Manchester High School for Girls is an English private day school for girls and a member of the Girls School Association. It is situated in Fallowfield, Manchester.
The head mistress is Helen Jeys who took up the position in September 2020 and is the 11th head mistress in the school's history.
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History
The school was founded in 1874 by nine men and women who were prominent citizens of Manchester: it was first established in Chorlton on Medlock. A new school was built in Dover Street in 1881. (The building is now occupied by the University of Manchester School of Chemistry.) The founding group included Augustus Samuel Wilkins, Harriet and Robert Dukinfield Darbishire, and Edward Donner (afterwards Sir Edward Donner, 1st Baronet.) The first headmistress was Elizabeth Day. Day was replaced as head by Sara Annie Burstall in 1898.
In September 1939 the school was evacuated to Cheadle Hulme and by 1940 a new school building was under construction at Fallowfield. The unfinished buildings at the Grangethorpe Road site were destroyed by bombing on 20 December 1940. In 1941 the school moved temporarily to Didsbury and by 1949 a new building at Grangethorpe Road began to be occupied. The move into the new school was complete by 1952. The Grangethorpe site was occupied by a large private house and gardens from 1882 to 1936.
Preparatory department and senior school
Manchester High School for Girls has a preparatory department for girls aged 4 to 11 with the majority progressing into the senior school. Prep pupils have an infant section, two assembly halls and a playground and gardens. There are also specially designated areas for mathematics and science, a music room, library and two computer-suites providing multi-media facilities. In 2006, the school introduced the teaching of Mandarin to girls in years 3 and 4.
Manchester High's curriculum includes traditional disciplines such as Latin. Pupils are also tutored in areas such as mathematics, sciences and art and design technology. MHSG is a multi-cultural school embracing many faiths. Assemblies are organised by sixth form students and include Christian, Hindu and Sikh, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim and Secular themes.
A purpose-built music house has 12 practice rooms and several classrooms, including one with space for orchestra rehearsals. A floodlit, all-weather hockey pitch, tennis courts, netball courts, a rock-climbing wall, and a swimming pool provide facilities for year-around sports.
Former staff
Edith Aitken, the first head of Pretoria High School for Girls
Sara Annie Burstall, the second headmistress of the school
Catherine Chisholm (1879–1952), Manchester High School doctor: 1908 – 1944, GP and paediatrician: the first woman to graduate from Manchester University Medical School in 1904, founder of the Manchester Babies Hospital [later the Duchess of York Hospital] in 1914, in 1950 became the first woman to be awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians.
Notable former pupils
Isobel Baillie, classical soprano
Anushka Asthana, journalist, television presenter and author
Emma Barnett, broadcaster and journalist
Jenny Campbell, multi-millionaire entrepreneur
Ida Carroll, composer, double bass player, music educator, and university administrator
Julia Bodmer, née Pilkington, Manchester High School pupil: 1945 – 1953, discovered the details of the Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) with genetic differences causing transplant rejection, and was married to Sir Walter Bodmer, who was the first Professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford, Chancellor of the University of Salford from 1995 to 2005 and Principal from 1996 to 2005 of Hertford College, Oxford
Myrella Cohen, Manchester High School pupil: 1937 – 1940, was called to the bar in 1950, became Britain's third female judge in 1972, was appointed to the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey.
Eileen Derbyshire, Manchester High School pupil: 1943, actress, played Emily Bishop in the television soap, Coronation Street
Louise Ellman, Labour MP since 1997 for Liverpool Riverside
Judy Finnigan, journalist and television presenter
Alexandra Gajda, historian
Clare Griffiths (statistician), head of the UK COVID-19 dashboard at the UK Health Security Agency.
Kathleen Hale, Manchester High School pupil: 1913 – 1917, artist and children's author, best remembered for the Orlando the Marmalade Cat series, was awarded the OBE for services to literature in 1976.