Bellerive FCJ Catholic College is an all-girls

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located on Windermere Terrace in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. It is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

school, and has academy status.

Admissions

It is a Catholic girls' school. It is situated at the junction of the two sections of the A5089, on the

Trans Pennine Trail The Trans Pennine Trail is a long-distance path running from coast to coast across Northern England entirely on surfaced paths and using only gentle gradients (it runs largely along disused railway lines and canal towpaths). It forms part of ...

. It is a single-sex school, with girls attending between the ages of 11–18 and boys in the Sixth Form.

History

The school opened in 1844 as a boarding school on Great George's Square, offering instruction in Geography, use of globes, Botany, History, Writing, Arithmetic, French and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

. After 52 years the school was moved to Princes Park in 1887. The values of the FCJ charism are central to all that takes place in the school. These values include, Companionship, Dignity, Excellence, Justice, Gentleness and Hope.

Direct grant grammar school

Like several single-sex catholic secondary schools in Liverpool it was a

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

, the Bellerive Girls' School, commonly known as Bellerive Convent Grammar School, from 1946. It is now a single institution spanning both sides of Ullet Road, connected by a private subway and it is called Bellerive FCJ Catholic College. Another catholic girls' direct grant grammar school in Liverpool was the Notre Dame Collegiate School, now the Notre Dame Catholic College. The school had boarding facilities until 1961. In the 1970s the headteacher was Sister Mary Gabriel.

Comprehensive

It became a comprehensive in 1983, becoming the upper school of St Mary's RC High School. The lower school was at the former St Margaret Clitherow school. In 1997 it became known as Bellerive Convent FCJ, later Bellerive Catholic High School FCJ. Today it is known as Bellerive FCJ Catholic College. It gained Science College status in 2003, and Maths and Computing College status in 2007. Sister Brigid Halligan received the OBE in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and a ...

. Sr Brigid retired as Headteacher in August 2017 and has been replaced by Mrs N Howlett MSc NPQH. In 2016, Bellerive was confirmed as a good school following an Ofsted inspection. An Archdiocese of Liverpool Section 48 inspection in June 2017 concluded that Bellerive was an outstanding provider of Catholic education A number of new buildings were opened in 2016-17, including the Sefton Park building( housing the sixth form, Music, Performing Arts and Humanities. The main performance space has been named the Loyola Hall in honour of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus ( Jesuits). The FCJ sisters share a common Ignatian spirituality with other religious communities. The O'Neill building ( housing Design Technology, Art and Science) was opened by Bishop Tom Williams in April 2018. The O'Neill building has been named in honour of Mother Xavier O'Neill fcJ who died in the 1840s working with the poor of Liverpool in St.Patrick's parish. Construction of a new sports hall commenced in 2017, on the site of the schools tennis courts. Work on this building is scheduled to be completed by August 2018. In September 2017, Bellerive became the base for the Resonate Music Service's south Liverpool hub.

Academy

The school became an academy in August 2012, and is no longer under local authority control. However the school continues to coordinate admissions with the Liverpool local authority.

Academic performance

In 2010 it received above average GCSE results, much improved from the year before. At A level, in 2011, the school results were broadly inline with national averages post 16 and are improving. In 2017, Bellerive's Progress 8 score was 0.29 ( provisional), putting it in the top 10 of Liverpool schools on this measure of academic progress in 8 GCSE subjects.

Notable former pupils

Bellerive FCJ College

Florence Milnes Florence Milnes MBE, (1893 – 1966), was a librarian who established the first reference library at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and ran it for more than thirty years. The library was her idea, and she persuaded the newly founded co ...

(1893–1966) - established and ran first BBC library *

Nikita Parris Nikita Josephine Parris (born 10 March 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Manchester United and the England national team. She previously played for Division 1 Féminine club Olymp ...

(b. 1994) - footballer

Bellerive Girls' School

Rosie Cooper Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (born 5 September 1950) is a British health official and former Labour Party politician who has served as the chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust since November 2022. Previously, she served as the Member of Parli ...

(b. 1950) - Labour MP since 2005 for

West Lancashire West Lancashire is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Ormskirk, and the largest town in the borough is Skelmersdale. At the 2011 Census, the population of the borough was 110,685 ...

(attended 1962–1969) * Rosemary Thomas OBE - Ambassador to Belarus (in Minsk) since 2009 (attended 1975–1982)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellerive Fcj Catholic College Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary schools in Liverpool Girls' schools in Merseyside Educational institutions established in 1844 1844 establishments in England Academies in Liverpool