St Helen and St Katharine | Independent Girls' School Oxfordshire
Source: http://www.shsk.org.uk
Archived: 2026-04-23 16:47
St Helen and St Katharine | Independent Girls' School Oxfordshire
Independent Girls' School of the Year 2025
We are thrilled to have been named Independent Girls’ School of the Year at the national Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2025. This award reflects the dedication and achievements of everyone in our community, always centred on the needs, ambitions and voices of girls and young women. Visit us to find out what makes St Helen and St Katharine the best independent school for girls in the UK.
Visit us
Skip to content
Sixth Form
Welcome to Sixth Form
Academic life in Sixth Form
Beyond
Our new sixth form centre
Sixth Form bursaries
Sixth Form scholarships
Futures – HE and careers
What’s on
News
SHSK Thinks
SHSK Sounds podcast
Calendar
Holiday camps
Events
Sports fixtures
Sports results
Publications
Lines e-newsletter
Contact
Visit us
About
Welcome from the Head
Aims and ethos
Why all girls
About St Helen’s
What others say about us
Our day
Our campus
Our history
Our staff
Governors
Vacancies
Term dates
Policies and reports
Venue hire
Admissions
Visit us
How to apply
Register online
Schedule of fees
Bursaries
Scholarships
Bus routes
Uniform
Academic
Our academic ethos
Our curriculum
Junior Department curriculum
Year 9 and GCSE curriculum choices
A level curriculum
Academic achievement
The Helena Academic Programme
Results and leavers’ destinations
Well-being
Pastoral ethos
Form tutoring
Fun at St Helen’s
Personal development
Health Centre and counsellors
Peer mentoring
Chapel
Food
Sustainability
Beyond
Beyond ethos
Clubs and societies
Sport
Music
Drama
Art and design
Academic enrichment
Trips and expeditions
Duke of Edinburgh (DofE)
Student leadership
School Council
Our House structure
Library
Futures
Futures – Higher education and careers
Careers
The Kate Scheme
Alumnae journeys
Results and leavers’ destinations
Our community
The SHSK Society
Alumnae journeys
Alumnae events
The Kate Scheme
School Archive
Parents
Partners
Charity
125 Bursary Appeal
Per Severa Society
About
Welcome from the Head
Aims and ethos
Why all girls
About St Helen’s
What others say about us
Our day
Our campus
Our history
Our staff
Governors
Vacancies
Term dates
Policies and reports
Venue hire
Admissions
Visit us
How to apply
Register online
Schedule of fees
Bursaries
Scholarships
Bus routes
Uniform
Academic
Our academic ethos
Our curriculum
Junior Department curriculum
Year 9 and GCSE curriculum choices
A level curriculum
Academic achievement
The Helena Academic Programme
Results and leavers’ destinations
Well-being
Pastoral ethos
Form tutoring
Fun at St Helen’s
Personal development
Health Centre and counsellors
Peer mentoring
Chapel
Food
Sustainability
Beyond
Beyond ethos
Clubs and societies
Sport
Music
Drama
Art and design
Academic enrichment
Trips and expeditions
Duke of Edinburgh (DofE)
Student leadership
School Council
Our House structure
Library
Futures
Futures – Higher education and careers
Careers
The Kate Scheme
Alumnae journeys
Results and leavers’ destinations
Our community
The SHSK Society
Alumnae journeys
Alumnae events
The Kate Scheme
School Archive
Parents
Partners
Charity
125 Bursary Appeal
Per Severa Society
Sixth Form
Welcome to Sixth Form
Academic life in Sixth Form
Beyond
Our new sixth form centre
Sixth Form bursaries
Sixth Form scholarships
Futures – HE and careers
What’s on
News
SHSK Thinks
SHSK Sounds podcast
Calendar
Holiday camps
Events
Sports fixtures
Sports results
Publications
Lines e-newsletter
Contact
Visit us
On
her
terms
We have one focus: girls. Their needs, their ambitions, their voices. No distractions, for us or them. A school tailored for success on their terms.
92.1
%
of GCSE results in 2025 were grades 9-7
Top school in Abingdon - The Times Parent Power 2026
St Helen and St Katharine is an independent day school for girls aged 9-18, located in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
100
+
co-curricular clubs and societies
87.5
%
of A level results in 2025 were grades A*, A or B
St Helen and St Katharine is a school where
bright
girls with enquiring minds thrive, as they grow into
intellectually curious
and erudite young women. Academic life is full,
vibrant
and
spirited
: the best within and beyond the classroom combine to stimulate intellectual endeavour and inquisitive independence which embody the ethos of our school.
A sense of
purposeful fun
We take having fun very seriously and ensure students have the opportunity to take a break. Dressing up days or simply a hot chocolate around the campfire give students the chance to go off-curriculum and take part in activities which are different from their academic studies. This is just as much a part of a fully-rounded education as what happens in the classroom.
Fun at St Helen's
"We have an important role to play in offering an environment that empowers girls and young women to achieve success on their own terms."
Sarah Rollings, Head
"It has been wonderful to see my daughter’s confidence return since starting at SHSK and enjoying a range of activities. The staff expertly identify students’ individual needs and strengths and support them in becoming multi-faceted, independent young women."
Current parent
"Being here I've finally found who I want to be as a person and what I want to do when I grow up. St Helen's has helped me believe in myself and it's taught me to try and try again until you succeed even if things get hard."
Current student
On her terms
What's on
Sport
13 April 2026
Sports interviews with ‘Top HelKats’
Sport
Apr 2026
Sports Psychologist helps students build resilience
SHSK News
Apr 2026
Badminton continues to prosper at SHSK
SHSK News
Mar 2026
SHSK Chapel Choir reaches Barnardo’s National Choir…
SHSK Sounds
12 February 2026
Students discuss the under-16 social media ban
SHSK Thinks
19 March 2026
Academic enrichment
Belonging at SHSK – by Tate, Upper Sixth
SHSKSchool
Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
Follow us on instagram
Our school calendar
Pride
in our alumnae
We are enormously proud of our alumnae, whose remarkable achievements and sphere of influence, nationally and globally, from science, medicine and engineering to business, law and the arts. Explore some of their extraordinary career highlight stories below.
Explore all our alumnae journeys
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
At St Helen’s, I felt encouraged to pursue my interests outside of academia, including in theatre, media, film and TV, which helped me to develop the skills I needed to start and run my own projects. I’ve since made use of those skills, first in my career as a freelance TV producer, and subsequently as the founder of a strategic communications consultancy.
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
My time at St Helen’s instilled a lifelong love of classical music and opera; I will never forget Miss Grant taking me to my first ever opera in Year 8! The wonderful music department inspired me to pursue my dream career, and to remain resilient through tough times – you never know what opportunities are waiting around the corner.
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
My time at St Helen’s gave me a love of learning and this underpins the way that I see myself in the world, as an historian, as an academic and as a woman. I was taught my some inspirational teachers during my years at St Helen’s, which modelled for me a way of quiet, authoritative leadership in the classroom. I also think that a St Helen’s education gives confidence without arrogance in one’s own intellectual abilities, allowing me to first of all aim for my own academic career, and then more recently to mentor and coach others towards that goal.
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response
The community values I was taught at St Helen’s orientated me towards a career in the public sector, which I find enormously fulfilling.
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response Department of Health and Social Care
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
I was encouraged and supported to develop my love of science but equally embrace all subjects and extra-curricular activities. Promoting the importance of academia alongside pastoral interests during my time at St Helen’s has enabled me to flourish as a doctor and business woman but also to achieve a healthy work-life balance in a career I am passionate about.
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot
I never felt any career path was closed off to me. St Helen’s was supportive and encouraging, even though I pursued a non-standard approach by not going to university. A strong academic background surrounded by bright and driven individuals has made me able to hold my own in a very male-dominated environment.
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot Tui Airways
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
At St Helen’s, I felt encouraged to pursue my interests outside of academia, including in theatre, media, film and TV, which helped me to develop the skills I needed to start and run my own projects. I’ve since made use of those skills, first in my career as a freelance TV producer, and subsequently as the founder of a strategic communications consultancy.
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
My time at St Helen’s instilled a lifelong love of classical music and opera; I will never forget Miss Grant taking me to my first ever opera in Year 8! The wonderful music department inspired me to pursue my dream career, and to remain resilient through tough times – you never know what opportunities are waiting around the corner.
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
My time at St Helen’s gave me a love of learning and this underpins the way that I see myself in the world, as an historian, as an academic and as a woman. I was taught my some inspirational teachers during my years at St Helen’s, which modelled for me a way of quiet, authoritative leadership in the classroom. I also think that a St Helen’s education gives confidence without arrogance in one’s own intellectual abilities, allowing me to first of all aim for my own academic career, and then more recently to mentor and coach others towards that goal.
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response
The community values I was taught at St Helen’s orientated me towards a career in the public sector, which I find enormously fulfilling.
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response Department of Health and Social Care
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
I was encouraged and supported to develop my love of science but equally embrace all subjects and extra-curricular activities. Promoting the importance of academia alongside pastoral interests during my time at St Helen’s has enabled me to flourish as a doctor and business woman but also to achieve a healthy work-life balance in a career I am passionate about.
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot
I never felt any career path was closed off to me. St Helen’s was supportive and encouraging, even though I pursued a non-standard approach by not going to university. A strong academic background surrounded by bright and driven individuals has made me able to hold my own in a very male-dominated environment.
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot Tui Airways
Together
#HelKats
Students are admitted to the Junior Department at either Year 5 or Year 6 and to the senior school at Year 7, Year 9 or Lower Sixth. We also admit students into other years where places are available. Click on the boxes below to see our admissions process for each entry point:
Junior Department
Lower School
Middle School
Sixth Form
Independent Girls' School of the Year 2025
We are thrilled to have been named Independent Girls’ School of the Year at the national Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2025. This award reflects the dedication and achievements of everyone in our community, always centred on the needs, ambitions and voices of girls and young women. Visit us to find out what makes St Helen and St Katharine the best independent school for girls in the UK.
Visit us
Skip to content
Sixth Form
Welcome to Sixth Form
Academic life in Sixth Form
Beyond
Our new sixth form centre
Sixth Form bursaries
Sixth Form scholarships
Futures – HE and careers
What’s on
News
SHSK Thinks
SHSK Sounds podcast
Calendar
Holiday camps
Events
Sports fixtures
Sports results
Publications
Lines e-newsletter
Contact
Visit us
About
Welcome from the Head
Aims and ethos
Why all girls
About St Helen’s
What others say about us
Our day
Our campus
Our history
Our staff
Governors
Vacancies
Term dates
Policies and reports
Venue hire
Admissions
Visit us
How to apply
Register online
Schedule of fees
Bursaries
Scholarships
Bus routes
Uniform
Academic
Our academic ethos
Our curriculum
Junior Department curriculum
Year 9 and GCSE curriculum choices
A level curriculum
Academic achievement
The Helena Academic Programme
Results and leavers’ destinations
Well-being
Pastoral ethos
Form tutoring
Fun at St Helen’s
Personal development
Health Centre and counsellors
Peer mentoring
Chapel
Food
Sustainability
Beyond
Beyond ethos
Clubs and societies
Sport
Music
Drama
Art and design
Academic enrichment
Trips and expeditions
Duke of Edinburgh (DofE)
Student leadership
School Council
Our House structure
Library
Futures
Futures – Higher education and careers
Careers
The Kate Scheme
Alumnae journeys
Results and leavers’ destinations
Our community
The SHSK Society
Alumnae journeys
Alumnae events
The Kate Scheme
School Archive
Parents
Partners
Charity
125 Bursary Appeal
Per Severa Society
About
Welcome from the Head
Aims and ethos
Why all girls
About St Helen’s
What others say about us
Our day
Our campus
Our history
Our staff
Governors
Vacancies
Term dates
Policies and reports
Venue hire
Admissions
Visit us
How to apply
Register online
Schedule of fees
Bursaries
Scholarships
Bus routes
Uniform
Academic
Our academic ethos
Our curriculum
Junior Department curriculum
Year 9 and GCSE curriculum choices
A level curriculum
Academic achievement
The Helena Academic Programme
Results and leavers’ destinations
Well-being
Pastoral ethos
Form tutoring
Fun at St Helen’s
Personal development
Health Centre and counsellors
Peer mentoring
Chapel
Food
Sustainability
Beyond
Beyond ethos
Clubs and societies
Sport
Music
Drama
Art and design
Academic enrichment
Trips and expeditions
Duke of Edinburgh (DofE)
Student leadership
School Council
Our House structure
Library
Futures
Futures – Higher education and careers
Careers
The Kate Scheme
Alumnae journeys
Results and leavers’ destinations
Our community
The SHSK Society
Alumnae journeys
Alumnae events
The Kate Scheme
School Archive
Parents
Partners
Charity
125 Bursary Appeal
Per Severa Society
Sixth Form
Welcome to Sixth Form
Academic life in Sixth Form
Beyond
Our new sixth form centre
Sixth Form bursaries
Sixth Form scholarships
Futures – HE and careers
What’s on
News
SHSK Thinks
SHSK Sounds podcast
Calendar
Holiday camps
Events
Sports fixtures
Sports results
Publications
Lines e-newsletter
Contact
Visit us
On
her
terms
We have one focus: girls. Their needs, their ambitions, their voices. No distractions, for us or them. A school tailored for success on their terms.
92.1
%
of GCSE results in 2025 were grades 9-7
Top school in Abingdon - The Times Parent Power 2026
St Helen and St Katharine is an independent day school for girls aged 9-18, located in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
100
+
co-curricular clubs and societies
87.5
%
of A level results in 2025 were grades A*, A or B
St Helen and St Katharine is a school where
bright
girls with enquiring minds thrive, as they grow into
intellectually curious
and erudite young women. Academic life is full,
vibrant
and
spirited
: the best within and beyond the classroom combine to stimulate intellectual endeavour and inquisitive independence which embody the ethos of our school.
A sense of
purposeful fun
We take having fun very seriously and ensure students have the opportunity to take a break. Dressing up days or simply a hot chocolate around the campfire give students the chance to go off-curriculum and take part in activities which are different from their academic studies. This is just as much a part of a fully-rounded education as what happens in the classroom.
Fun at St Helen's
"We have an important role to play in offering an environment that empowers girls and young women to achieve success on their own terms."
Sarah Rollings, Head
"It has been wonderful to see my daughter’s confidence return since starting at SHSK and enjoying a range of activities. The staff expertly identify students’ individual needs and strengths and support them in becoming multi-faceted, independent young women."
Current parent
"Being here I've finally found who I want to be as a person and what I want to do when I grow up. St Helen's has helped me believe in myself and it's taught me to try and try again until you succeed even if things get hard."
Current student
On her terms
What's on
Sport
13 April 2026
Sports interviews with ‘Top HelKats’
Sport
Apr 2026
Sports Psychologist helps students build resilience
SHSK News
Apr 2026
Badminton continues to prosper at SHSK
SHSK News
Mar 2026
SHSK Chapel Choir reaches Barnardo’s National Choir…
SHSK Sounds
12 February 2026
Students discuss the under-16 social media ban
SHSK Thinks
19 March 2026
Academic enrichment
Belonging at SHSK – by Tate, Upper Sixth
SHSKSchool
Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
Follow us on instagram
Our school calendar
Pride
in our alumnae
We are enormously proud of our alumnae, whose remarkable achievements and sphere of influence, nationally and globally, from science, medicine and engineering to business, law and the arts. Explore some of their extraordinary career highlight stories below.
Explore all our alumnae journeys
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
At St Helen’s, I felt encouraged to pursue my interests outside of academia, including in theatre, media, film and TV, which helped me to develop the skills I needed to start and run my own projects. I’ve since made use of those skills, first in my career as a freelance TV producer, and subsequently as the founder of a strategic communications consultancy.
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
My time at St Helen’s instilled a lifelong love of classical music and opera; I will never forget Miss Grant taking me to my first ever opera in Year 8! The wonderful music department inspired me to pursue my dream career, and to remain resilient through tough times – you never know what opportunities are waiting around the corner.
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
My time at St Helen’s gave me a love of learning and this underpins the way that I see myself in the world, as an historian, as an academic and as a woman. I was taught my some inspirational teachers during my years at St Helen’s, which modelled for me a way of quiet, authoritative leadership in the classroom. I also think that a St Helen’s education gives confidence without arrogance in one’s own intellectual abilities, allowing me to first of all aim for my own academic career, and then more recently to mentor and coach others towards that goal.
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response
The community values I was taught at St Helen’s orientated me towards a career in the public sector, which I find enormously fulfilling.
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response Department of Health and Social Care
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
I was encouraged and supported to develop my love of science but equally embrace all subjects and extra-curricular activities. Promoting the importance of academia alongside pastoral interests during my time at St Helen’s has enabled me to flourish as a doctor and business woman but also to achieve a healthy work-life balance in a career I am passionate about.
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot
I never felt any career path was closed off to me. St Helen’s was supportive and encouraging, even though I pursued a non-standard approach by not going to university. A strong academic background surrounded by bright and driven individuals has made me able to hold my own in a very male-dominated environment.
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot Tui Airways
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
At St Helen’s, I felt encouraged to pursue my interests outside of academia, including in theatre, media, film and TV, which helped me to develop the skills I needed to start and run my own projects. I’ve since made use of those skills, first in my career as a freelance TV producer, and subsequently as the founder of a strategic communications consultancy.
Zenia Duell
Founder of a strategic communications consultancy
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
My time at St Helen’s instilled a lifelong love of classical music and opera; I will never forget Miss Grant taking me to my first ever opera in Year 8! The wonderful music department inspired me to pursue my dream career, and to remain resilient through tough times – you never know what opportunities are waiting around the corner.
Katie Blackwell
Opera director and theatre maker
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
My time at St Helen’s gave me a love of learning and this underpins the way that I see myself in the world, as an historian, as an academic and as a woman. I was taught my some inspirational teachers during my years at St Helen’s, which modelled for me a way of quiet, authoritative leadership in the classroom. I also think that a St Helen’s education gives confidence without arrogance in one’s own intellectual abilities, allowing me to first of all aim for my own academic career, and then more recently to mentor and coach others towards that goal.
Dr Catherine Armstrong
Reader in Modern History and School Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Loughborough University
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response
The community values I was taught at St Helen’s orientated me towards a career in the public sector, which I find enormously fulfilling.
Phoebe Topping
Civil Servant - Head of Europe and Humanitarian Response Department of Health and Social Care
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
I was encouraged and supported to develop my love of science but equally embrace all subjects and extra-curricular activities. Promoting the importance of academia alongside pastoral interests during my time at St Helen’s has enabled me to flourish as a doctor and business woman but also to achieve a healthy work-life balance in a career I am passionate about.
Dr Katie Barber
GP, Clinical Director and Menopause Specialist
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot
I never felt any career path was closed off to me. St Helen’s was supportive and encouraging, even though I pursued a non-standard approach by not going to university. A strong academic background surrounded by bright and driven individuals has made me able to hold my own in a very male-dominated environment.
Katy Thompson MBE
Boeing 787 Pilot Tui Airways
Together
#HelKats
Students are admitted to the Junior Department at either Year 5 or Year 6 and to the senior school at Year 7, Year 9 or Lower Sixth. We also admit students into other years where places are available. Click on the boxes below to see our admissions process for each entry point:
Junior Department
Lower School
Middle School
Sixth Form