Our Lady's Catholic High School 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 ...

, situated in Fulwood, a suburb in the city of Preston in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It is located close to the affiliated St Anthony's Church and St Anthony's RC Primary School. The current headteacher is Richard Charnock.

History

Our Lady's was founded as a result of a merger between two schools: St Edmund Campion School and St Cuthbert Mayne High School (known as Blessed Cuthbert Mayne High before

Cuthbert Mayne Cuthbert Mayne (c. 1543–29 November 1577) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic priest executed under the laws of Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth I. He was the first of the seminary priests trained on the Continental ...

was

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

). While in the school's early years, both campuses were used, the school is now based at the original St Cuthbert Mayne site in Fulwood. In 2004 Our Lady's became a Mathematics and Computing School, and in 2014 it became the lead-school of the Catholic Teaching Alliance, an association of over 50 Catholic schools. In January 2018, Our Lady's underwent a Section 48 Inspection by the

Diocese of Lancaster The Diocese of Lancaster () is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese centred on Lancaster Cathedral in the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. History The diocese was erected in 1924, taking areas and parishes from the Archdiocese of Liv ...

Education Service. The school received scores of 1 for both Religious Education and Catholic Life, indicating an outstanding result. In September 2022, Our Lady's was rated Good in all areas by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

. In 2023, the school was one of those identified as having buildings that could be structurally unsound because

reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) also referred to as autoclaved cellular concrete (ACC) or simply autoclaved concrete is a lightweight, Prefabrication, prefabricated concrete building material. Developed in the mid-1920s, it is an alternat ...

had been used in their construction.

Notable former pupils

;Our Lady's Catholic High School *

Ian Bibby Ian Michael Bibby (born 20 December 1986) is a British former professional road and cyclo-cross cyclist from England, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2019. He was the winner of the 2010 British National Cyclo-cross Championships, and t ...

, cyclist. *

Hugh Carthy Hugh John Carthy (born 9 July 1994) is a British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Carthy's nickname "Huge" was coined when his name was mispronounced by an announcer in the Giro d'Italia, but stuck due to ...

, cyclist. * Dominic Lyne, author *

Scott Fitzgerald (boxer) Scott William Fitzgerald (born 13 December 1991) is an English professional boxer who is a former British super-welterweight champion. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the welterweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Biography Rep ...

, professional boxer. ;St Cuthbert Mayne *

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is an English filmmaker and animator who created '' Wallace & Gromit'', '' Creature Comforts'', '' Chicken Run'', '' Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy ...

, filmmaker and animator. Opened the Learning Resource Centre in 2007.

References

External links

* Schools in Preston Secondary schools in Lancashire Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Lancaster Voluntary aided schools in England {{Lancashire-school-stub