Our Lady's Catholic High 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 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) ...

for girls situated in

Stamford Hill Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about 5.5 miles north-east of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a sub-district of Hackney, the major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the l ...

, in the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England.

History

On 11 January 1904, the Servite Sisters founded a small independent school called Our Lady's School, with Sr M. Phillipa as its first headmistress. The school later moved to 14-16 Amhurst Park during the 1930s. There were 27 pupils aged 10 and over; all the staff were

Servite The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary ( la, Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothe ...

sisters; parents paid fees of £2/10/00 per term. The rooms in the house built in the 1800s were used as classrooms. There was a grass tennis court in the garden. The school has since expanded and the premises consist of the original buildings and newer additions (the most recent in 2003). The first lay headteacher, only the sixth in the school's history, was appointed in 1994. Our Lady's is no longer directly run by the Servites but remains under their trusteeship."Then & Now"
ourladys.hackney.sch.uk; accessed 28 December 2015.

Current structure

Our Lady's is a Voluntary Aided Roman Catholic School, which has been awarded Specialist Status as a

Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that successf ...

. Permission to expand by one form of entry has meant that the school's total number is currently 780 students. The Sixth Form Centre admits boys and girls and has currently 180 students. Our Lady's has four tutor groups: Hugh (H), which uses the house colour

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

, Juliana (J), which uses the house colour

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, Manettus (M), which uses the house colour

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

and Philomena (P), which uses the house colour

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

. In September 2010, the school became split site, since as part of the Building Schools for Future (BSF), the school is to be completely remodelled and rebuilt. The lower school (years 7 and 8) still remains at the old site in Stamford Hill. The upper school (years 9, 10, 11 plus sixth form) have moved to

Upper Clapton Clapton is a district of East London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. Clapton is divided into Upper Clapton, in the north, and Lower Clapton to the south. Clapton railway station lies north-east of Charing Cross. Geography and origi ...

, occupying a building put up for the lower school of

The Skinners' Company's School for Girls Skinners' Academy (formerly The Skinners' Company's School for Girls) is a school in the Woodberry Down (North Hackney) community for boys and girls aged 11–19. The academy opened in 2010 and is supported by the Worshipful Company of Skinners, ...

. The rebuilding of the school was finished in Autumn 2012. The School came together, back on one site, in September 2012. Mr Andy English took on the headship in March of 2022. Ofsted visited in March 2022 and reaffirmed the school's rating as 'Good'.

Departments of the school

There are 19 departments in the school. *Art *Business studies *Classical studies *Citizenship *Technology *English *Geography *Government and politics *Drama *Health and Social Care *History *ICT *Mathematics *Modern languages *Music *Psychology *Physical education *Religious studies *Science *Sociology *Economics

Notable former pupils

Freema Agyeman Freema Agyeman (; born Frema Agyeman; 20 March 1979) is a British actress. She rose to fame with her role as the Doctor's companion Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series '' Doctor Who'' (2007–2010), and received further recognition f ...

, actress, ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' as Martha Jones, attended the school circa 1990s *

Moira Stuart Moira Clare Ruby Stuart, (born 2 September 1949) is a British presenter and broadcaster. She was the first female newsreader of Caribbean heritage to appear on British national television, having worked on BBC News since 1981.Barbara Windsor Dame Barbara Windsor (born Barbara Ann Deeks; 6 August 193710 December 2020) was an English actress, known for her roles in the ''Carry On'' films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera, ''EastEnders''.BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

soap opera ''

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 ...

'', attended the school circa 1940s-1950s (left without graduating)

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in the London Borough of Hackney Girls' schools in London Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster Servite schools Voluntary aided schools in London Educational institutions established in 1904 Stamford Hill 1904 establishments in England