The Holy Cross School is a top performing

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 let ...

secondary school with academy status for girls located in

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

, in the

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four royal boroughs in Eng ...

, England. The school specialises in science, and converted to academy status on 1 August 2012. Its most recent Progress 8 score of +1.1 places it in the top 1% of schools in England for progress from KS2 - 4. Most Year 11 girls apply to the flourishing

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 ...

. Working in partnership with its local Catholic boys school

Richard Challoner Richard Challoner (29 September 1691 – 12 January 1781) was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. The titular Bishop of Doberus, he is perhaps most famous for h ...

, it operates a coeducational sixth form which is also open to applicants from other schools. The school has just under 1000 pupils attending in total.

History

Holy Cross School was founded in 1931 by the

Sisters of the Holy Cross Menzingen The Sisters of Holy Cross Menzingen is a Catholic congregation of nuns. It was founded in 1844 in Menzingen, Canton Zug, Switzerland by Mother Bernarda Heimgartner, now listed as "Venerable" by the Catholic Church. The order is now international ...

. The Sisters arrived in England from Switzerland during the early 1900s and set up a convent at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

(now in the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

). They bought a house along Sandal Road called "Southesk" - over the building's front door was a Latin inscription which read "This is the house that John built" - from Mr John Austine to use as a new school. On 23 September 1931, Sr Christina and two other Sisters opened the Holy Cross Convent School with 5 pupils. The junior department was split into a separate school and moved to new premises in 1971; it is now a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

school

Holy Cross Preparatory School Holy Cross Preparatory School is an independent preparatory school for girls aged 4–11 in Coombe, London, England. History Holy Cross Preparatory School was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Cross Menzingen, an international teaching order ...

. Over the years, the school has continuously grown and buildings added, renovated and refurbished. The original house front remains and is the current school's main entrance. The school is no longer directly under the Sisters and now mainly staffed by lay teachers but is under the order's trusteeship.

Academic standards

Following their October 2007 inspection, Ofsted rated the school as ''Outstanding'', the highest possible rating. The

was assessed as ''Good'', which is point two on the four point scale. The report said "This is an outstanding school. ... The high level of achievement and outstanding quality of care of students are a direct result of excellent leadership and management."

School organisation

The average school day consists of 5 lessons, each lasting 1 hour. Each year group is split into five tutor groups. Each tutor group has a form

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

who will stay with their class throughout that year, this changes every year but the pupils within each form stay the same. All pupils wear a school uniform except the

, who have a smart work dress code. However, from Year 10 certain uniform exceptions are allowed.

House system

All students are allocated a house when they begin at Holy Cross. This provides opportunity for healthy competition through gaining house points for their particular house, house events and assemblies, building relationships across year groups and creating projects and raising money for charity as a house group. A student's house identity is displayed by a coloured ribbon sewn above The Holy Cross crest on the school blazer. Each house, with its own individual colour, is named after a Christian value put forward by the stude

Media coverage

The school has received attention for its educational programs, including a project to share music and drama concepts with Ikeda Junior High School in

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...

, and a link-up with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

scientists in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1999 the school was the subject of press coverage when

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

leaflets were distributed to pupils despite containing information about

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

, contrary to Catholic teaching."Sex advice to girls aged 11 sparks row at Catholic school"
''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', 2 December 1999 (pay site).

References

External links

*
Profile
on the ''

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and independent. Overview The guide is compiled by a team of editors which, according to the official website, "''comprises some 50 editors, writers, researchers and contri ...

''
Sisters of the Holy Cross Charitable Trust
- Charity Commission
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Menzingen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holy Cross School Secondary schools in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Girls' schools in London Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark Academies in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames New Malden Educational institutions established in 1931 1931 establishments in England