St Helen’s School was founded by Miss May Rowland Brown in 1899. St Helen's School is a school where enthusiastic, intellectually curious girls thrive in an environment that embraces academic challenge and ambition, values co-curricular success, and provides support and guidance to every pupil.
A leading independent girls’ day school and member of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA), St Helen’s provides an outstanding education for girls aged three to eighteen. Situated at the heart of Northwood in North London since its foundation in 1899, the School provides the opportunity for more than 1100 girls to excel academically, to fulfill their all-round potential, and to acquire the skills, insight, and confidence to become leaders in their fields, their professions, and their communities.
The School is set in over 21 acres of beautiful grounds which provide the space to be physically active, to play, and to be creative. The nearby Northwood station (on the Metropolitan Line) provides easy access by Underground from the northwest and central London, and we are close to the Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire borders. Our excellent transport links and our coach services mean that St Helen’s attracts girls from a wide and varied catchment area.
Our mission is to provide exceptional all-around education and to develop young women both through excellent academic teaching and by providing vibrant and exciting opportunities to extend their horizons, making the most of our first-class facilities. We cherish the enduring values of the School, but also embrace innovation. By providing our girls with the opportunities and the skills necessary to succeed, they will be prepared to lead and make an exceptional contribution to wider society.
All girls are respected as individuals and are encouraged to take risks, embrace opportunities to challenge themselves, and fulfill their potential in a happy, supportive and tolerant environment. By the time they leave us, the girls are confident, independent, and ready to take their place in the world.
A St Helen's girl
- Is excited by learning and the opportunity to excel
- Is intellectually curious and thinks independently
- Is confident and able to lead as well as be a team member
- Has integrity, celebrates diversity, and respects others
- Uses her talents, energy, and enthusiasm for the benefit of the community
- Has skills that enable her to become a leader of her community and profession
We provide every girl with the opportunity and the means to achieve academic excellence. This is not to be measured only by results in public examinations – though these are stunning - but by the improvement and progress made by each girl over her time with us. Our curriculum is carefully constructed to provide every girl with a balanced, academically rigorous, and ambitious education, and we review and evaluate it every year.
The pastoral care provided at St Helen’s is outstanding and the girls are known, valued, and respected by the staff. Through the PSHCE program, tutor time, the care given by the Individual Needs Department, and our pastoral staff, we can guide, support, and advise the girls at each stage of their school careers.
We are fortunate to enjoy a position at the heart of Northwood and as part of the wider Merchant Taylors’ family. We are seeking to bring this family together through the work of the Development Director and the exciting and innovative Futures Programme. Alongside us, throughout our journey of growth and development are our dedicated and professional Governing Council, our ambitious and skillful staff, the friends of the School including former Headmistresses, alumnae and staff, and a loyal and energetic parent body.
In short, our purpose is to provide outstanding academic education and to develop young women through the provision of excellent teaching, first-class facilities, vibrant and exciting opportunities, and by embracing the enduring values of the School. By providing our pupils with choice, opportunity, and the skills necessary to succeed, they will be prepared to lead and make an exceptional contribution to wider society and to become the leaders of their professions and communities.
