North London Collegiate School

North London Collegiate School
Location
Canons Drive

Edgware
,
Middlesex
,
HA8 7RJ

England
Information
TypePrivate day school for girls in London
Private coeducational boarding school in South Korea
Mottoin spe laboramus
Established1850 (1850)
FounderFrances Mary Buss
Local authority
Harrow
Chair of the Governors
Gabrielle Gower, OBE
Headmistress
Vicky Bingham
GenderGirls (UK), girls and boys (South Korea)
Age4 to 18
Enrolment1,066 (2008)
HousesAngus, Lindsay, Gibbons, Collet, Aitken
ColourSky blue   Brown  
AlumnaeOld North Londoners (ONLs)
Websitewww.nlcs.org.uk

North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam, Singapore and Kobe, Japan, all of which are coeducational day and boarding schools offering the British curriculum. It is a member of the Girls' Schools Association.

North London Collegiate School is consistently ranked among the top independent schools in the United Kingdom. In the 2025 edition of The Times Parent Power league table, NLCS was ranked within the top 10 schools overall in the UK, and among the top 3 girls' schools nationally, based on academic results at GCSE and A-level.[1]

In the 2026 The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide, North London Collegiate School was named the "Independent Secondary School of the Year", the "Independent International Baccalaureate School of the Year", and the "Independent Secondary School of the Year in London.[2]

Location

Canons Drive

North London Collegiate School is at the western edge of Edgware near Canons Park. It is accessed via Canons Drive from Edgware High Street. Stanmore tube station and Canons Park tube station are within walking distance.

History

Formation

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.

The school opened in 1850 at No.46. later renumbered No.12 Camden Street, London.[3]

Buss believed in the importance of home life and it remained a day school.[4] 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.[5][6]

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.[7]

Second World War

The school was evacuated to Luton High School, a girls' school, what is now Denbigh High School, Luton.[8]

Expansion

The school introduced a house system in 2014, with the houses being named after noted past pupils.

Today the school takes girls from ages 4 to 18. It has a junior school (reception to Year 6) and senior school (Year 7–13).

The co-ed boarding North London Collegiate School Jeju opened in Seogwipo, South Korea in 2011.[9]North London Collegiate School Dubai opened in September 2017 as one of NLCS's international schools and its first campus in the Middle East.[10] The school was established in Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, within the Sobha Hartland development, as a co-educational day school offering the International Baccalaureate curriculum.[11] Daniel Lewis, who had worked at North London Collegiate School in London for fourteen years, was appointed as the founding principal of NLCS Dubai and led the school during its launch period.[12]

Following an investigation into allegations of alleged malpractice in setting teacher-assessed grades A-levels in 2021, the school announced that "there [had] been no finding of [school] malpractice" with The Guardian reporting confidential sources that "while some of the malpractice allegations have been dismissed, others have been upheld by the [exam board] committees".[13][14]

Curriculum

North London Collegiate has been an International Baccalaureate World School since October 2003 .[15][16] Girls may choose to take the traditional A Levels or the Pre-U or the IB curriculum.

Headmistresses

Frances Mary Buss and Sophie Bryant in 1900

Notable alumnae

Notable former staff

Bibliography

  • The North London Collegiate School 1850–1950: A Hundred Years of Girls' Education Includes 'Essays in honour of the Frances Mary Buss Foundation' together with an appendix section that includes Royal Patrons, The School Prospectus, Prize Day List, Links to Girton College and the University of London, and regulations concerning Prefects and Monitors. Published by OUP (Oxford University Press) in 1950 with 231 pages, including the index. (No author or Editor)[51]
  • "And Their Works Do Follow Them" by Watson, Nigel London, James & James, 2000 ISBN 0907383300
  • Cockburn, J S; King, H P F; McDonnell, K G T, eds. (1969). "Schools: The North London Collegiate School". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1, Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, the Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes To 1870, Private Education From Sixteenth Century. Victoria County History (via British History Online). pp. 308–310.

References

  1. ↑ "NLCS ranked in the top 10 schools in the UK". North London Collegiate School. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  2. ↑ Kotecha, Hanisha (5 December 2025). "Sunday Times names NLCS Independent Secondary School of the Year 2026". North London Collegiate School. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "Secondary schooling". english-heritage.org.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Scrimgeour, Ruby Margaret, (ed.), The North London Collegiate School, 1850–1950: a hundred years of girls' education, (Oxford University Press),
  5. ↑ "The History of Canons". Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "History of the School". Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Buckman, David (1973), James Bolivar Manson, p. 9, Maltzahn Gallery Ltd, London.
  8. ↑ Luton News Thursday 28 September 1939
  9. ↑ "NLCS Jeju". www.nlcs.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "NLCS Dubai". NLCS International. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  11. ↑ "NLCS Dubai: IB Schools Dubai". North London Collegiate School Dubai. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "NLCS Dubai Announces September 2017 Opening". North London Collegiate School Dubai. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  13. ↑ Adams -, Richard (24 December 2022). "London private school investigated over 'blanket' A or A* grades in 2021 A-levels". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  14. ↑ McCall, Alastair; Griffiths, Sian; Rodrigues, Nick (5 February 2022). "Private schools 'gamed' Covid rules to give their pupils more top A-levels". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "North London Collegiate School". Tatler. March 2012. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012.
  16. ↑ "North London Collegiate School". IB World Schools. IBO. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  17. ↑ The Book entitled The North London Collegiate School 1850 – 1950 contains a black-and-white frontispiece portrait of Frances M Buss, with a printed signature – See bibliography for further detail of book
  18. 1 2 The book entitled The North London Collegiate School 1850 – 1950 contains references in the index to this person and a black-and-white photographic plate with printed signature- See Bibliography for further detail of book
  19. 1 2 The book entitled The North London Collegiate School 1850 – 1950 contains references in the index to this person.
  20. ↑ "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – subscription based". Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  21. ↑ "NLCS welcomes new Headmistress Sarah Clark". NLCS website. NLCS. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  22. ↑ "North London Collegiate School appoints Vicky Bingham as new Headmistress". November 2022.
  23. ↑ Deborah Gorham (9 October 2012). The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-415-62326-1. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  24. ↑ "Beatrice Webb, Clara Collet and Charles Booth's Survey of London". 21 March 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  25. 1 2 Schmid, Mena. "AA & her milieus: North London Collegiate School for Girls". www.rudischmid.com. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  26. 1 2 3 schools, isbi. "North London Collegiate School - Edgware, Middlesex - London - HA8 7RJ". www.isbi.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  27. 1 2 3 "Famous ONLs". www.nlcs.org.uk. Archived from the original on 17 December 2005.
  28. ↑ Louise E Howard (2012). Sir Albert Howard in India and The Earth's Green Carpet. Lulu.com. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-4716-2449-0. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  29. ↑ "Margaret Calkin James, graphic and textile designer : papers - Archives Hub". Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  30. ↑ "Eleanor Graham". Persephone Books.
  31. ↑ "Stella Gibbons". www.penguin.co.uk.
  32. 1 2 "Escape from the hothouse - The Spectator". 6 September 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  33. ↑ James Russell, 'Angus, Margaret MacGregor [Peggy] (1904–1993)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2016
  34. ↑ "Fenella Fielding: The camp vamp carries on at 90". thejc.com. 30 November 2017.
  35. ↑ Nissen, Jane (28 February 2022). "Marilyn Malin obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  36. ↑ "How to be top: Its girls are the cream of north London and its". Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  37. ↑ "Barbara Amiel: Farewell, my lovely". Independent.co.uk. 18 November 2007. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  38. 1 2 "How to be top: Its girls are the cream of north London and its". Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  39. 1 2 "Obituary: Peggy Angus". Independent.co.uk. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  40. ↑ @AngelaTilby (27 September 2018). "I walked past this lake every day between 1961 and 1968 as a pupil at North London Collegiate School. Lovely reunio…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  41. ↑ "Margaret Fingerhut - Pianist". www.operamusica.com. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  42. ↑ "Rt Hon. Lady Justice Sharp, DBE".
  43. ↑ "Jo Coburn". North London Collegiate School. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  44. ↑ Jardine, Cassandra (30 March 2001). "Adventures of a high flier". Retrieved 13 June 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  45. ↑ Accomplished ONLS – Distinguished ONLS List Archived 7 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine Publisher: North London Collegiate School. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  46. ↑ Law, Katie (2019). "Astrophysics professor Jo Dunkley on the complexities of the universe and her mission to get women into science". standard.co.uk. London: Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 31 January 2019.
  47. ↑ "Loading site please wait..." www.nlcs.org.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  48. ↑ "Pretoria High School for Girls". Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  49. ↑ C. A. Creffield, 'Aveling, Edward Bibbens (1849–1898)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  50. ↑ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/48704. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48704. Retrieved 27 March 2023. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  51. ↑ Detail obtained from a copy of The North London Collegiate School 1850–1950

51°36′54″N 0°17′41″W / 51.61500°N 0.29472°W / 51.61500; -0.29472

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