NLCS (UK) Alumnae

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Exceptional Leaders

North London Collegiate School (UK) has always been a leader among schools, and in turn has produced generations of leaders.

According to the Good School Guide, “no other school in the history of girl’s education has had such significance.” Not only was the school the first of the large, academic day schools for girls, but our founder, the eminent Victorian Frances Mary Buss, testified before parliament about women’s education and campaigned to open British universities to women. To this day, the school perennially leads the academic league tables. A Sutton Trust report names NLCS (UK) as the most successful school in the UK for getting pupils into highly selective universities.

Given its historic significance and academic excellence, it is no surprise that the school has produced leaders in all areas of life. Many of the earliest alumnae were pioneers in their field, some travelled the world to open schools, one became the first British woman to qualify as a dentist, others led the suffragist movement. This spirit continues today. More recent leavers include the structural engineer who designed the spire of The Shard, a producer of Hollywood blockbusters, the founder of a leading asset management firm, a Court of Appeal Justice, eminent doctors, famous actresses, leading academics, writers and film critics.

Our co-educational international schools have followed in this tradition in achieving outstanding academic results and success at top university entrance.

Tett is an author and journalist at the Financial Times, where she chairs the US editorial board. After studying at NLCS, Tett worked for a Pakistani non-profit, and based her Cambridge PhD in Social Anthropology on her field research in Tajikistan. However, she decided to instead pursue a career in journalism after feeling frustrated with the route that academic anthropology was taking. She joined the Financial Times in 1993 as a correspondent from the former Soviet Union and Europe and has since had multiple different roles, winning the Journalist of the Year, Business Journalist of the Year and Finance Journalist of the year awards in the UK. In 2006, Tett predicted the financial crisis, two years before it happened in 2008. Tett has written four books and in 2009 won the Financial Book of the Year award for Fool’s Gold. She has received awards from the main anthropology bodies in the US and UK for her work championing the discipline.

Tett is an author and journalist at the Financial Times, where she chairs the US editorial board. After studying at NLCS, Tett worked for a Pakistani non-profit, and based her Cambridge PhD in Social Anthropology on her field research in Tajikistan. However, she decided to instead pursue a career in journalism after feeling frustrated with the route that academic anthropology was taking. She joined the Financial Times in 1993 as a correspondent from the former Soviet Union and Europe and has since had multiple different roles, winning the Journalist of the Year, Business Journalist of the Year and Finance Journalist of the year awards in the UK. In 2006, Tett predicted the financial crisis, two years before it happened in 2008. Tett has written four books and in 2009 won the Financial Book of the Year award for Fool’s Gold. She has received awards from the main anthropology bodies in the US and UK for her work championing the discipline.

While in her final year at North London Collegiate School, Fingerhut was one of the students who performed for Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester at the opening of the Music School in 1973. Since then, she has had a distinguished career which has taken her all over the world. Fingerhut has appeared as a concerto soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and many more, performing in major venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican. She is often heard on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and many radio stations worldwide. She has a long-standing fascination with exploring lesser-known repertoire, and her extensive discography includes making the first recording of a rediscovered student piece by Rachmaninoff. In 2019, Fingerhut embarked on a recital tour around the UK called Far From the Home I Love which raised £88,000 for refugees – £1,000 for each of the keys of the piano. As part of this, Fingerhut commissioned the piano piece Memories from my Land by Moutaz Arian – a Kurdish refugee composer.

Roma Agrawal is a structural engineer and author who was heavily involved in the design of The Shard – the tallest building in Western Europe – having designed both the foundations and the famous Spire. Agrawal’s impressive career has been featured extensively in the media, including on BBC World News, BBC Daily Politics, TEDx, The Telegraph, and in many documentaries and blogs. She was the only woman featured on Channel 4’s The Tallest Tower documentary and was part of M&S’s Leading Ladies campaign in 2014. Agrawal has published two books so far, with a third due to be published in Spring 2023.

After leaving NLCS in 1982, Franklin went on to study Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham. She then joined the Royal Navy in 1986 as Weapon Engineer Officer. Franklin was the first woman appointed to serve at sea with the Royal Navy. She was subsequently a system engineer in ship design and combat system trials officer at Captain Weapon Trials and Assessment. While at NLCS, Franklin took on the role of Chair of the Science Club.

NLCS (UK) Alumnae

Gillian Tett

Lizzy Barber

Margaret Fingerhut

Roma Agrawal

Chella Franklin

AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION

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