Coordinates: 51°32′46″N 0°08′05″W / 51.546°N 0.1347°W / 51.546; -0.1347

The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in North London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialist-school status as a Music College.^[1] The school has long been associated with the advancement of women's education.

History [link]

Founded in 1871 by the suffragette Frances Mary Buss, who also founded North London Collegiate School, the Camden School for Girls was one of the first girls' schools in England. A grammar school for much of the 20th century, it became comprehensive in 1976, although only year by year. It was not fully comprehensive until 1981. The school was damaged in the war but rebuilt in 1957, the architect being John Eastwick-Field OBE.^[2]

Notable teachers [link]

• Geoffrey Fallows, headmaster 1989–2000, President of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers from 2003–5
• Carol Handley, headmistress 1971–85, President of the Classical Association from 1996-7
• Margot Heinemann, teacher 1959–66, Marxist writer who heavily influenced Eric Hobsbawm

Academic performance [link]

A 1999 Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) report called it "a unique and very effective school in many ways." Another, written in March 2005, said it was an "outstanding school with excellent features," and the most recent report said that it "rightly deserves the outstanding reputation it has among parents and in the community." Its GCSE results are excellent, and its A-level results are the best in the Camden LEA outside the private sector.^[3]

Camden old girls and boys [link]

The following people were educated at the Camden School for Girls. Some of them went only to the sixth form.

• Sara Burstall (1859–1939), second headmistress of the Manchester High School for Girls from 1898–1924
• Lilian Lindsay (1871–1960), the first woman with a British qualification in dentistry, having graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on 3 May 1895
• E. G. R. Taylor (1871–1966), geographer and historian
• Marianne Stone (1922–2009), actress, notably in Carry On films^[4]
• Joan Thirsk (born 1922), economic historian, President of the British Agricultural History Society from 1983–6 and 1995–8
• Natalie Rothstein (1930–2010), museum curator
• Janet Silver OBE (1933–2007), optometrist
• Ruth Seifert (1943–2009), psychiatrist
• Sara Kestelman (born 1944), actress
• Julia Donaldson (born 1948), children's writer, The Gruffalo
• Deborah Moggach (born 1948), writer
• Sally Potter (born 1949), film director and screenwriter
• Julia Eccleshare (born 1951), broadcaster and editor of children's books
• Dame Julia Cleverdon (born 1952), charity worker
• Frances Crook (born 1952), Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform
• Jane Lush (born 1952), former BBC executive, Managing Director of Splash Media
• Jane Wymark (born 1952), actress and daughter of actor Patrick Wymark
• Prof Athene Donald (born 1953), Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge
• Sally Beamish (born 1956), composer
• Nina Temple (born 1956), last General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain
• Anna Bradley (born 1957), Director of the National Consumer Council from 1999–2002
• Arabella Weir (born 1957), actress, comedian and author^[5]
• Fiona Millar (born 1958), education campaigner, journalist and partner of Alastair Campbell
• Lucy Kellaway (born 1959), writer and journalist for The Financial Times^[6]
• Emma Sergeant (born 1959), artist
• Emma Thompson (born 1959), actress
• Stephanie Calman (born 1960), author, journalist
• Katharine Rogers (born 1960), actress
• Tilly Vosburgh (born 1960), actress
• Beeban Kidron (born 1961), film director who directed Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
• Sophie Thompson (born 1962), actress, sister of Emma Thompson
• Sarah Brown (born 1963), wife of Gordon Brown and PR consultant
• Julia Hobsbawn-Bamping (born 1964), Chief Executive of Editorial Intelligence
• Lowri Turner (born 1964), television presenter and frequent panelist on The Wright Stuff
• Catherine Wearing (1966–2007), television producer
• Tamsin Greig (born 1967), actress
• Charlotte Coleman (1968–2001), actress, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, expelled at age 16
• Sarah Gavron (born 1970), film director
• Geri Halliwell (born 1972), member of the Spice Girls
• Jodhi May (born 1975), actress
• Johnny Borrell (born 1980), lead singer of Razorlight and actor
• Tom Hurndall (1981–2004), photographer
• John Hassall (born 1981), member of The Libertines and Yeti
• Joel Defries (born 1985), Blue Peter presenter
• Yasmin Kerr (born 1985), actress and daughter of Jim Kerr and Chrissie Hynde
• Lily Donaldson (born 1987), model
• Anna Shaffer (born 1992), actress who played Romilda Vane in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Daughters of politicians Paul Boateng, Patricia Hewitt, Baroness Symons, Phillip Gould, Giles Radice and Bill Rodgers
• Prudence Harbinger, fictional character in The Sunday Telegraph, created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran
• Daniel Kaluuya (born 1989), Actor

See also [link]

• Haverstock School
• Maria Fidelis RC Convent School
• South Camden Community School

Further reading [link]

• Doris Burchell, Miss Buss' Second School, 1971.

References [link]

External links [link]

• EduBase

News items [link]

• Daily Mail April 2009