Streatham & Clapham High School

Streatham & Clapham High School suits a curious, academically able girl who wants to be known by name rather than lost in a crowd, and who quite likes the idea of trying things she is not yet good at. It is an independent day school for girls and part of the Girls' Day School Trust, with the senior school taking girls from 11 to 18 at 42 Abbotswood Road in south London, SW16 1AW. Nursery and prep sit separately in Streatham Hill, so plenty of girls arrive at 11+ from other primaries. The senior site runs to roughly four leafy acres, greener than most London schools manage, with playing fields, courts and a sports hall on the grounds.

The school opened in 1887 as Brixton Hill High School, one of the Trust's early foundations, and took its present name after merging with Clapham High School in 1938. The senior school moved to Abbotswood Road in 1993, into buildings that had been a boys' grammar school. There are five houses named after notable women; the novelist Angela Carter was a pupil here. Fortnightly Kinza sessions give girls a carousel of courses with no exam at the end, from pottery and bouldering to British Sign Language, the name taken from the Arabic for 'hidden treasure'. Form tutors usually stay with the same group from Year 7 through to Year 11.

The Good Schools Guide reviewer found the place busy and warm, noting 'kindness and enterprise' everywhere, and parents talk about pastoral care before anything else. It suits a girl who will sing in a choir, turn out for a team, and still put her hand up in the subject she finds hardest.