditorium seats 350, with a removable floor over an orchestra pit and, helpfully, it is connected by corridor to the music school. Drama, always good here, has now a tremendous buzz – everyone can take part on or backstage and productions are numerous and exciting. Good drama studio in use for smaller productions, exam work, lessons etc. The PAC has a cafe/bar which the girls talk about almost more than anything else – a smart meeting place with coffee and snacks and which is patronised by sixth form and staff – all very cool and chic – 'it's like going out of school with a friend'. The roof terrace, with benches and view over the whole estate, is another great place for coffee and chat and the sixth form love it.

Vast programme of complementary activities. Parents pay tribute to the imaginative and high-calibre opportunities and the girls look almost bewildered by the range on offer – 'you have to prioritise – there's too much to do – you just can't do everything.' Debating especially popular – we enjoyed ads for forthcoming meetings eg 'This House Would Die Young, 'This House would be a Boy', 'This House Would Ban Violence in Entertainment' etc – many of them pinned onto noticeboards which line the rather stark staircases – reminiscent of a students' union in which everyone has opinions! Charity work a priority though we aren't sure when they find time to do it and so much of it.

Background and Atmosphere

Venerable and unique. No other school in the history of girls' education in the UK has such significance. It was founded by Frances Mary Buss in 1850 in Camden and set the standard for ambitious, forward looking education for girls on a par with the best of that offered to boys. In 1939 – remarkable foresight or luck? – the school moved to Edgware. It acquired the former estate of the Dukes of Chandos – of Handelian fame – then comprising a splendid, late eighteenth century house, now the school's central building – and 30 acres overlooking formal gardens and down to Canons Park. The original ducal palace – Canons – was demolished in the 1740s after the financial collapse of the first Duke. Perhaps, in his distress, he would have been glad to know what an excellent site for a girls' school his domain would become.

The main building – housing the offices, sixth form accommodation and some teaching – is elegant outside and impressive inside – wood panelling, grand portraits of former heads – some of them the prime movers in girls' education in their day – archival photographs, stucco and cornicing. Later built additions range from functional and boring – eg the main teaching block – to inspired and enlightened. This last is especially so of the library – a fine building full of light and cleverly constructed on four storeys. It is also as well-stocked and managed as you'd expect here.

You reach the school either via a walk from the tube across the park or by a meander down Canon's Drive – all large detached houses, much mock Tudor and with more than a whiff of Wisteria Lane. The road goes only to the school or the park so there is a sense of entering a wonderfully secluded world. And secluded, safe and stimulating it is though what is provided here hardly excludes the outside world. There are true partnerships with schools elsewhere – notably in Zambia and in Dagenham – reciprocal visits, educational collaboration, mutually informative and enlightening both ways. And Mrs McCabe's Prince's Teaching Institute also informs the school's ethos and daily life. Outsiders, though, must goggle at the lime tree avenue, the grand aged cedar tree, the sizable reedy pond, formal gardens and sheer glorious green space, overlooked by the very pretty main house.

Food served in huge lunch room is clearly terrifically good – girls don't usually worry about ODing on school food but it's clearly a temptation here – masses of choice and high, high quality. The atmosphere overall is collaborative, enthusiastic and relaxed. There are lots of male staff – many of them young – and the average age of staff here is only 32. Old Girls will raise several eyebrows at all this! We can't recall visiting another all-girls school and finding quite this kind of relaxed self-confidence – normal in the best boys' and co-ed schools. 'My fundamental belief,' says head, 'is that anything is possible for the girls – it's about stretching, enrichment – passion.'

Pastoral Care and Discipline

Classes are uniformly orderly, relaxed and full of concentrating faces. Relations between staff and girls are clearly warm, especially so in the sixth form and girls pay tribute to the time and individual care their teachers give them. There is a noticeable cachet to sixth form life here – the girls move into the upper rooms of the charming old main house, they don't wear uniform and they chat on easy terms with staff. They are also given responsibilities for younger girls – often running clubs for them – this fosters a healthy bonding between the years and probably contributes to the tiny number of leavers post-GCSE. Strong tutor system throughout. No drugs or other major problems within last five years: 'they're very sensible,' says head. Lots of collaboration with boys' schools – Harrow, Merchant Taylors, Habs Boys, Winchester and Whitgift – socially and in extra-curricular activities. Occasional bullying dealt with firmly and parents are 'pleased with the approach'. 'The girls know where they stand,' says Mrs McCabe.

Pupils and Parents

Multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multi-brains. We spoke to no two pupils from the same ethnic or geographic origins. In common is a desire to learn and share the fun of doing it here – along with a fair bit of cash, though bursaries help (see below). Notable Old Girls' list is uniquely long and impressive – see Wikipedia – but, for starters: Barbara Amiel, Alice Beer, Eleanor Bron, Tanya Byron, Gillian Cross, Fenella Fielding, Margaret Fingerhut, Helen Gardner, Stella Gibbons, Susie Orbach (expelled), Myfanwy Piper, Stevie Smith, Marie Stopes, Judith Weir, Rachel Weisz and Anna Wintour – along with a great many useful types – doctors, civil servants, scientists, artists and academics.

Entrance

At 11+ by exam in maths and English and interview. 44 come up from the junior school and school has a further 60 places for the 550 who apply. Don't despair – someone has to get them. Junior school children are not in competition for their places – they take the exam like everyone else – and, if there is a chance of them not thriving in the senior school, they will have been warned and helped well in advance. At 16+ by exam in their A level subjects and by interview. Around 80 applicants for 25 places.

Exit

Most go through to the sixth form and Mrs McCabe stresses, 'no-one is ever prevented from going into the sixth form. Once the girls are here we never write anyone off.' Later, Oxbridge is the norm – along with UCL colleges, Bristol, LSE and the best of the rest including quite a few at Ivy Leagues, notably Harvard. They do solid subjects – lots of medics – at the top places and, unsurprisingly, do well.

Money Matters

Lowish, we feel, for what is offered here and a generous number of valuable bursaries available. Means-tested but offering between 10 and 100 per cent of fees. Scholarships up to 50 per cent and can be held along with a bursary. Music schols too.