Heathfield School, Pinner

Heathfield School is an independent day school for girls in Pinner, a suburb in the London Borough of Harrow.

History

Heathfield was founded by Miss Gayford in 1900 in a house at the foot of Byron Hill in Harrow, with just thirty pupils. A year later it transferred to a large house in College Road.

In 1921, the school was bought by Miss Norris, who set about a programme of modernisation and enlargement that has been continuing ever since. New buildings and facilities were added at College Road and in 1930, the Sixth Form was added.

When Miss Norris retired, after seeing the school through almost half a century, there was a need to find a new site. Even so, it was not until 1982 that Heathfield finally moved to its present nine-acre site in Beaulieu Drive, Pinner, under the guidance of Mrs Ribchester.

Five years later, as a mark of its achievements, the school was taken into the Girls' Day School Trust. It was they who added the Junior wing and Nursery in 1990.

In the year 2000, as the school celebrated its Centenary under the headship of Miss Juett, a new indoor swimming pool, sports hall, fitness studio and Senior library were opened. A new Junior playground was built and a new Sixth Form centre was built in 2008. Work was later completed on a new building for Music, ICT, Careers and Physics. A new dining room and kitchen were built and existing areas for Art, Maths, Textiles and Design Technology were refurbished. A new Drama and Dance Studio was built in 2004.

A new sixth form centre was opened in 2004 and named the Pinner Leadership Centre.^[1]

The school was rated "excellent" in nearly all aspects during the 2010 ISI inspection.^[2]

A few days (09-September-2013) after the start of the new term in September-2013 it was announced, that Heathfield GDST would merge with Northwood College.^[3] As a result of this merger the current site in Beaulieu Drive will be closed.^[4] Heathfield school will cease to exist after nearly 113 years.^[5] In September 2014 all girls will move to the newly merged school in Northwood. The new school will be called Northwood College.

Curriculum

GCSE, AS, A-levels and Open University extension programme are offered at Heathfield. There are 21 GCSE and 24 AS/A-level subjects to chose from. Most sixth formers take 4 subjects at AS-level, 3 at A-level. Out of the sixth form 40% take science A-levels; 30% take arts/humanities and 30% take both.

There are special provision set up to help pupils and some of the teachers even offer extra tuition.

There are a variety of languages offered at GCSE, AS and A-level such as Chinese, French, German, Latin and Spanish. There are regular French, Spanish, Chinese and German trips. There are also French and Spanish nationals in school as assistants.

ICT is taught both as a discrete subject and across the curriculum. There are 187 computers for pupil use, all networked and with email, internet and portal access. Sixth-form pupils have school laptops for home and school use.

Houses

There are four houses at Heathfield School. From Lower Kindergarten (nursery) upwards, right through to the Sixth Form, each girl belongs to one of our four houses: Brontë, Curie, Nightingale and Pankhurst. This encourages social contact between the age groups and forms the basis for competitive sports events and inter-house competitions in Music, Dance and Drama, Swimming and Public Speaking. House meetings and house assemblies are also held periodically.

Extracurricular Activities

There are many opportunities to be involved in interest clubs and non-academic pursuits. Girls have taken part in competitions such as the International Science Olympiads and national public speaking competitions.^[6] Other activities available include the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Super Camp and charity drives.

There is also a variety of school teams and clubs, such as tennis, rounders, netball, lacrosse, swimming, cricket, athletics, football, badminton available. Other activities include computer, social service volunteers, public-speaking, speech and drama, chess, Young Enterprise, art and craft, ballet, first aid and debating.

Up to 25% of pupils learn a musical instrument and instrumental exams can be taken in school. Musical groups include choir, orchestra, string group, recorder group. Each year Heathfield puts on a school production of either a famous musical or play students of all ages are encouraged to get involved. There are also drama clubs run by members of the 6 form for younger girls.

Notable former pupils

• Suella Fernandez, Barrister, Co-founder Africa Justice Foundation
• Lynn Gladden, Chemical engineer, Cambridge University
• Hilary Audus, animator
• Frances Kirkham, Senior Circuit Judge; founder member of the UK Association of Women Judges
• Anne Lonsdale, Former President of New Hall College, Cambridge
• Katie Waissel, Singer-songwriter

References

External links

• School Website
• Profile on MyDaughter
• Save Heathfield School Petition