Inspection Reflections
This year, in advance of our approaching 150th anniversary, my mind has turned to South Hampstead’s illustrious history as a pioneering school for girls.
This year has been momentous in all kinds of ways: outstanding academic results, incredible support expressed through your amazing generosity towards our 150th anniversary campaign, and some very impressive acknowledgments for South Hampstead – best school in the UK for Music, a national award for Developing Student Voice, and the first girls’ day school in the entire country to receive two significant strengths in an inspection – one for our quality of teaching and one for our oracy programme. Fittingly, as we think about our past and contemplate what the future might hold for the evolution of South Hampstead, our Head Girl Team has chosen their theme to set a tone for the year ahead: reflection.
The inspection accolade led me to reflect on how South Hampstead has been documented through the centuries. As I shared at our end of year Wrapped ceremony, the first school inspection took place in 1887 when Miss Allen-Olney was in charge. South Hampstead taught 10 subjects at the time: Scripture, Language, History, Literature, Science, Maps, Dictation, Geometry, Algebra and Arithmetic. Whilst we very much hope our girls enjoy a broader curriculum today, they may be drawn to the fact that every school day finished at 1:30pm! There were no school lunches, but you could stay behind in the afternoon to do drawing, singing or sewing. The 1887 inspection report shows a preoccupation with the way discipline was enforced. Marks were deducted for a whole range of things; examples include one mark being deducted if caught speaking outside the classroom – a far cry from today’s focus on oracy – and one mark if outdoor boots were worn inside. The thought of close to 1000 girls having to change their shoes every time they enter the building is unimaginable given the pace at which we move at now!
In the inspection report of 1924, the qualities of the staff are singled out, although teachers are criticised for doing too much for their students and expecting too little independent effort from the girls in return. This is unrecognisable from the atmosphere we enjoy today where we are incredibly proud of all the efforts of our girls. I wonder if these are fair reflections of issues with the School at the time, or whether we hear shades of inherent misogyny in those early inspection reports when the education of girls was still a relatively new concept and possibly the inspection teams had their own more negative views on whether girls were really entitled to an education equivalent to that offered to boys.
The next inspection report in 1934 is much more positive; the inspectors were more fulsome in their praise and noted ‘a singularly harmonious community.’ This praise continues in reports received by the school through the decades. We are delighted that, in another 150 years from now, the Head will be able to write to her community with extracts from the 2026 inspection report which highlights our girls’ love of learning, their social and cultural maturity, and their understanding of how they might contribute to wider society – just a few of the elements singled out earlier this year.
150 years from now, the Head will be able to write to her community with extracts from the 2026 inspection report which highlights our girls’ love of learning, their social and cultural maturity, and their understanding of how they might contribute to wider society.
It feels incredibly exciting, and a great honour, to be preparing to lead South Hampstead into such an important anniversary celebration and to deliver our Beyond 150 strategy – we have much to look forward to as a community. On a final celebratory note, I am pleased to let you know that South Hampstead has been longlisted for this year’s London Independent School of the Year award. Thank you so much for your support this year and I wish you a lovely summer.