Opening Doors Bursary Dinner

It was a joy to open our doors on Saturday night, welcoming the South Hampstead community to help raise funds for our bursary programme.

Guests were greeted by jazz songs performed one of our talented former pupils, Iona Luke (Class of 2021), before enjoying a spectacular fundraising dinner in Waterlow Hall. Two of our bursary recipients – past and present – spoke with real passion about the opportunities that South Hampstead had given them.  Former bursary pupil and Head Girl Datshiane Navanayagam (Class of 2005), now an award-winning journalist, said:

“On a very personal note, I want to sincerely say thank you to all of you here for believing in bursaries. South Hampstead creates a world of opportunity for its pupils… and anything that can expand that opportunity to more girls from all backgrounds is definitely worthy of your support.”

An animated game of ‘true or false’, presided over by our energetic MC for the night, Neil Mullarkey, was followed by dinner served by Harrison’s, our school catering team.  There was some frantic bidding on our silent and live auctions, as guests across the room made generous pledges to join our 1876 Society to support more means-tested bursary places. We are very grateful to everyone who has helped to contribute to providing more life-changing opportunities for bright young women. For an overview of the evening, watch the speeches or view the brochure.

We have ambitious aims to double our bursary provision by South Hampstead’s 150th anniversary in 2026. If you would like to support our bursary campaign, please contact us or visit our website