North London Collegiate School

Founded in 1850 by the intrepid Frances Mary Buss, pioneer of women’s education, NLCS has a remarkable history as one of the very first centres of academic excellence for girls in the UK.

Today, we continue to embrace a spirit of scholarly enquiry and creative endeavour, led by a community of staff and pupils who relish learning. Our mission is to provide an inspirational education to enable our pupils to become young women of influence and impact.

From the earliest years, we teach our pupils to think for themselves and to be intellectually courageous. The development of emotional intelligence and character is just as important. Our pupils’ personal development and pastoral care are supported by our relentless investment in individual growth. Pastoral groups in our co-tutor system are small, typically no more than 10-12 pupils, to enable our teachers to get to know girls as individuals. Relationships between staff and pupils are characterised by mutual respect and warmth.

We are inspired by our heritage of academically ambitious teaching but empowered by modernity. Our aim is that, as adults, our pupils will have the intellectual curiosity and personal resilience to adapt to and shape an increasingly fast-paced and dynamic world. This is an exciting time for the school as we prepare to open our new IDEAS Hub in Spring 2025, a space designed to facilitate creative thinking, pioneering use of technology and interdisciplinary learning. A space that will place NLCS at the heart of a web of deep connections to the wider world.

Headmistress

Mrs Vicky Bingham

ISI report

In April 2024, North London Collegiate School received its latest routine inspection, which took place within the new Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) framework.

We were delighted that the inspection team gave a strong endorsement for all aspects of the education provided and the wellbeing and engagement of our pupils at every stage of the School. The inspection also identified NLCS as being fully compliant with all regulations and requirements, with best practice in place across the board.

One feature of the new framework is that ISI no longer uses single-word gradings of schools, such as ‘Excellent’ which NLCS received at its previous routine inspection. ISI now seeks to make an evaluative commentary across the various aspects of a school’s provision.

Inspection Report - North London Collegiate School (nlcs.org.uk)