Arts & DT (private secondary school) near North London

[seanderson]

Are there any private schools near North London that are exceptional at Art and Design and have great facilities?

Girl or boy?

There's Hampstead Fine Arts College for DC aged 13-19.
Home | Art colleges in London | Hampstead Fine Arts

Dwight School has a great arts + humanities provision. It follows the IB program (which might suit your child if they're arty!)
Arts - Dwight School London | Independent International School

Girl. She is also very bright...

Thank you - Didn't know about the Hampsted College - looks great although possibly too arty 😂- She is bright as well...so we want to strike a good balance if possible.

Queenswood. I have one very bright super creative girl. She aced the Bucks 11+ with no tuition and also got a place at Wycombe Abbey. I spent a LOT of time looking for a school that could meet both her academic and artistic needs.

She has a full art scholarship and has heaps of extra opportunities as a result. Lots of extra curricular clubs to choose from too. Their DT is also exceptionally strong - both textiles and product design.

At A-level they offer art & design, DT (textiles and product design), photography and media studies.

It’s not a school full of super bright girls and results might put some people off (they’re very good but nothing like those academic schools you get in North London). Look beyond the numbers though - their value add is exceptional, there’s no data manipulation (no making girls sit exams as an independent candidate if they’re not going to make the grade), and many girls achieve all grade 7s and above at GCSE.

I can assure you that the academic needs of very bright girls are met there. What I love is that there’s no stress. It’s not at all hot housey and my daughter is flying. Arguably she’d do well wherever she goes but we are very happy.

Clsg was the only school we found that offers DT at GCSE and A level and well as excellent academic results. Lots of kids travel in from North London.

To add, you can check out Queenswood on Instagram by searching Queenswoodartschool.

I agree on CLSG too. We found the site felt rather cramped and were put off by the class sizes (25!!!!!!) though.

In terms of private, mill hill is quite good but tbh that area of London has state schools with an incredibly high standard in terms of art so a lot of the very talented kids will be there.

St Albans High School for Girls might be worth a look? They do DT and Art right up to A-Level and have good facilities + good exam results. Lots commute from North London.

Highgate School is also worth a look!

Thanks - yes Queenswood is on the list already :-)

Oh I hadn't even thought of this one. Will look into it!! Thank you

We were very impressed by Mill Hill art facilities. Our current state school option is Wren...just not sure the art and DT department are as good as the private schools?!

Have you looked at their facilities? How old is your child? Are you sure they'll actually use them?
Even at mill hill, your child won't really be using the art and DT facilities more than they would in a state school, until GCSE years. At A level, Camden girls, fortismere, la swap, all have amazing families and very talented students. Even outside of those 3, id day the standard of art and dt in state schools in n London is generally very high.

The arts department in Wren is quite good at state school standard as far as I remember