St Joseph's Catholic College was a state

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 ...

Girls' school situated in Manningham, close to

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

city centre in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. The school merged with

St. Bede's Grammar School St. Bede's Grammar School, in Heaton, West Yorkshire, Heaton, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, was a Roman Catholic boys' Secondary school. The school merged with St Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford, St. Joseph's Catholic College in Septem ...

in September 2014 to form St Bede's and St Joseph's Catholic College.

School history

The college was founded by the Order of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion in 1908. It was a

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 ...

until 1977 when it became a Voluntary Aided 13–19 Girls' School under the trusteeship of the Diocese of Leeds, which owns the buildings and grounds, and appoints the majority of the

Governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. In 1995 due to Bradford Catholic re-organisation the College became an 11–19 Catholic Girls' School. The college's first

headmistress 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 ...

from 1908–1916 was Mother Gonzaga. From 1916–1956 the headmistress was Mother Sister Mary Immaculate (born ca. 1890 – died 1977), Yorkshire Women of the Century, educationalist, overseeing St Joseph’s to become one of the major Catholic girls' grammar schools in the country. The college's motto was "Per Crucem ad Lucem" – ''Through the Cross to the Light''. From 2008 the school had a federated governing body with

and Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College. When Yorkshire Martyrs closed in 2010 the girls transferred to St Joseph's. The school merged with

in September 2014 to form St Bede's and St Joseph's Catholic College. The former St. Joseph's is now used as the lower school site of the new school.

Sixth Form

St Joseph's shared an associated sixth form with

for many years. In 2008 the sixth forms of St Bede's and St Joseph's joined with the sixth form of Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College to form the Bradford Catholic Sixth Form. When Yorkshire Martyrs closed in 2010 the sixth form transferred to St Bede's and St Joseph's and in 2011 the Sixth Form was renamed St Benedict's Sixth Form.

Notable former Joseph's girls

Heather Peace Heather Mary Peace (born 16 June 1975) is an English actress, singer and LGBT rights activist. She is known for her roles as Eve Unwin in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Nikki Boston in the BBC school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road' ...

— actress and singer *

Rachel Leskovac Rachel Leskovac (born 5 June 1976) is an English actress and singer. She is known for portraying the roles of Kelly Yorke in the BBC One medical drama series ''Holby City'' (2003–2004), Natasha Blakeman in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ...

— actress *

Sophie McShera Sophie McShera (born 17 May 1985) is an English actress known for her roles as Ros McCain in the fifth series of the BBC television series '' Waterloo Road'', as Daisy Mason in the ITV television series ''Downton Abbey'', and as Drizella T ...

— actress who played Daisy Mason the kitchen maid in ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

'' * Elizabeth Stratford — composer *

Steph Swainston Stephanie Jane Swainston (born 1974) is a British literary fantasy/ science fiction author, known for the ''Castle'' series. Her debut novel, '' The Year of Our War'' (2004), won the 2005 Crawford Award and a nomination for the John W. Campbell ...

— author * Alannah Halay — composer and author.

Direct-grant grammar school

Kathryn Apanowicz Kathryn Apanowicz ( ; 3 June 1960 – 3 March 2025) was a British actress and presenter. Background Apanowicz grew up in Horsforth, Leeds, with a brother, Stephen. Her father was a Polish RAF pilot in the Second World War. From 1994 to 200 ...

— actress and TV presenter, the long-term partner of the late

Richard Whiteley John Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English presenter and journalist, best known for his twenty-three years as host of the game show '' Countdown''. ''Countdown'' was the launch programme for Channel 4 at 4:45 ...

* Kathleen Baxter — English women's rights activist * Jane Ellison — Conservative MP for

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

from 2010–17 *

Bronwyn Hill Bronwyn Hill CBE (born 1960) is a British former civil servant, who served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Hill was born in Bradford in 1960 and educated at St Anthony's School and St Jose ...

— British civil servant, currently serving as the

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

since 2011 of the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...

* Anita Lonsbrough — winner of the women's 200m breaststroke at the

1960 Rome Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Linda McAvan Linda McAvan (born 2 December 1962) is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire South and Yorkshire and the Humber from 1998, when she was first elected in a by-election following the r ...

— Labour MEP 1999–2019 for

Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It is one of the three regions covering Northern England, alongside the North West England and North East England regio ...

, and from 1994–99 for Yorkshire South *

Diana Warwick Diana Mary Warwick, Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (born 16 July 1945) is a British politician and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was formerly a trade unionist and the Chief Executive of Universities UK. Background Warwick was born ...

— general secretary from 1983–1993 of the

Association of University Teachers The Association of University Teachers (AUT) was the trade union and professional association that represented academic (teaching and research) and academic-related (librarians, IT professionals and senior administrators) staff at pre-1992 uni ...

(AUT), chief executive from 1995–2009 of

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

, chairperson from 2010–2014 of the

Human Tissue Authority The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. It regulates the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue for a number ...

(HTA)

References

External links

St Joseph's Catholic College
(Archive copy)
St Bede's and St Joseph's Catholic College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford Defunct grammar schools in England Schools in Bradford Educational institutions established in 1908 1908 establishments in England Defunct Catholic schools in the Diocese of Leeds Defunct schools in the City of Bradford Educational institutions disestablished in 2014 2014 disestablishments in England