Nottingham Girls' High School is an independent fee-paying girls' private school

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

, part of the Girls' Day School Trust

Girls' Day School Trust

The Girls' Day School Trust is a group of 26 independent schools - 24 schools and two Academies - in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each year...

, founded in 1875, situated just north of Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

 city centre.

Facilities

Originally housed in a group of Victorian houses, the school has expanded considerably. Recent major works have ensured that pupils have fully equipped and purpose-built classrooms, laboratories and workshops, together with a well-stocked library, lecture theatre, drama studio and music house and a separate Junior School. The Sixth Form have their own facilities and the school is fully networked for IT.

The school grounds include a large all-weather pitch, gymnasium, sports hall and fitness suite. Preparations for a Performing Arts building are underway. There is also a sizeable sports field at Aspley. The school is immediately adjacent to Nottingham High School

Nottingham High School

Nottingham High School is a British boys' independent school situated about a mile north of Nottingham city centre. It has around 900 pupils from ages 11 to 18 and there is the adjoining Nottingham High Junior School catering for younger boys and, from September 2008, the Lovell House...

 and a few extracurricular activities, such as joint theatrical productions, are organised with the boys who attend it. In recent years the following productions have been presented:

• Follies
• The Pirates of Penzance
• Annie
• Daisy Pulls it Off
• Les Miserables
• Guys and Dolls
• Seussical the Musical
• Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat
• The Tempest
• Three Penny Opera
• Oliver!
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Bugsy Malone
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Alice in Wonderland

The four school houses are named after the four first headmistresses of the school: Skeel (Blue), Luxton (Red), Bolton (Green) and Hastings (Yellow). The house system was adopted relatively recently in the school's history. The different houses compete in many different activities including Sports Day, House Performing Arts, Choral Speaking, House Debating. Relatives are put in the same house.

Academics

The school can accommodate around 1200 pupils overall, aged from 4 to 18. The Sixth Form represents nearly 30% of the Senior School, and there are normally around 280 girls in the Junior Department, which has a separate headmistress, Mrs Faith Potter, succeeding the previous headmistress Mrs Margaret Renshaw. As the largest of the 29 schools of the Girls' Day School Trust

Girls' Day School Trust

The Girls' Day School Trust is a group of 26 independent schools - 24 schools and two Academies - in England and Wales, catering for pupils aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each year...

, Nottingham Girls' High School is part of an organisation which, since its foundation in 1872, has promoted the education of girls.

Notable former pupils

The school is notable for having educated two director generals of MI5 - the security service.

• Gina Birch
  Gina Birch
  Gina Birch is an English musician and film-maker, probably best known as a founding member of The Raincoats.Born in Nottingham where she attended Nottingham High School for Girls, Birch formed The Hangovers and released an album, Slow Dirty Tears, in 1998. In 2002 and 2007 she performed live at...
  
  , bass player with The Raincoats
  The Raincoats
  The Raincoats are a British post-punk band. Ana da Silva and Gina Birch formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art, London, England.-Career:...
  
  
• Helen Cresswell
  Helen Cresswell
  Helen Cresswell was an English author of more than 100 children's books, including the Lizzie Dripping series, and The Bagthorpe Saga...
  
  , children's author
• Helen Karagounis, née Thieme, Olympic athlete
• Sudha Kheterpal
  Sudha Kheterpal
  Sudha Kheterpal is a British-Indian musician best known as the percussionist in Faithless. In 2008 she toured with The Return of the Spice Girls. She has also played with K-Klass, Kylie Minogue, Melanie Williams, Jo Roberts, Corduroy, Mark Morrison, Rae and Christian, Ian Brown, Talvin Singh, and...
  
  , percussionist
• Stella Rimington
  Stella Rimington
  Dame Stella Rimington, DCB is a British author, who was the Director General of MI5 from 1992 to 1996. She was the first female DG of MI5, and the first DG whose name was publicised on appointment...
  
  , former Director-General of MI5
  Director-General of MI5
  The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service , the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency...
  
  
• Julie Myerson
  Julie Myerson
  Julie Myerson is an English author and critic. As well as writing both fiction and non-fiction books, she is also known for having written a long-running column in The Guardian entitled "Living with Teenagers" based on her own family experiences...
  
  , author, and writer in the Financial Times

Student executive

The Sixth Form elects a group of 16 girls, including Head Girl and two Deputy Head Girls, who organise social events, often in conjunction with Nottingham High School.

External links

• Nottingham High School for Girls website