Notre Dame RC School 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 let ...

school for girls in Derriford, Plymouth, England. Its

sister school A sister school is usually a pair of schools, usually single-sex school, one with female students and the other with male students. This relationship is seen to benefit both schools. For instance, when Harvard University was a male-only school, Rad ...

St Boniface's Catholic College St Boniface's Catholic College is a secondary school for boys, under the direction and trustees of the Roman Catholic Community in the Plymouth area in the South West of England. Founded in 1856 as an independent boarding and day school for " ...

. The former headteacher, Fiona Hutchings, was headteacher from 2001 until July 2012. Kate White, the current headteacher, assumed Hutchings' position in September 2012. It has 879 students attending. In the sixth form, boys may attend. It is situated north of the A386, west of the now-closed

Plymouth City Airport Plymouth City Airport is a 'mothballed' airport located within the City of Plymouth north northeast of the city centre in Devon, England at Derriford (formerly Roborough). The airport opened on this site in 1925 and was officially opened by ...

History

It was originally next to

Plymouth Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Boniface in Plymouth, England, is the seat of the Bishop of Plymouth and mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth, which covers the counties of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset. The Diocese ...

but the site was bombed in 1941. In 1965 a new school building was completed on the grounds of the convent at Looseleigh Lane in Derriford. Sister Mary Xavier was the headmistress.

Direct grant grammar school

The school was a Catholic girls' direct grant grammar school from 1946, the Notre Dame High School. In 1976 it was one of 51 direct grant schools, out of 170, that became comprehensive.

Comprehensive

In 1981 it amalgamated with the Bishop Vaughan Secondary School to become Notre Dame Comprehensive School for Girls. St Boniface's became a comprehensive at the same time. In 1993 boys were accepted in the sixth form and the school became Notre Dame Roman Catholic School. Notre Dame had much building work done in the academic year 2007/8: among this was a large professional sports hall, a library and a five-classroom block for history and geography named Stang Block after

Dorothy Stang Dorothy Mae Stang (June 7, 1931 – February 12, 2005) was an American-born Brazilian member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was murdered in Anapu, a city in the state of Pará, in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. Stang h ...

Academy

The school converted to academy status on 1 April 2014.

Academic performance

In 2019, at GCSE, the school's Progress 8 score was average. The proportion of pupils entering the

English Baccalaureate The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...

was below average, as was the percentage of pupils attaining Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs and the school's Attainment 8 score. The average result at the school for

A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

in 2019 was C−, just below the Plymouth and England figures.

Notable former pupils

Notre Dame High School

Christine Crawley, Baroness Crawley Christine Mary Crawley, Baroness Crawley FRSA (born 9 January 1950) is a British politician for the Labour Party. Early life Crawley was educated at the Notre Dame High School School in Plymouth before going to Digby Stuart College (University ...

, Labour MEP from 1984 to 1999 for Birmingham East * Moira Whyte, Professor of Respiratory Medicine since 1996 at the

Sheffield Medical School The University of Sheffield Medical School is a medical school based at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The school traces its history back to at least 1828. It operated independently until its merger with Firth ...

Prof Moira Whyte BSc PhD FRCP (London) FMedSci - Staff Profiles - Department of infection and Immunity - The University of Sheffield
/ref> * Lagi Tuima, rugby union player for

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, Harlequins and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

since 2017.

References

External links

* {{authority control Girls' schools in Devon Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Plymouth Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur schools Secondary schools in Plymouth, Devon Academies in Plymouth, Devon