St Dominic's Sixth Form College is a selective

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 ...

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) and is located some half a mile south of the mod ...

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 ...

founded in 1878, originally founded as a boarding school. The college was opened and initiated by Cardinal Hume. The college was awarded ’Sixth Form college of the year’ from The Times newspaper in 2017.

Grounds

There are five main buildings on the school grounds: the Aquinas building, the Catherine building, the Hume building, the Siena Building (Sports Hall) and the Chapel. Each of the buildings was named after a notable figure in Christian theology;

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

, Basil Hume and St

Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church ...

. The Aquinas building contains the Open Access Computer suite, the Science department and the Music department. The Catherine building was the original school building and was completely remodelled to form the library, the Mathematics department, the Languages department, the IT department and the English department as well as the canteen and the Careers Office and Theatre suites. The Hume building contains the Reception, the Business studies department, the Art department, the Humanities department, an Examination hall, the admin department and various other staff rooms including the Principal's and Vice Principal's office. The Siena building has the psychology department, as well as a gym and the Sienna Hall. The chapel has services on Fridays with regular public speakers visiting the college to give lectures to students. In 2006 large covered, outside seating areas were built as the courtyard and canteen had become overcrowded. There is also a field towards the back of the site with a football pitch, and a small area with a pond which is used for fieldwork.

History

The college was established in 1979 from St Dominic's Independent Grammar School for girls which had been run by nuns of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

. The Sisters first set up a girls' boarding school in 1878 in the Mount, Harrow-on-the-Hill, moving later to a new building in the convent grounds when day pupils were admitted. In 1937 the school was extended but the boarding school closed in 1948 and the junior department shortly afterwards (Harrow, including Pinner : Education 1971). At its peak in the early 1970s the school had three form entries per school year. Over the years the sisters' involvement in the school had diminished with the dropping in the number of vocations although the school was run, until it closed, by one of the order. In the mid-1970s it became apparent that the school could not continue in its existing form with constant pressure from the Local Authority to cease any grants. Eventually plans were made to close as a school and reopen as a Catholic

. From 1975 onwards there was no new intake of girls to prepare for this time and in March 1978 Cardinal Basil Hume laid the foundation stone which is now displayed outside the Hume Building. At the same time, nearby secondary schools such as Salvatorian College lost their sixth forms with this reorganisation. In July 1979 the convent school closed and the remaining nuns transferred to the Dominican convent in

Stone, Staffordshire Stone is a canal town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, north of Stafford, south of Stoke-on-Trent and north of Rugeley. It was an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the Borough of Staffor ...

, the convent building on Sudbury Hill having been sold the previous year for conversion to flats. The remaining students transferred whilst in the middle of O Level exams, to nearby Catholic school, Sacred Heart High School. Over the subsequent years the site has been developed to provide facilities for the students but with the consequent loss of open space. The original tennis courts are now the Hume Building, the rounders field is now called the Siena Building which contains the new Sports Hall and Gym, the cloister garden a courtyard seating area, convent grounds the Aquinas Building and school front lawns a car park. On the site of the grounds are the well preserved remains of an Elizabethan signal, or, watch-tower. This was part of the relatively sophisticated signal system, which was established to alert local militia and the Crown of the Spanish Fleet, or, Armada, which was spotted off the English coast in 1588. Staff and students at the College have been excavating the Beacon since 2018. Work was recently granted Heritage Lottery Funding.

Academics

There are a variety of courses to choose from including the conventional GCE 'A' Levels and vocational BTEC Qualifications. The college has been awarded many different accolades by both universities and examining bodies and has achieved Beacon Status. In its latest Ofsted inspection all departments were rated as 'Outstanding'. It has partnerships with local secondary schools, Sacred Heart High School, Harrow and Salvatorian College.

Notable alumni

Conn Iggulden Connor Iggulden (; born ) is a British author who writes historical fiction, most notably the ''Emperor'' series and ''Conqueror'' series. He also co-authored '' The Dangerous Book for Boys'' along with his brother Hal Iggulden. In 2007, Iggul ...

, author,

St Dominic's Independent Grammar School for Girls

* Gaynor Barnes, presenter since 1991 of

ITV Yorkshire ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...

's ''Calendar'' *

Kay Burley Kay Burley (born Kay McGurrin; 17 December 1960) is a British broadcaster and writer. She is a presenter on Sky News and hosts '' Kay Burley'', the breakfast slot on the channel. She also worked for BBC Local Radio, Tyne Tees Television, and ...

Denise O'Donoghue Denise O'Donoghue, OBE (born 13 April 1955, in Wembley) is a British television production company executive. Early life She attended the Catholic St Dominic's Convent Grammar School in north-west London (became St Dominic's Sixth Form College ...

OBE, former wife of

Jimmy Mulville James Thomas Mulville (born 5 January 1955) is an English comedian, comedy writer, producer and television presenter. He is best known for co-founding (in 1986) the British independent television production company Hat Trick Productions with ...

from 1987–98, co-founded

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. History Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville ...

in 1986, and since 2010 Managing Director of

ITV Studios ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...

Dilys Laye Dilys Laye (born Dilys Lay; 11 March 1934 – 13 February 2009) was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for her comedy roles. Early life Laye was born in Muswell Hill, London, the daughter of Edward Lay and his wife Margare ...

, actress

References