Read more in the ISI Inspection Report. - South Hampstead High ...

South Hampstead High School 11. INTRODUCTIONCharacteristics of the School1.1 South Hampstead High School was founded in 1876. It moved to its present site in 1882.The junior school has two buildings on opposite sides of a road, and the senior school is ashort walk away. The overall school leadership and management is in the hands of theheadmistress based on the senior school site. On a day-by-day basis the junior school is ledand managed by the junior school headmistress. The school is a member of the Girls’ DaySchool Trust (GDST) which provides the governance and overall strategic planning. Legalresponsibility for the school is vested in the GDST Council with a group of local governors,who have no legal powers, providing informal advice and local oversight.1.2 The aim of the school is to strive to provide an excellent academic education for all, fosteringindividuality, creativity, intellectual rigour and enthusiasm. It is hoped that the girls willhave the courage ‘to make a difference’. It is intended that each girl should develop a senseof awareness and responsibility and to show tolerance and respect for the diverse cultures andtraditions that are represented in the school. The school motto is ‘Mehr licht’, more light,symbolised by a torch of learning.1.3 There are 252 girls in the junior school aged 4 to 11, of whom 24 are in the Early YearsFoundation Stage Reception class. In the senior school, 573 girls are aged 11 to 18 including119 in the sixth form.1.4 Girls enter the Reception and Year 3 classes of the junior school on the basis of interviewand an assessment. Entrance into Year 7 in the senior school follows selection based on anexamination common to several girls’ schools in this area of London and an interview. Girlscome from a range of local preparatory schools. Transfer from the junior school to the seniorschool is anticipated for most if not all the girls, as it is into the sixth form from Year 11.Direct entry into the sixth form is dependent upon examination success at GCSE or similarexaminations, subject tests and interviews. The entry profile of junior and senior school girlsis far above the national average. If junior school girls perform in line with their abilities inpublic examinations, their results will be far above the average for all maintained primaryschools. If senior girls are performing in line with their abilities in public examinations, theirresults will be above the average of maintained selective schools.1.5 For about 10 percent of the girls, English is an additional language, with a very wide range oflanguages spoken at home, particularly Russian, Japanese, Hebrew, Mandarin, Farsi andsome Indian sub-continent languages. All girls are fluent English speakers. About 5 percentof the girls have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The main learning difficulty isdyslexia. No girl has a statement of special educational needs.1.6 National Curriculum nomenclature is used throughout this report to refer to year groups inthe school.1.7 See Section 7 for the report on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).