10th August 2021 — Sheer hard work and sustained effort in the most demanding circumstances have led to a set of excellent, well-deserved grades for Channing students, with 97% of students applying to university through UCAS attaining their first-choice course and university. This is a stunning achievement given the tribulations of the year group’s two-year A level course through the pandemic.

Testament to Channing's commitment to inspiring students to find and pursue their own individual passions, this year’s cohort will be taking up places on a wide range of courses at world class universities.

These include Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, History, English, Classics, Psychology, Modern Languages, Politics, Economics and Geography, alongside Nursing, Anthropology, Ecology, Business Management and Sociology & Criminology.

Russell Group universities feature prominently in the list of destinations with Bristol being the favourite this year and students will also be attending Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, Warwick, UCL, Leeds, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Durham.

For those studying arts courses, Leeds and Central St Martins remain popular choices with Rose Bruford and Anglia Ruskin selected by two students who have opted for Design for Theatre, and Performance & Musical Theatre, respectively.

Lindsey Hughes, Headmistress, is full of praise for her Year 13 cohort and teachers alike:

“This year the results were based on Teacher Assessed Grades rather than traditional examinations. I congratulate all our students and their dedicated teachers for their hard work under the most difficult of circumstances. It has been particularly galling to see their achievements denigrated as ‘grade inflation’ in the media when in fact the results cannot be compared with any other year as the form of assessment was unique to this year. We know that these results reflect the best possible outcomes that our students could achieve, given the system of assessment put into place after the exams were cancelled in January 2021”.

Channing wishes all leavers every success and looks forward to welcoming them back over the next few years to recount their experiences and inspire future generations of students.

22nd August 2019 — Headmistress Barbara Elliott was pleased to announce that 84.81% of all grades were 9-7, while 63.75% were 9-8.

Four pupils achieved 100% Grade 9s, with Lily Blue Harper collecting 11 in total, including Greek.

Lily, who has been at Channing since she joined Reception in the Junior School, was part of the first cohort to take the full course in Greek, and has chosen English, German and Latin for A level, with a view to studying Classics at University. “All the teachers at Channing have inspired me and taking Greek was a natural progression from Latin which I have always enjoyed”

Jaya Ayyalaraju joined Channing in Year 10 from Australia where the education system is based on assignments rather than exams. She attributes her results to the inspirational teachers at Channing and the opportunity to attend drop-in sessions that helped bring her up to speed with her peers. Not only is she delighted with her grades, Jaya also learned to drive during her summer holiday in Australia, so she and her family will be enjoying a double celebration today.

Rebekah Treganna’s story is the latest chapter in the Channing story for her family, with a cousin (Lucy) and mother counting themselves as alumnae. Rebekah achieved all top grades with a particularly high 9 in Classics. She was full of praise for Mrs Sarah Elliot, Head of Classics, “who always goes the extra mile. Her passion rubs off on us all!”. Not surprisingly, Rebekah hopes to study Classics, Biology and German for A Level.

Olivia Ferraro overcame serious health issues, so was delighted with her results, especially a Grade 9 for Biology and 8s in History and Physics. Mrs Elliott was a huge inspiration to her when she was feeling at her worst, telling her: “you can do it!” and she felt that this support was instrumental in her achievement. “I really felt this school was on my side.”

Jacqui Newman, Director of Studies reported: “These excellent grades throughout are the result of sustained hard work and an appetite for achievement evident among these Year 11 pupils. All GCSEs are now on the new grading system of 1-9, with 7-9 being equivalent to the old A-A*. The important difference is that while A*s were frequently awarded by examining bodies in the past, a Grade 9 is now much harder to achieve, therefore we are delighted to celebrate this noteworthy set of results”.

The school’s focus on STEM was evident in Biology, Chemistry and Maths with 100 Grade 9s in those subjects. “Science, Technology and Maths are fundamental to the education we offer pupils at Channing and the department will be further boosted by the arrival of full time Head of Engineering in September, adding to the STEM provision. Our Future Technologies conference was a resounding success last year and we look forward to preparing girls to redress the imbalance in this historically male-dominated sector,’ said Assistant Head Dan Grossman.

15th August 2019 — Mrs Barbara Elliott, Headmistress of Channing, is delighted to report that this year’s A Level results surpassed those of last year’s, with an 89.1% pass rate at A*-B. The School achieved a 100% pass rate overall, with 67.5% grades at A*-A.

Mrs Elliott said: “This is testament to the unique education we offer at Channing. Our blend of academic excellence, unsurpassed pastoral care and a wealth of extra-curricular opportunities, with the time to participate and enjoy them, makes for a well-balanced educational experience that reaps academic rewards. I am immensely proud of the girls and their teachers, who always go the extra mile to ensure our students enjoy the most inspirational learning environment, without experiencing undue pressure. The vast majority of girls have achieved places at their first-choice universities, with UCL being a favoured destination this year and American universities also experiencing increasing popularity.”

Gabrielle Dowsey is one of the students who is off to UCL. She will read History with a European Language, having achieved 3A*s in English, History and Spanish and an A* in the Extended Qualification Project on the topic of Spain’s contribution to the American war of independence. A talented musician who excels at double bass, Gabi has enjoyed performing in countless Channing concerts from her time in the Junior School right through to Sixth Form, and demonstrated excellent leadership skills as a School Officer for Year 8.

A very personal Channing story is that of Beany Ashley-Norman, the last of the three Ashley-Norman children to have been at Channing since Reception. Jonathan Ashley-Norman, Beany’s father, said: “There has been an Ashley-Norman at Channing for 17 years! We are so grateful to the school for the wonderful life we have all shared.” Beany will be studying Natural Sciences at Southampton. Their siblings Tabi is studying Medicine at Leeds and Phoebe has just finished her second year of Biochemistry at Oxford.

Maya Fetterman, whose mother is a Channing alumna, also achieved 3 A*s, in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. She will be studying Neuroscience at Bath. A School Officer for Year 11, Maya helped lead the Channing Young Enterprise team to victory in the 2018 North London finals with its innovative stress ball.

A number of students, including Daisy Grostern, studied four A levels. Daisy achieved A*s in Maths, Physics and Art and an A in Further Maths. This is an outstanding achievement in a year when the Maths A Level exam was widely acknowledged to have been particularly challenging. Daisy has been at Channing since Reception and has a place at Bath to read Civil and Architectural Engineering.

Whilst Channing achieved excellent results in Maths, Art was also a hugely successful subject with 92% of all candidates gaining A* or A. As a result of the hard work put in by students and the outstanding provision in Art at Channing, four girls have secured highly-prized places on Foundation Courses at Central Saint Martin’s and Kingston School of Art.

A Liberal Arts Course is the choice for Kate Leventhal, who gained A*s in Art and English and an A in Geography. She will be heading off to Vassar, New York in September. Isobel Horton (A*, A, A in Chemistry, Maths and Biology) will be following in her mother’s footsteps by studying medicine at UCL. (Dr Wolfe is Senior Lecturer and Consultant in paediatrics and public health at King’s). Isobel did most of her revision in the Wellcome Institute Library and used to pop into UCL during her breaks, where she felt it would be such a privilege to sit in lecture theatres where Darwin once worked. Maya Katz will join Isobel at UCL to study Medicine, having achieved A* in Biology and 3As in Chemistry, Latin and Maths.

In the North, Durham will be welcoming Sarah Woodburn to read English. Sarah achieved 3A*s in Economics, English and History, plus an A in Maths. She dropped Economics for a short time but took it up again as she said she “missed it so much!”.

As evidenced, Channing has once again achieved success across a wide variety of A Level subjects and in gaining places on distinguished university courses. We congratulate all our students and wish them good luck in their chosen future paths.

20th June 2019 — Channing School in Highgate, London has appointed Mrs Lindsey Hughes to replace Mrs Barbara Elliott as Headmistress of Channing School with effect from 1 September 2020.

Channing’s Chair of Governors, Mrs Cindy Leslie, said: “Lindsey Hughes is a committed supporter of all-girls’ education, having herself attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She is a graduate of Warwick University, where she read History. Mrs Hughes is an accomplished teacher who has extensive leadership experience in the independent sector at two highly successful girls’ schools."

Mrs Hughes is currently Deputy Head of The Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton, South West London, where she is responsible for all aspects of the school’s academic life. She previously was the Director of Students at St Helen and St Katharine in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, where she was responsible for pastoral care.

Mrs Leslie continued: "Channing is a unique and highly successful school where we encourage all of our pupils to enjoy success in a context that is free from undue pressure and where we are proud of our Unitarian values. I know that Mrs Hughes will build on these principles and that she will also be focused on developing the school so that it continues to provide a relevant and inspiring education for all of our pupils."

Mrs Lindsey said: "I am thrilled to have been appointed as the next Headmistress of Channing and am honoured by the trust the Governors have placed in me. I knew of Channing’s excellent reputation before I applied and have found that the ethos and Unitarian values of the school chime completely with my personal vision of education. I believe wholeheartedly that happy girls learn best and will be delighted to uphold the school’s aim of girls enjoying success achieved without undue pressure. I look forward to getting to know the school even better over the coming year before taking up the post in September 2020.”

14th June 2019 — A group of Year 12 students at Channing School in north London are celebrating getting through to final of the Young Enterprise UK Company of the Year Awards, the grand finale of the 2019 Young Enterprise’s flagship Company Programme. Over the course of the year, thousands of young people from hundreds of schools located across the UK, The Channel Islands and Gibraltar have set up and run student businesses, battling it out in local and regional competitions. Fourteen teams compete at the final, and the overall UK winner will be crowned on the evening. The winner will go on to represent the UK at the Junior Achievement Company of the Year Final which is taking place in Lille, France in July with President Macron in attendance.

The Channing group, Team Novus, is selling a product called Doodle Bloom, a pack of 12 plantable pencils in different colours. Each pencil contains a different type of seed to plant. One of the group, Kate Anderson, said: 'Our pencils are eco-friendly and sustainable as they are made from recycled wood. Each pencil contains a different seed that, when planted, grow into an array of beautiful flowers, herbs and plants. Our aim for creating our product was to inspire people to become environmentally conscious and help sustain our world. Pencils have an interactive nature and relatively small impact on the environment. We hope to encourage children to be creative and give back to the environment for a sustainable future.'

The Final of the Young Enterprise takes place next Tuesday at London's County Hall. Award-winning journalist and BBC presenter Steph McGovern will host the evening, alongside celebrity entrepreneur Ben Towers.