Loreto College 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 ...

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

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 ...

for girls located near the centre of

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England. It achieved Specialist Status in the Humanities in 2005 and became an academy in August 2012. The college enrolls around 1000 pupils, including 190 in the sixth form, with many pupils coming from a wide geographical area. It expanded to 5 forms of entry (from 4 in previous years) in September 2007. In 2006, 2009 and 2013, the college was rated "Outstanding" by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

, achieving grade one in all categories.

History

Founded by the

Loreto Sisters The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose members are commonly known as the Loreto Sisters, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to education founded in Saint-Omer by an Englishwoman, Mary Ward, in 1609. The cong ...

, the college had just seven pupils when it first opened in 1922. The Sisters had bought a building called "The Elms" to use as a convent before opening the school.

Grammar school

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the gymnasium become an

air-raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

and makeshift dormitories by night. American soldiers billeted in

used the school's hockey pitch to train.

Comprehensive

It turned comprehensive in 1978.History of Loreto College
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New Headteacher

Mrs Marie Lynch, after 22 years as headteacher, retired in March and new headteacher Mrs Lucy Thompson took over after the Easter Holidays in April.

Notable former pupils

* Siobhán Fahey (b. 1958) - singer with 1980s pop group

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Thei ...

(second-highest selling British female group, with over 40 million records, after the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...

), then Shakespears Sister in the 1990s *

Claire Ward Claire Margaret Ward (born 9 May 1972) is a Labour Party politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for Watford from 1997 to 2010, and was a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice from 2009 to 2010. Early li ...

(b. 1972) - Labour MP from 1997 to 2010 for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

* Sally Bretton (''nee'' Davis) (b. 1980) - actress * Shona McGarty (b. 1991) - actress who plays

Whitney Dean Whitney Dean (also Carter) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Shona McGarty. The character is the ward of long-running character Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) and was introduced on 1 April 2008 when Pal ...

in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

References

External links

School website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1922 Secondary schools in Hertfordshire Girls' schools in Hertfordshire Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster 1922 establishments in England Schools in St Albans

Academies in Hertfordshire