History
The school serves a population of approximately 590 girls between eleven and eighteen years old, about 150 of whom are in the sixth form. The school is heavily oversubscribed, with 16 girls applying per place. The majority of girls stay on into the sixth form. A small number of students from other schools are given places in the sixth form.
The headmistress is Mrs. Whyte, and the deputy head is Mr. Sanderson following the retirement of headmistress Mrs. Joan Olivier and deputy head Mr. Busby in 2006. Lady Margaret School has its origins in Whitelands College School, founded in 1842, soon after the College itself. In 1917, Whitelands School was threatened with closure, and it was only by the strenuous efforts of Miss Enid Moberly Bell, the Second Mistress, and the Staff of the School, that a substantial number of the pupils were "rescued" and became Lady Margaret School in September 1917.
The School began life in the oldest of the three houses facing Parson's Green which now form the present school: Belfield House. The School was named after the Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, founder of St John's and Christ's Colleges, Cambridge, and a benefactress of education. In 1937, the second house, Elm House, was purchased through the generosity of Miss Anne Lupton.
With the passing of the Butler Act in 1944 the Kindergarten and Junior School were phased out and Lady Margaret became a two-form entry grammar school. In April 1951 its relationship to the Church of England was regularised when it became a Voluntary Aided School.
Today Lady Margaret School is a successful, over subscribed, Church of England Comprehensive in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. In 2003 the school achieved specialist status in Mathematics and Computing. In 2007 the school was described by Ofsted as 'good with outstanding features' and by the Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools as 'outstanding'.
In 2010, lady margaret school opened a new building named the 'Olivier Centre', after the former headteacher. Also, the auditorium in there was named after Mr. Busby, the former deputy head.
It was reviewed again in 2011, with Ofsted desciribing them as 'outstanding'. Having been designated a 'high performing specialist school' following the successful Ofsted inspection, the school has now been awarded a second specialism in Music.
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