Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School best results ever

Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School has just recorded its best-ever GCSE results – a high point in the career of the retiring headmistress Kate Webster.

The school’s success has coincided with a plea by the Barnet Society for school’s oldest buildings, largely obscured by modern additions, to be given protected status by Barnet Council.

When QE Girls opened in September 1888 it was one of the earliest schools for girls, and its first buildings are considered fine example of arts and crafts architecture.

The new headmistress is Violet Walker, a former QE Girls pupil.

Robin Bishop, chairman of the Barnet Society’s planning and environment group, sets out the case for including the school in Barnet’s list of protected buildings.

Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School first opened in September 1888 and as such it was one of the early schools for girls. At the time, there were very mixed views as to the wisdom of educating girls and women.

There had been pressure from both the local school board and, particularly, the then Rector of Chipping Barnet, Revd Hutton on the governors of Queen Elizabeth’s School to devote some funds to the education of girls in line with the Endowed Schools Act of 1869.

Nevertheless, there were also counter arguments from those who believed that educating girls was inadvisable.

Eventually a school was opened in 1888. In the last century and a quarter, the school has changed its name several times, as well as growing considerably and undergoing changes in governance, entrance requirements and accommodation.

However, the original decision to open a girls’ school continues to be celebrated each May on Commemoration Day. Until 1985, Commemoration Day included a procession to

The school opened as The Girls’ Grammar School, with 40 pupils. It was in Russell House, on the site of part of the current High Street building, and the first Headteacher was Miss Harland.

Initial funding based on a mixture of grants, fees and donations was insecure and by early 1895 the governors were proposing to close the school.

It was eventually agreed that two assistant mistresses, Miss Abbott and Miss King, would keep it running as a private school and ‘Queen Elizabeth’s’ was removed from the name. The school flourished, debts were cleared and pupil numbers had risen to 115 by 1898, when Miss Abbott took sole charge.

The 1902 Education Act enabled Miss Abbott to take the school back to public status in 1903 and the governors resumed charge. The school continued to grow and had 200 pupils by late 1907.

Funding from the county council (Hertfordshire) allowed facilities to be improved and a new school building was completed in 1909; this included the gymnasium (on the High Street) and adjoining south wing which are still in use.

Following the 1918 Education Act, the school came under closer supervision from Hertfordshire and 25% of the intake had scholarship places. Numbers continued to grow, reaching 420 by 1920 and as for so much of its history, the school was struggling to accommodate girls.

Lessons were held in corridors and an army hut, provided as a temporary classroom in 1919 but which remained in service for at least 20 years. 1920 saw Miss Abbott’s retirement after 25 years at the helm, during which she had secured the school’s future.

She was succeeded by Miss Clement and then in 1929 by Miss Griffiths. Further new buildings on the High Street frontage were completed in 1927, since when there has been little change from that angle.

There were further new buildings on the Meadway side which were opened by the Duchess of Kent in 1938.

The 1944 Education Act meant that all pupils entered Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ Grammar School on the basis of the 11+ examination. The school lost its younger years, all places were free and numbers had risen to over 500.

The Sixth Form in particular had grown and more and more girls were going to university. 1957 saw the Queen’s visit. This was historic both the school and the Queen, as it was her first ever visit to a state school.

The perennial issues with accommodation and piecemeal solutions continued. New dining rooms were built on Meadway in the 1950s, whilst Tudor House was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with a 1960’s extension, with other building on the playground to provide a lecture room, library and the parent funded swimming pool.

By 1965, the Barnet Urban District had been transferred from Hertfordshire to Greater London, as part of the London Borough Barnet.

Shortly afterwards Barnet voted to adopt a comprehensive system, although this took some time to come to fruition with the first comprehensive intake in 1973 and school’s name reverting to Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School.

This was an important and significant change which meant that admission was on the basis of where pupils lived and the catchment area became smaller and confined to Barnet and adjoining areas.

Further building took place on Meadway to provide science and technology facilities (with a multi-storey car park underneath – the only one I have ever come across in a school!.

From 1980 there was short period where QEGS shared a 6th form with the Boys’ school. Both schools were comprehensives at this point and although there was a growth in ‘staying on’ and an increasing percentage of pupils studying A Levels, some shared provision helped make the 6th forms cost effective.

By the 1990s grant-maintained status had given the Boys’ school independence from the local authority and enabled it to revert to grammar school status. Meanwhile the girls’ school remained a community comprehensive school and sharing of provision in the 6th form disappeared.

QEGS has continued to grow and flourish. The school now admits 180 girls each year and has a large 6th form of over 250. Most of the girls live within walking distance of the school and it is not unusual for girls to be the second or third generation of their family to attend the school.

The school and governors are committed to the school being an integral part of the locality, with a truly comprehensive intake admitted purely on sibling and distance criteria.

In national and local terms, QEGS is a high achieving comprehensive school with strong outcomes , whether these are measured as raw results or in terms of progress or ‘value added’. Girls know that our aim is for each one ‘to be the best you can be’ irrespective of her starting point.

In August 2015 we have celebrated our best ever GCSE results.

In 2013-14 the school marked 125 years since its opening and in the words of our current motto, we are ‘Forward thinking’ and looking towards the next 125 years!

Categories: Services