Notre Dame High School (NDHS) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

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

with academy status in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England. The school opened in 1864 the

Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia The Diocese of East Anglia () is a Latin Church, Latin diocese of the Catholic Church covering the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Peterborough in East of England, eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic As ...

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for Norfolk, England. Below it there are seven second-tier district councils: Breckland District, Breckland, Broadland, Borough of Great Yarmouth, Great Yarmo ...

, and the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

all support the school.

History

In 1889 a new wing was built to accommodate around 70 boarding pupils, and in 1915 what is now Franchise House with adjoining land on Surrey Street, was purchased. On this land the present main building was erected and opened in 1926 when there were 238 girl pupils. A year later, the school became recognised by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. In 1939 additional buildings became available for the dining hall and domestic science and in 1973 the Lady Julian Building, which had formerly housed its prep department, became part of Notre Dame High School. The prep department later became separate and is now an independent school. A major development in the school took place on 1 September 1979 when ownership of the school was transferred from the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) is a Catholic Church, Catholic Religious institute (Catholic), institute of religious sisters, founded to teaching order, provide education to the poor. The i ...

to the Diocese of East Anglia, and the school's status changed from girls'

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 ...

to a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

mixed

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

. Since 1980, the St Peter's Building (Science & Technology completed in 1994), the St Paul's Building (Sports Hall, 1985), the St Julie's Building (Reception and Administration, 1996) and St Catherine's Building (Modern Languages, 1996) have been acquired and modernised. In 1995 the Lady Julian Building (Library, Careers, History and Sixth Form Centre) was refurbished. In 2006, the St Paul's building was extensively refurbished, providing a Drama Studio and four new classrooms for Religious Education. This allowed the old Chapel, up until then used as a Drama studio, to be refurbished and turned back into a chapel. The new St Mary's building was completed by the end of October 2006, and houses a Sixth Form centre, a cafeteria, a library and extensive language classrooms. The St Catherine's building will then be used for staff training. The old St Mary's building, formerly the cafeteria, was demolished. The school has purchased a plot of land, once belonging to

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva a ...

, for use as a playground for pupils. Mr John Pinnington became the first lay

headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

of the school in January 1997, as successor of Sister Mary Cluderay. The school was awarded specialist school status for Languages in September 2000. The school also has a new teacher training building. Mr.

Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British former politician, broadcaster and economist. He served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011 to ...

, the former Education Secretary, visited the school on 19 December 2008. Following a long internal and public consultation, it was decided that the school would acquire

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

status on 1 March 2012.

Old Notre Damians

* Jack Bannon - English actor *

Margaret Beckett Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett, (; born 15 January 1943), is a British politician. She was a member of Parliament (MP) for more than 45 years, first from 1974 to 1979 and then from 1983 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was ...

– MP for Derby South and former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs * Tanya Burr – YouTube vlogger * Jim Chapman – YouTube vlogger * John Emms – chess Grandmaster *

Myleene Klass Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is an English musician, singer, television presenter and model. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass ...

– Classical pianist, broadcaster and former member of the manufactured pop group

Hear'Say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV (TV network), ITV reality TV show ''Popstars (British TV series), Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international ''Popstars'' Media franchise, franch ...

* Bailey May – Filipino-British singer and actor;

Now United Now United (sometimes abbreviated as NU) is a global pop group formed in West Hollywood, California, West Hollywood, Los Angeles County, USA, in 2017 by ''Idols (TV series), Idols'' creator Simon Fuller. Originally debuting with 14 members from ...

member *

Munya Chawawa Munyaradzi Oliver Chawawa (born 29 December 1992) is a British–Zimbabwean actor, comedian and comedy rapper. Early life Munyaradzi Oliver Chawawa was born on 29 December 1992 in Derby, England, and spent his childhood in Zimbabwe. In his y ...

- British-Zimbabwean comedian and Internet personality *Anna Perrott - BBC Radio Norfolk presenter *Ronan Sully - BBC Radio Leeds presenter

References

External links

* {{authority control Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of East Anglia Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur schools Academies in Norfolk Training schools in England Educational institutions established in 1864 1864 establishments in England Schools in Norwich Secondary schools in Norfolk