History

History and Timeline

We are a local school, forged and established in Highgate.

Channing was founded in 1885 by Miss Emily and Matilda Sharpe, and the Reverend Robert Spears. Their aim was to set up a school where the daughters of Unitarian ministers could obtain a ‘first-class education that would enable them to go to any university, if they so desired, and yet at the same time fit them for all the work of a woman’s home life.’

Upon founding their visionary school, they named it after one of Unitarianism’s leading theologians, William Ellery Channing. From the beginning, the curriculum was broad and ambitious, and Miss Matilda often invited distinguished visitors, such as the young Marconi, to talk to the school. Soon Channing was formally recognised as an institution of the highest standards.

Never forget life is expecting much of you and me

Miss Matilda Sharpe

As a local school, over 90% of our pupils live within a four-mile radius and are thus able to travel to and from school with friends. We actively encourage our pupils to either walk or use public transport, with the aim of reducing car travel in the local area.

Timeline

1780-1842
What is in a Name - Channing...?

Dr William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) was a Unitarian Preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century, and one of Unitarianism’s leading theologians, after whom the school was named. Unitarian beliefs focus on Truth, Freedom and Religion. They advocate tolerance of every individual in search of a spiritual, moral & ethical meaning of life.

1885
Our Founders

The school was founded in 1885 by Rev. Robert Spears (1825-99), and two sisters, Miss Emily Sharpe (1828-1914) & Miss Matilda Sharpe (1830-1916.) The school was initially founded for the daughters of Unitarian Ministers and others, (boarding and day girls).

Channing remains the only independent Unitarian school in Britain.

1885
28 January
Channing House School Opens

The first Principal, Miss Jarvis, opened the school with 35 pupils and was soon succeeded by Miss Wilson in 1886. The school occupied only 2 houses on The Bank, Highgate Hill: Sutherland House (later renamed Channing House) & West View. Channing currently has just under 1000 pupils across both the Junior and Senior schools. Although the option to board ceased in 1967, there is still a strong sense of identity and community amongst alumnae and current pupils alike.

1897

One of the most remarkable things about Channing is its forward thinking approach to educating girls. From the beginning, the curriculum was broad and ambitious, and Miss Matilda often invited distinguished visitor, such as young Marconi, to talk to the school.

Much to the delight of the pupils and staff on 25 September 1897 Signor Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated his newly discovered method of wireless telegraphy.

1901

By 1901 the school comprised 31 boarders & 26 day girls (plus one day boy in the lowest form) whose ages ranged from 8-18.

All pupils were educated to the very highest standard in order to enable students, should they wish, to enter the Civil Service or to pass the Cambridge Local Examination, the Matriculation Examination of London University or any other scholastic examination to which ladies are admitted.

1905
First Channing House School Magazine published
1912
Channing ‘Recognised as Efficient’ by His Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools
1914 -18
During WWI school life continued

War work during World War I as reported in the Channing House Magazine 1914-1919

In wartime, Channing girls threw themselves into every kind of patriotic work. Several of them sent in detailed accounts of their new lives. Between 1914 and 1919 Channing girls flocked in considerable numbers to serve in the following ways:

  • Red Cross
  • VAD – Voluntary Aid Detachment
  • VAD quartermaster
  • VAD cook
  • War Work Association
  • Army recruitment
  • WVS – Women’s Voluntary Service
  • Hospital dispensary
  • Nursing
  • Dental nursing in Salonica
  • Land Army
  • Driving in France
  • Ministry of Shipping
  • Soldiers’ Rest
  • Military typing
  • WAAC – Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
  • National aeroplane factory in Croydon
  • YWCA in Cairo
  • Chemical research in connection with dope and varnish for aircraft
  • Canteen work

The war opened other opportunities for women: ‘Mary Wilson has gone into her father’s office. Her brothers are at the Front.’

1921
Headmistress: Miss Alice Haigh MA

Headmistress: Miss Alice Haigh MA (Manchester), after whom the main school building is now named. Slingly House is added to the school.

Miss Haigh was born to a Unitarian family in Oldham, and educated at Hulme Grammar School for Girls. She graduated from Manchester University in 1910 with a BA in History, with Education as an additional subject, and took her MA in 1912. She taught widely before coming to Channing. Here was a Headmistress with a progressive educational outlook and considerable experience. Her 30 years as Headmistress saw a major expansion ofthe school in numbers and in buildings, incorporating the whole terrace on The Bank and Fairseat, and included the wartime evacuation to Ross-on-Wye. Her aim was always to stimulate her girls intellectually, ratherthan confine them to a rigid curriculum. Throughout this time, she regarded every pupil as part of the Channing family, kissing each boarder goodnight and following their later lives with interest and affection.

1926
Hampden House added

Roll of pupils:130, with more than half day girls.

1926
Lease of Fairseat

During the nineteenth century Fairseat was part of the Lauderdale Estate owned by, and later the residence of, Sir Sydney Hedley Waterlow who became Lord Mayor of London in 1872-3. Sir Waterlow presented the estate to the London County Council in 1889 and in 1926 the lease of Fairseat was acquired by Channing House, for use mainly, as a boarding house. Later in the autumn of 1976 the freehold was successfully acquired and now houses the Junior School.

1930
Arundel House

Arundel House added, completing the incorporation of the terrace on The Bank.

1931
Channing House School became Channing School
1937
The Second School Inspection reveals 180 pupils on roll
1939
World War II

From September 1939 to the Summer of 1945 the school and its inhabitants evacuated to Ross-on-Wye, and took up residency in the Chase Hotel, as well as others properties, for the purpose of conducting lessons.

During the war The Bank had been taken over by the Royal Navy and the London County Council (LLC), also using much of the ground floor of Fairseat for a British Restaurant as well as transforming the field at Stanhope Road to allotments. Channing also housed The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) personnel working at the Admiralty.

Bombing (1944) & a landmine (1940) caused substantial damage to Hampden and Arundel, two of the terraced houses on The Bank, resulting in their demolition – Haigh House (opened in 1954) now stands on this site. 

12 Southwood Lane was purchased as the Junior School for day pupils (1943) – comprising  some little boys as well as girls – because there was very considerable demand from local parents who wished to keep their children with them in London. This property was later sold in 1955.

3 North Grove was purchased as a senior boarding house in 1945, and later sold in 1967.

1952
Headmistress: Miss Gweneth Lloyd Thomas MA, B Litt (Oxon)

Miss Lloyd Thomas was the daughter of a Unitarian minister who later moved to the Anglican Church. A brilliant scholar and a gentle and sensitive person, she graduated with first-class honours from Somerville College, Oxford, and taught at several girls ’ schools before becoming Director of Studies in English at Girton College, Cambridge. Her published work included a seminal book on Andrew Marvell. She attracted to Channing inspirational teachers who devoted themselves to the school, and families who wanted an intellectual but unpressurised education for their girls. Her own passion for the arts enriched the school, and she encouraged academic excellence while following Channing ’ s essential tradition of nurturing the talents of individual pupils in all directions.

1956
The Third School Inspection reveals an increase of pupils to 281
1960
75th Anniversary

75th Anniversary celebrations, including the opening of the New Hall by the Chair of Governors Sir Felix Brunner Bt. Existing Hall becomes known as the Old Hall.

1964
Headmistress: Miss E M (Molly) Saunders MA (London)

Miss Saunders was the first headmistress without Unitarian connections. She had graduated from Bedford College, London, in Geography, and brought her specialist skills to modernising Channing, which, according to Governor Mary Burns, was ‘what the school needed in 1963’. Hers was not an easy tenure, for this was a time of change, educational and social. Miss Saunders oversaw the departure of the last boarders, when the majority of Channing ’ s core of Unitarians disappeared, and negotiated the crucial purchase of the freehold of Fairseat. She also created the Channing Association, to include current girls and parents as well as Old Girls, and for the Centenary in 1985 wrote a new history of the school, A Progress. Naturally shy and reserved, she made her mark as a founder member of the National Association for Careers for Women.

1967
Departure of the last boarders
1978
Headmistress: Mrs Tatiana Macaire MA (Oxon)

Mrs Macaire was educated at Roedean (originally another Unitarian foundation) and at St Hugh’ s College, Oxford, where she read Greats. The first married Headmistress, with two schoolboy sons, she made an immediate impact on the whole community with her energy and charm. In Channing she was a true mover and shaker, remodelling the science labs, creating the first Vlth Form Centre and laying plans for the building of Brunner House. She had a talent for drawing people in to see the school, and made sure that there were plenty of new and exciting things for them to look at. She reviewed the whole curriculum, introduced Community Service and a School Council, and took a keen personal interest in every one of her pupils. After moving to become headmistress of Ashford School, Kent, she became a distinguished President of the Girls’ Schools Association.

1979
Saw the redevelopment of the Science laboratories
1985
Embracing Technology

(Student using the latest computer technology in 1985: Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor.)

1984
Headmistress: Mrs Isabel Raphael MA (Cantab) Pupil roll: 395

Mrs Raphael taught Classics as Miss Lawson at Channing from 1960 to 1964. This experience encouraged her to apply for the headship of Channing in 1984, in time for the 1985 Centenary celebrations. Building on Mrs Macaire’s innovations, with huge support from the Bursar, Col. Miller, she set about expanding horizons for individual girls and the entire school, and building links with the local community. With steady rises in academic achievement, all girls aimed at higher education, with strong encouragement for artistic, creative and sporting talents in the traditional Channing way. Under her stewardship Channing developed the reputation it holds today. An inspiring teacher and dynamic Headmistress, she is still known for her encyclopaedic memory ofgirls and their families. ‘Raph knows everything ’

1985
Centenary celebrations. Opening of Brunner House by Lady Brunner, widow of Sir Felix Brunner Bt.
1992
Old Hall extended to create a Sixth Form Centre and further enlarged in 2008
1996
Headmistress: Elizabeth Radice MA (Oxon)

Pupils on roll had increased to 505. There was extensive development of the Junior School at Fairseat and conversion of The Stables to a Performing Arts area.

Mrs Radice continued the task of taking Channing onwards and upwards. Her mother-in-law, Betty Radice, had taught Classics at Channing in the 1960s. Numbers of pupils and academic achievements both increased. With her First in English from Somerville College, Oxford, she had very high academic standards and her teaching of Critical Thinking to groups of Vlth Formers in her study was much appreciated. Several innovations stand out: the move to a three-form entry at 11+; academic improvements at Fairseat; the building of the second floor in Brunner House; the annual carol service in St Michael ’ s Church; Southwark Cathedral concerts; the introduction of Theatre Studies; the Art exhibitions. Her style, intelligence and presence graced Channing events. She left Channing to become Headmistress of Haberdashers’ Aske ’ s School for Girls.

2003
Brunner House rebuilt with two storeys as a Humanities Block
2005
Headmistress: Barbara Elliott MA (Cantab)

Mrs Elliott graduated in Modern Languages from New Hall, Cambridge, a college that has long had ties with Channing (many Channing girls have studied there, as did headmistress Mrs Raphael). She was previously deputy head at St Alban’s High School.

The ISI inspection of 2015 considered every single aspect of the school to be “excellent”, apart from one: the quality of pupils’ achievements and learning is exceptional. This was a moment of great pride for the whole school as Channing was recognised as one of the leading schools in the UK. The Senior School had grown with numbers by September 2020 standing at 650+.

The arrival of Covid-19 forced the closure of the school on 20 March 2020. A Remote Learning Team led the teaching staff in moving lessons online. All members of the Channing community had to face a strange new reality. Mrs Elliott reflected in her annual report at the end of her tenure that ‘the best part of Channing is “being here”‘.

2008
Internal conversion of the Old Hall, incorporating a new Sixth Form Centre and renamed Founders’ Hall
2010
125th anniversary celebration
2012
The Gyöngyi Anghi Scholarship

This is an opportunity for girls from the János Zsigmond Unitarian College, Transylvania, now a region of Romania, to spend the first half of the autumn term at Channing.

In 2012 this longstanding tradition was revived. Dating back to 1892 when a scholarship fund was first set up by the founders of Channing School and Bishop József Ferencz of Kolozsvár, Transylvania designed to build links between the Unitarian school and the birthplace of Unitarianism. The current scholarship was founded by Amanda Davidson, whose mother – Gyöngyi Anghi – grandmother and aunt benefited from the original scholarship scheme and who is the great-great-granddaughter of Bishop József Ferencz.

The scholars live with a Channing host family, attend lessons at Channing in three subjects of their choice, participate in extracurricular activities, and have the opportunity to explore London and experience life in the UK.

“I think Channing is the school where every girl dreams to learn.”
Timea Farkas, Gyöngyi Anghi Scholar 2014

2014
Founders’ Hall

is redeveloped to include a New Music School including a state of the art music technology lab, with 24 iMacs and keyboards as well as a soundproofed percussion room.

2017
New Sports Hall & Sixth Form Centre are completed in December
2018
November

Arundel Centre (new Performing Arts Centre) is officially opened by HRH Princess Sarvath of Jordan.

2018
Redevelopment at the Junior School commenced and was completed in early November 2020
2020
Headteacher
Present Day

Headmistress: Mrs Lindsey Hughes (BA History, Warwick). Joined Channing as Headmistress in September 2020, bringing with her a wealth of experience and a vision for Channing as it enters a new exciting phase.

“What really sets us apart is our underpinning Unitarian values of free thinking, acceptance and inclusivity, which are encapsulated in the Channing Promise of kindness and respect. You will find Channing is a school where each individual is encouraged to understand their strengths and learn to mitigate their weaknesses, using their time at school to develop their skills and enjoy their success, however they may define it”.