Welcome
THe NGHS Vision
Igniting the Spark
The Recipe for Success
Academic Excellence
Beyond the Classroom
Exciting Spaces
Happiness and Success
Diversity and Inclusion
In Partnership with Parents
Community
Philanthropy
Family Feel
It’s a Dog’s Life
Sustainability
Next Steps
Additional Information
How to Get to Us
We live in exciting times and NGHS is an exciting place to be. Equipping the female leaders of the future matters now more than ever before. We’re opening doors so girls realise their brilliance in their own unique way - a first class education for the modern world.
We’re committed to shaping a new style of education that smashes stereotypes and gives girls an extraordinary start to their futures, whatever they may hold.
Our girls’ educational journey is designed to challenge and inspire at each stage, instilling in them the freedom and confidence to speak up, act independently and carve their own paths in life. They explore the subjects they’re passionate about and embrace the opportunities that spark their curiosity.
We aim to:
• inspire, nurture, educate and equip girls for success throughout school and into their future careers.
• support girls to achieve academic excellence through inspiring lessons, adaptive teaching techniques and expertise in educating girls.
• empower girls to have the confidence, courage and strength to achieve their individual ambitions through positive role modelling and a focus on leadership skills.
• educate girls to be compassionate world citizens through extensive charity, outreach and social programmes.
• most of all, we aim to care for each and every girl to ensure she enjoys a successful future, however she defines it.
Our values are the pillars of everything we stand for.
Our girls are our focus, the driving force behind everything we do. We encourage each and every girl to be the best that she can be and we have the expertise to equip her to excel.
We’re paving the way for a future where girls smash stereotypes.
Our girls take risks. They speak up, push themselves, and act with conviction, commitment and confidence.
As part of the GDST, our girls are part of a unique and powerful support network of 25 schools and over 100,000 alumnae.
Our Recipe for Success encompasses six key ingredients which bring life-long academic and personal success for our girls.
A spoonful of RESILIENCE
A sprinkle of EMPATHY
A dash of CREATIVITY
Mixed with INITIATIVE
Garnished with POSITIVITY
And served with EXCELLENCE
We develop these ingredients in a number of ways. They are actively taught and integrated into every learning experience by our outstanding teachers. Girls are recognised and rewarded when they demonstrate them and the girls themselves identify characters from stories and real life examples of our Recipe for Success in action. Our girls develop a strong toolbox of skills and characteristics which build their learning power, assisting them to achieve anything they desire.
We inspire our girls to become RESILIENT, to pick themselves up, despite failure, and continue their quest for success. We believe that it is important for girls to experience setbacks in a safe environment where support is available so that they are best prepared for the real world. Every setback is a great learning opportunity.
Our school dog, Delilah, helps girls to focus on EMPATHY. We believe that empathy is vital to being able to work effectively with others in many different fields of expertise. Our girls need to understand, respect and challenge others to truly change the world in the future. Research findings show that children who grow up in the presence of animals have higher levels of empathy than others. Delilah helps our School to feel like a family and when we walk her, we think and communicate in a really POSITIVE way.
As an academically selective girls’ school we expect EXCELLENCE both in the girls’ approach to their learning and their achievements, and we are very proud of everything our girls enjoy and achieve. Their CREATIVITY, INITIATIVE and passion for learning means they will go on to achieve truly extraordinary things.
Your daughter’s educational journey will be one filled with adventure. She will be stimulated, challenged, inspired and encouraged. As an academically selective school we focus on teaching bright girls to a high standard. We stretch our girls’ thinking and ensure that a broad range of enrichment opportunities continuously deepen their learning. From trips and visits, to inspirational speakers and extracurricular clubs, all the ingredients for a successful education are on offer.
A Day in the Life of Reception
ALL GIRLS - Here at NGHS there are no stereotypes, no limitations and no barriers to girls achieving their very best. Our expertise in educating girls means we know how to make sure each and every girl is achieving her potential in the best possible environment for her. Our girls support each other across all year groups and we also benefit from the strong network of 25 girls’ schools within the GDST.
SHARING AND CARING - We place your daughter’s happiness, safety, security and emotional development at the heart of our
Our curriculum is bespoke. It follows the principles of the National Curriculum whilst aiming to explicitly empower girls, enable ‘deep or mastered’ learning and provide opportunities to connect with local and international communities.
community. At NGHS girls are cared for and also care for each other.
EXPLORING AND DISCOVERING - Each day brings new things to explore as we work to extend your daughter’s fascination and curiosity with the world around her. Whether it’s in our outdoor learning area Upnah Wood, our special Reception playground or the classroom full of stimulating resources, our girls are surrounded by opportunities to explore and learn through fun.
This gives learning a real context and purpose and is highly engaging. All subjects are delivered: English, maths, science, sport, computer science, art, history, geography, religious education, French and design and technology.
Reception class provides our youngest girls with an optimum environment for their learning and development.
Reading, writing and number learning are taught alongside a rich curriculum built on the recommendations of The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. With a wonderful outdoor learning environment adjacent to the classroom, the girls learning can
Girls also receive an outdoor learning lesson every week which complements our broad academic offer and enables girls to thrive in the natural world and learn about themselves, others and the world around them.
be planned for, using a variety of settings. The girls also make use of many other facilities within the Junior School, including our hall, music rooms, theatre, woodland, field, climbing wall, computer suites and dining hall. All of these facilities offer a vibrant and rich educational offer with opportunities galore for future success.
Meeet our Year 6 teacher Mrs Braud
KEY STAGE 1
In Years 1 and 2, girls are taught by their class teacher in class sizes of twenty two or less, for the majority of lessons, and they begin to receive an increasing amount of specialist teaching. Typically this is for sport, computerscience and music and enables them to build relationships with teachers who they will be taught by throughout their time at NGHS.
Da Capo is our bespoke music offer for our younger girls. It enables girls to trial a total of 6 instruments with tuition over 2 years. Girls from Reception to Year 2 are taught in
KEY STAGE 2
From Year 3 to 6, girls continue to follow our bespoke mastery curriculum, alongside developing greater independence and leadership skills. Residential trips begin to take place both in the UK and abroad, offering amazing experiences that create life-long learning and memories for the girls. The
small groups, regular feedback is provided to parents via a diary and performance concerts are built in to develop a purpose for playing and confidence. This unique programme of music tuition enables girls and parents to make a much more informed decision at the start of Year 3 as to the right choice of instrument to learn. 95% of all NGHS Junior girls play at least one musical instrument and so your daughter will be in very good company. We believe that music is the heartbeat of our school and therefore we nurture and enjoy it at many levels.
girls continue to have a class teacher for the majority of subjects but with an increased number of specialist teachers and with some lessons taking place in the Senior School’s specialist teaching rooms, such as Science and Design & Technology. This all helps to aid transition to Senior School at Year 7.
Our enrichment provision is second to none. With a huge range of clubs, activities and opportunities, many of which are free of charge, it’s no surprise that NGHS pupils develop into such well-rounded, creative and inspired individuals.
Here is an idea of the number of the activities held throughout the day:
Monday Y6 Speech & Drama, Y3-Y6 Percussion Club, Y1 to Y6 Daily Mile Club
School Council
Y3-Y6 String Orchestra, Y3 Ballet & Performing Arts, Y6 Band, Y5-6 Contemporary Modern Jazz Dance, including Ballet , Y4 Speech & Drama
R-Y6 Tennis, R-Y6 Mandarin
Tuesday Y4 and 6 Speech & Drama, Y1 to Y6 Judo, Y1 to Y6 Daily Mile Club
Y3-5 Rebel Girls, String Quintet, Y5 Book Club
Y5-6 Vocalise Choir, Y3-4 Netball, R-Y2 Fitness, Y3-4 Choir. Y1-3 Art, Y5-6 Engineering, Y5-6 Writers Club
Y3-6 Football, Y5-6 Drama, R-Y6 Steel Pans
Wednesday Y5-6 Debating Club, Y5 Speech & Drama, Y1 to Y6 Daily Mile Club
Y4 Contemporary Modern Jazz Dance, including Ballet, Y5 Speech & Drama
Y1-2 Ballet & Performing Arts, Y4-6 Hockey Club, Y5 String & Wind Group
Y4-6 Maths in Motion, R-Y6 Gymnastics
Thursday Y4-6 Quiz Club, Y1 to Y6 Daily Mile Club
Y6 Book Club, Y3-6 Street Dance & Musical Theatre
Y2-6 Beginners Chess Club, Y5-6 Tag Rugby
Y 5-6 Intermediate Chess Club, Y1-2 Choir
Y1-6 Cricket, Y4-6 Art
Friday Y1 to Y6 Daily Mile Club
Y3-6 Eco Club, Y3-4 Tag Rugby, Y5 Ukuladies
Y1-4 Drama Club, Y5-6 Netball Club
Our superb facilities are modern, innovative and exciting. Designed to deliver the best possible education to girls, all of our spaces are purpose built and hugely inspiring.
Outdoors our girls learn to climb on our adventurous climbing wall. They learn archery skills on the field. Our own woodland area, Upnah Wood, is the place for girls to explore nature and have adventures, as well as enjoy songs around the campfire and Forest School sessions.
Indoors our Infant and Junior School has its own library, music room and IT suite, alongside excellent classrooms and individual iPads for the girls. We also share incredible spaces with NGHS Seniors including the Food Technology Room, Art Studios and stunning performing arts centre, The Space, where girls perform in a professional theatre to an auditorium of 250 seats from as early as four years old.
Lunch at the Lewenz Dining Hall is something very special at NGHS. All food is homemade on site by a committed team of catering staff. Girls choose from a range of meals including two Halal and two non Halal dishes every week. There are vegetarian and meat options every day, with a choice of puddings and fresh fruit to follow.
We believe a hot balanced meal at lunch time increases girls’ concentration and therefore learning in the afternoon. Junior lunches are included in the fees and so there is no option to bring a packed lunch.
Physical health and emotional wellbeing are fundamental to all children’s happiness and success. We have the best team possible here at NGHS to support our girls’ pastoral care. Highly trained teachers and teaching assistants as well as our School Nurse, who has a background in senior management at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and our dedicated Head of Educational Support all know each and every girl, which means we ensure our whole school community remains healthy and well looked after.
Our open door policy invites parents, girls and staff to communicate with each other continually to make sure dialogue between parents and school is effective and that the girls’ best interests are always put first.
As part of our PSHE programme, all girls engage with wellbeing techniques such as The Positive Project. They learn skills to look after their wellbeing and to develop resilience.
A diverse school with an inclusive ethos, we ensure that every NGHS pupil feels a sense of belonging in our community. We operate with four key principles in mind; empathy, representation, conversation and allyship.
Across the GDST, all staff and governors take part in regular training to develop our expertise in supporting all individuals, especially those with the nine protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act. We are continually working to diversify our curriculum, both in lessons and our extra-curricular activities.
Raising a daughter is an exciting collaboration between home and school and we work closely with parents. Parents are regularly invited into school for events. These include performances and productions. We also hold lessons where you can see your daughter and her teacher in action and useful workshops where teachers will share what your daughter is learning about and how she is being taught so that you are able to support her at home. We pride ourselves on being transparent and having a truly open door policy and so we regularly update parents on their daughter’s progress and achievements. We also hold two formal annual meetings between teacher and parents every year as well as an annual written report.
As a passionate member of the Nottingham community, we have strong relationships with many local organisations. We support our local community and also enrich our girls’ education through many activities, opportunities and partnerships.
We run an outreach and partnership programme called Reach Out, that is highly reputed across our local primary school community. We have an ongoing programme of activities designed to inspire a love of learning in children and young people. We work with our partners to raise children’s attainment by providing extraordinary, innovative workshops led by NGHS staff. We enjoy seeing student’s confidence grow in a range of skills including key STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), computing the arts, outdoor learning, business, teamwork, negotiation and listening.
Our community programmes give NGHS girls the opportunity to enjoy leadership roles as ambassadors for the school. Our Year 5 and 6 girls support our regular Tots activities and our Senior and Sixth Form girls enjoy working with children from partnership schools and mentoring Year 5 and 6 girls through the Big Sister Little Sister programme. They develop their own skills and confidence by working with children, encouraging a love of learning and by displaying exemplary behaviours to be good role models.
We support a number of charities each year. Girls and staff work together to support important causes through fundraising and volunteering. Our girls learn leadership, commitment and teamwork throughout our charity and volunteering programmes such as the School Leaders project and Service Learning programme. They are recognised with awards including the vInspired certificates of recognition.
Two of our Sixth Form students took part in Nottingham’s first ever TEDx event, hosted at NGHS.
Titled “What can our humanity bring to the greater good”, we heard from staff, alumnae and Year 13 students on topics challenging societal expectations to create a more diverse and inclusive society.
As one of our Diversity Prefects, Feizah began working with our fully supportive English department to “decolonise” their curriculum and campaign to change the language used in English teaching.
Through her role as a Wellbeing and Feminism Prefect, Ela learnt that there is still a huge taboo around menstruation especially among our younger girls, so she decided to tackle it by creating a year-long dedicated Period Awareness campaign.
As part of their involvement, they were named Finalists in the Rising Star category at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2023.
You can watch both their talks on YouTube
When you walk through our doors, you’re guaranteed a warm welcome. We’re more than just a school, we’re a family, we even have a school dog to help girls really feel at home. Our pupils love coming to school. They enjoy the calm atmosphere of a school where pupils love learning. They also enjoy the vibrancy of an exciting and progressive education, where they are able to learn without limits. There are no gender stereotypes here, everyone is encouraged to do what they love. They’re supported by their peers, teachers and support staff, so stretching themselves is safe. We’re always so impressed by the courage and resilience of our girls. They’re happy to try new things, to expand their comfort zones, to speak up and be counted. It’s no wonder they go on to achieve extraordinary success throughout school life and beyond.
Delilah the miniature Dachshund joined the Junior School in February 2017 and Saffy the miniature Labradoodle joined the Senior School in September the same year.
Having studied the positive impact that having a school dog could bring, from providing a calming effect on anxious pupils or those with autistic tendencies, to aiding motivation and learning in pupils who are sometimes not engaged; we knew the dogs would be a great addition to the school community. Both of our dogs belong to members of staff and live at home with them, but spend their days at school.
Delilah has hugely influenced teaching at the Junior School, fitting nicely into their ‘RECIPE for Success’, especially the ‘empathy’ element of the mantra ‘resilience, empathy, creativity, initiative, positivity and excellence’. She’s been a big hit, bringing calm and excitement in equal measure, when and wherever needed.
Saffy, the Senior School dog, resides mostly, in the Admissions Office, where the girls can see her as they go about their journeys to and from lessons. Saffy also attends lessons and is even a bookable resource, with girls signing up to take her out during break and lunchtime, or free periods.
Girls have learned about care and responsibility with our dogs and have really enjoyed having a communal pet at school. They bring girls together and get them to spend time outdoors and be more active and engaged than they may otherwise be during their breaks. Both dogs are adorable, great fun and beneficial assets to the school community.
As a modern, forward thinking school, we take ecological issues seriously.
Our girls are passionate social citizens and take care of the world around them. We have “Green Teams” across the Junior and Senior Schools, and one of the important Sixth Form leadership roles is that of Eco Prefect. Supported by staff, girls develop and implement eco projects including litter picking in the local park areas, Swap Shops to educate girls about the impact of fast fashion, tree planting, our own NGHS bee friendly garden, vegetable growing, recycling food waste commitments.
We enjoy Meat Free Mondays in the dining hall every week and work hard to raise awareness of pollution issues with our whole school community. Our catering team also aims to source 50-60% of our produce locally (Nottinghamshire and the surrounding counties) including beef, poultry, pork and lamb, broccoli, strawberries, potatoes, carrots and eggs.
We are looking for girls with a passion for learning and the potential to succeed at NGHS.
If you have any questions or would like further information about any aspect of the admissions process, please get in touch:
0115 935 4444 or admissions@not.gdst.net
Apply on line: nottinghamgirlshigh.gdst.net/admissions/how-to-apply
We have a range of open events throughout the year. Please contact us to book a place or visit the website nottinghamgirlshigh.gdst.net to book online.
We would be delighted to welcome you for a tour of NGHS and to meet with the Head of the Nursery, Infant and Junior School, Laura Fowler. Please call us on 0115 935 4450 or email juniorenquiries@not.gdst.net to arrange a visit.
We are an academically selective school, and ask for girls to join us for a day so that we can assess their potential to thrive at NGHS. Your daughter will enjoy a normal day here where we will observe how she learns and she will take part in assessments to identify her numeracy, literacy and potential to learn. Feedback about the assessment is available from the Head at the end of the day, so there is no agonising wait to find out how your daughter has performed.
Taster Sessions are an excellent way to spend some time in our outstanding, stimulating environment and for you to see the school on a ‘normal’ day. We will answer any questions you have and show you what makes NGHS so exceptional. Reception Taster Days are held throughout the year.
Girls attend a fun and informal session in our current Reception class so that we can assess their readiness for school. Offers of places are made shortly afterwards. These sessions are held throughout the year.
The Introduction to Reception programme continues with a series of visits from March to help your daughter prepare for starting school.
Girls enjoy spending time during a normal day here with us at NGHS to experience our lessons and facilities first hand, to get to know some of our staff and girls, and to get a feel for a day in the life here. Please contact us if you would like to join us.
Registration fee: £50
Deposit: £500 payable on acceptance of a place
Reception: £3,913.00 per term
Year 1 and Year 2: £3,951.00 per term
Year 3 to Year 6: £4,024.00 per term
The cost of lunch, stationery, resources, nonresidential trips and a wide range of extra-curricular clubs are included in our fees.
Girls are welcome from 8.00am and the school day starts at 8.30am.
Our day always begins in the girls’ classrooms, with class time or assembly following morning registration. Break time is from 11.05-11.25am and girls are asked to bring a fruit or vegetable snack and water from a bottle. Lunch time begins at midday for the younger girls and from 12.25pm for the older Junior girls. Menu choices are made in collaboration with parents from our wide variety of delicious options and girls enjoy socialising with their friends and teachers at this important time in our school day.
The school day finishes at the following times:
Reception to Year 2: 3.40pm Year 3 to Year 6: 3.45pm
All year groups are welcome to attend Breakfast Club from 7.30am and/or After School Club until 6.00pm for a small additional charge.
Breakfast Club: £3.30 or £5.50 to include breakfast
After School Club: £9.35 or £3.85 before 4.30pm collection
Please contact Lesley Sail if you would like to find out more information
Tel: 0115 935 4450 or Email: juniorenquiries@not.gdst.net.
We would be delighted to welcome you for a tour or an individual Taster Day for your daughter.
We share information, news, blogs and more on our website: nottinghamgirlshigh.gdst.net
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Nottingham Girls’ High School
Visitor parking is available on site.
There are a number of buses that stop close by. Please visit www.nctx.co.uk for information on bus timetables throughout Nottingham.
We are ten minutes walk from Nottingham City Centre.
Pupils from Year 3 are able to travel on school buses which operate across Nottinghamshire and further afield.
Nottingham High School is the nearest NET tram stop and we are a short walk away down Waverley Street and then into Arboretum Street. The tram links directly with Nottingham Train Station. For further information on tram times and fares telephone 0115 824 6060, or visit www.thetram. net.
The tram stops directly outside Nottingham Train Station and is just a 16 minute journey.
Nottingham Girls’ High School
9 Arboretum Street, Nottingham NG1 4JB 0115 941 7663 enquiries@not.gdst.net
nottinghamgirlshigh.gdst.net
FriendsofNGHS
@NottmGirlsHigh
