Newcastle High School for Girls

Coordinates: 54°59′3″N 1°36′24″W / 54.98417°N 1.60667°W / 54.98417; -1.60667

Newcastle High School for Girls is an independent day school for girls age 3 - 18 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The Junior School is at Sandyford Park and the Senior School is located in the neighbouring suburb of Jesmond.

The school was formed in September 2014 by the merger of Central Newcastle High School and Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School.^[1] It is operated by the Girls' Day School Trust, an organisation which ran the predecessor school, Central Newcastle High, pre-merger.^[2]

History

Newcastle High School for Girls was formed by the merger of the predecessor single-sex girls' schools, Church High School and Central Newcastle High School, which have had a strong reputation in the North East education sector for many years, with good reputations in terms of academic performance^[3] and ethos. A previous entry to this site states that its ethos is one of providing the very best education for girls, and furthermore states that both were known equally for their academic excellence, pastoral care and support.

Central Newcastle High School GDST dates back to 1876 when the Girls’ Public Day School Trust founded Gateshead High School. The School moved to Newcastle in 1895, and it became known as Central Newcastle High School. The school grew rapidly over many years due to the reputation it had gained throughout its 138-year history.

In 1883, The Church Schools’ Company decided to open a private girls' school in the North East which focused on a church-based learning environment. A High School for Girls in Newcastle was established in 1885 and opened with 59 pupils. A new association was formed in 1925 and the School was renamed The Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School.

Rich in tradition and heritage, separately Central High and Church High were very much renowned for their academic excellence and extra-curricular success. Therefore, due to the separate heritage of both schools, many reacted to the merger as putting together two schools with very different ways of educating, and that both schools held a separate ethos (i.e. Church's previous religious focus). Others voice that the school is now able to offer more opportunities to pupils than before.^[4]

Curriculum

Newcastle High School for Girls has a strong academic record and regularly ranks in the top 5 independent schools in North East England and top 100 nationally.^[5][6][7]

Co-curricular Activities

The various co-curricular activities include sports, music, drama, and debating, amongst others. There is a Creative Arts Faculty and Newcastle High is ranked as the 13th top sporting school in the country. The debating society takes part in many competitions, to name few, it won NJDC - the Northern Junior Debating Competition and in 2015 reached the finals of the Cambridge and Oxford Schools debating competitions. Cultural exchange programmes are organised by each modern language department which allows girls to visit and experience different countries and cultures.

The Prime Minister's Global Fellowship

Central Newcastle High School had a good record of students attaining places on the prestigious Prime Minister's Global Fellowship programme. The school achieved its first student in the inaugural year of the programme, 2008, and in 2009 had another successful applicant.^[8]

Notable former pupils

• Esther McCracken (1902–1971), playwright and actress.
• Miriam Stoppard, doctor and author

References

Other Sources

• Carter, Oliver; Girls' Public Day School Trust (1955). History of Gateshead High School 1876-1907 and Central Newcastle High School 1895-1955. G.F. Laybourne.
• 2007 ISI Inspection Report

External links

• School website
• Profile on GDST website
• Profile on Girls' Schools Association website