We were thrilled to have won the coveted ‘London Independent School of the Year’ Award at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2024.

The winners were announced at a ceremony in central London last night, hosted by The Chelsea Magazine Company, publishers of Independent School Parent magazine. Mrs Irwin, Senior Deputy Head (Pastoral), and Ms Bevan, Head of Junior School, accepted the award in person.

“As an outward-facing school, we are delighted this award recognises how we make the most of our location to forge connections with London’s world-leading institutions and broaden students’ horizons through immersive learning experiences,” said Mr Shoults, Headmaster.

“In our landmark 150th anniversary year, we capitalised on our London location with a celebratory concert at Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square,” said Mrs Irwin. “Over 200 students performed alongside alumnae and sang the world premiere of ‘Shooting Stars’, a commission by leading British composer Kerry Andrew. We also took Sixth Form politics students to the Houses of Parliament to see our local MP Rupa Huq deliver a petition to mark the school’s birthday.”

Through unique academic partnerships with prestigious London institutions, NHEHS has worked with 35 schools and reached over 1100 pupils in 2023/24. These include our GreenSTEM Challenge, run with PhD researchers from Imperial College, and the NHEHS-Harrow Symposium academic research project, which culminates in a presentation at The Royal Society.

We take advantage of our location to offer experiential learning opportunities and trips to notable theatre productions, not to mention cultural events, historic buildings and academic workshops in the capital, from KS1 to Sixth Form.

Award winners were selected from more than 700 nominations by an independent panel of judges, including leading head teachers and representatives of the professional associations and chaired by Dr Helen Wright, international Education Adviser and past Vice Chair of the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

This is the seventh year of the Independent Schools of the Year Awards and this year there were 24 categories to enter – nominations took place earlier in the year and finalists were announced in September. Other finalists for the Best London Independent School category included ACS International School Hillingdon, City of London School for Girls, DLD College London, Emanuel School and South Hampstead High School GDST.

A huge congratulations to all our school community!