The Royal School, Hampstead, was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

girls' day and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

located in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The school was founded in 1855 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and for 157 years educated girls aged 3–18. The school had 2 longstanding royal patrons: the first was Queen Victoria for 70 years, and the second Princess Alexandra who retired in 2005 after 50 years of service. The succeeding patron was

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Camilla was raised in East Sussex and South Kensington i ...

. In 2011, the school merged with North Bridge House School at the end of the academic year (2011/12) under the management of

Cognita Cognita is a global private schools group which owns and operates schools throughout various countries. The group has over 100 schools and employs over 21,000 staff and teaches 95,000 students across 17 countries. Cognita schools teach 13 diffe ...

. The

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

pass rate, in 2008, was 99%, with 89% of pupils gaining A* to C grades and a third achieving either A* or A grades. The school site is now used as a senior campus of North Bridge House School.

History

The Royal School was founded in 1855 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as the Soldiers' Infant Home before becoming the Royal Soldiers' Daughters' School. It was the first school established "to nurse, board, clothe and educate the female children, orphans or not, of soldiers in Her Majesty's Army killed in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

". The school has a memorial site in the Hampstead Cemetery on Holly Walk to the daughters family members who were lost in the war. The school site was redeveloped in the 1970s after a fire destroyed much of the beautiful architecture. The land was divided and sold to refund the rebuild of the school - into the modern complex seen today on Vane Close. The last patron of the school was

. The Duchess visited the school, on 25 February 2009, to thank them for their fund raising activities for her charity, the

National Osteoporosis Society The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), formerly the National Osteoporosis Society, established in 1986, is the only UK-wide charity dedicated to improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. It is based in Camerton, Somerset ...

Notable alumnae

Harriet Dart Harriet Dart (born 28 July 1996) is a British professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 70 and a career-high doubles ranking of No. 59, on 14 October 2024. She reached the final of the 2021 Wimbledon Ch ...

, tennis player *

Tulip Siddiq Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (born 16 September 1982) is a British Bangladeshi politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hampstead and Highgate, previously Hampstead and Kilburn, since 2015. She served as Economic Secretary to the T ...

, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn

References

External links

Official site

History

Notable alumnae

References

External links

Further reading