With extensive playing fields, a gym, swimming pool, sports hall, all weather pitches, and courts for squash, tennis and Eton fives, we are well equipped for sport. We also benefit from The Orchard with its outdoor classroom and from our location next to Hampstead Heath.
Our superb new swimming pool opened in March 2020 just before lock-down. The indoor heated pool is 25 meters long with new changing rooms and showers. It has a viewing balcony which is in a great (dry) position for parents, pupils and staff to watch matches from.
“Fives” is a handball game played in special concrete courts with three walls. Fives is very popular with pupils and the courts also work well for photoshoots!
Our large Dining Hall is filled with light, chatter and delicious food which always features classic hot meals, salads and sandwiches. Every day, there is a vegetarian and vegan option available for pupils to choose from. We go “meat free” every Monday as part of our drive to be more sustainable. ‘Fish and Chip Fridays’ are a very popular treat day for pupils.
Our excellent IT support team work in this building which also houses a mirrored dance studio and the Sport and Exercise offices.
The Mills Centre houses two creative departments in spacious, light and well-designed spaces. Well-equipped studios, workshops and IT suites enable pupils to work with ambition and imagination in a wide variety of media. Student artwork and that of contemporary artists is on display in the Mills Centre Gallery year-round.
Central Hall is a beautiful vaulted space surrounded by eighteen sturdy Edwardian classrooms. The hall itself houses displays of artwork or displays relating to events. The current theme of the display is ‘inclusion’, telling stories to help us value and appreciate difference.
A landscaped external space, Lower School pupils take breaks in the Garner quad, sitting on the benches and chatting.
Dyne House is a brutalist beauty with wonderful views across London. Hidden in its basement is a large auditorium, where assemblies take place, and the Rothenberg Recital Room. Above these rooms are specialist music facilities and smaller classrooms for Sixth Form lessons. Behind Dyne House is our large Drama studio and the Learning Support department.
Our Museum tells the story of Highgate School through documents, artefacts, photographs and paintings. It opens a window on the past, showing school life through the centuries and enables the history and archives of School to be more accessible to pupils and the local community.
Sixth formers can often be found eating croissants and chatting on the benches in Science Quad, whilst teachers rush by. The Science Quad is surrounded by Edwardian buildings which feature newly refurbished science laboratories, two sixth form common rooms below language classrooms.
The charming cricket pavilion offers views of the pitches as well as changing facilities
This building houses the administrative heart of school where the body of Support Staff reside. This includes Admissions, Communications, Estates, Operations, Human Resources and Development teams.
Highgate is the lead educational sponsor of our partner school, LAE Tottenham which supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds, giving them the chance and opportunity to attend some of the highest-ranking universities in the UK.
Our Head, Adam Pettitt lives near school with his wife Barbara, a French teacher, and their three children. He also lives with Jerry the cat who has recently made unscheduled appearances in the School Zoom calls!
We have a large astroturf which is used for football, netball, hockey, tag rugby and tennis.
Highgate School nestles within beautiful Highgate Village which has several cafes, shops and bakeries. Our Sixth Formers enjoy being able to access the village at lunchtime.
Highgate does not exist in a bubble: we are connected to, and part of, a community. Through our Chrysalis Partnerships Programme we work with over 50 local schools
Highgate School is 10 minutes walk from Highgate Tube on the Northern line. We encourage staff and pupils to travel sustainably where possible; this is because we’re aiming to reduce the number of cars in the area to improve congestion and improve air quality.
Situated next to the Mallinson sports centre, pupils and staff can often be found running circuits of this field. Our Head recently undertook a sponsored run around this field and raised of £70,000 for laptops for partner schools.
Forrest School, outdoor education, bee-keeping and our outdoor classroom can be found in this orchard adjacent to Tatham’s field where pupils play football at lunchtime.
We are fortunate to be located adjacent to Hampstead Heath. In 2019 2,500 pupils and staff from Highgate and sibling school, the London Academy of Excellence in Tottenham, walked around the heath to raise over £110,000 for our partner school in Uganda, Great Lakes High.
Our School’s bunkhouse on the south-west edge of Snowdonia National Park in Wales is used for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.