St Marylebone C of E School is a
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 in
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
,
London
London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. It
specialises in
Performing Arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
,
Maths & Computing. In the
sixth form
In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
, boys can also attend. On 1 September 2011 the school became a
converter academy
An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...
having previously been judged "outstanding in every respect" by Ofsted.
Founded in 1791, St Marylebone
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
School is now a multi-faith comprehensive school for girls aged from eleven to eighteen. The main site is located just behind
St Marylebone Parish Church
St Marylebone Parish Church is an Anglican church on the Marylebone Road in London. It was built to the designs of Thomas Hardwick in 1813–17. The present site is the third used by the parish for its church. The first was further south, near Ox ...
, with the Sixth Form Centre based in another building in nearby Blandford Street.
History
The St Marylebone School began as the Marylebone "Day School of Industry", founded in 1791 in what was then Paradise Street, now Moxon Street, to educate the children of the poor in the parish. Boys and girls were taught skills such as needlework and straw plaiting. The school was funded by donations, charity sermons and income from the children's handiwork. In 1808, with the support of local philanthropist and social reformer
Sir Thomas Bernard the school moved to
82 Marylebone High Street, which is now a boutique store. Subsequently, to make room for growing numbers, it moved to a site on Paddington Street, which is identifiable today as a Mission Church. Then in 1858 the 5th Duke of Portland bought a plot of ground near the top of Marylebone High Street and covenanted the site to be used for a girls' school in perpetuity. The main site of the school has been there ever since.
The Day British School of Industry had been incorporated with Sir Thomas Bernard's school under the direction of the Governor of the Church of England's United National Schools. In 1858, it became known as Central National School, to distinguish it from the Eastern (now All Souls CE Primary) and Western National Schools (now
St Mary's Bryanston Square CE Primary) founded in 1824 at nearby parishes.
The boys' section was eventually closed and it became a girls' school, adopting its current name. In the 1960s-70s the school used a building in Penfold Street, about 15 minutes from the main site, for
domestic science
Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...
lessons; this building is now used by the Westminster Youth Service. In 2005, the sixth form moved to part of a building that had housed a convent; in 2008-9 this was demolished and rebuilt as a five-story, university-style Sixth Form Centre.
During the school's grant-maintained period, it was highly selective and the school used to interview parents and prospective pupils.
Between 2005 and 2010, the main site saw extensive building and refurbishment work. Major new facilities were opened in 2007, including a below-ground gymnasium and dance studios as well as a music recording studio space and a three-story visual and performing arts space. Since 2013, the school's studio has been the main filming spot for
Spirit Young Performers Company. Popular videos shot at this location include "Little Miss High and Mighty" and "Hard Knock Life".
Houses and local connections
Historically, the school had four houses - Dickens, Barret, Hardwick and Wesley. In September 2010, a fifth house, Nightingale, was added and, in September 2017, a sixth house named after Ada Lovelace. The houses are named after these significant people as they have had some kind of connection with the school (e.g. Thomas Hardwick designed the
St Marylebone Church). The houses have the following colours: blue (Barret), yellow (Dickens), red (Hardwick), green (Wesley), purple (Nightingale) and orange (Ada Lovelace). When joining the school, pupils are assigned to one of the houses.
Academics
It was designated a Specialist
Arts College
An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England i ...
by the
DfES
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England.
Th ...
in 1998, gaining a second specialism as a
Mathematics and Computing College
Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 and Northern Ireland in 2006 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools focus on ...
in 2006. The school offers a huge range of enrichment activities across the performing arts, and in 2012 was accredited a Gold Standard Arts Mark for the third time in succession. St Marylebone is also a Woodard School, part of a small family of state and independent church schools which prioritise pastoral care with academic excellence.
From a failing school with only 26% of students achieving 5 A*-C GCSE grades, St Marylebone become the most improved school in 2007 as the percentage of *A-C GCSE grades rose to over 90% where it remained for ten years. The school states outstanding teaching is seen as the foundation of the school’s success. The school was named by the Mayor of London as first in its group of 56 similar schools and a member of the Mayor’s Gold Club. St Marylebone is now one of the outstanding academies, one of the original 100 teaching schools and has opened a free special school meeting the needs of pupils with speech language and communication needs. Mrs Phillips, who is a National Leader of Education, was appointed executive head teacher of the St Marylebone Academies Trust in 2010 and was chair of the Westminster Secondary Heads Forum, representing secondary headteachers on the 14-19 Executive Board.
At the latest Ofsted inspection, St Marylebone was judged "outstanding in every respect". In 2013, exam results were the best in Westminster and the school topped the DfE League Table comparing all schools nationally with a similar intake. For the 11th year running, well over 90% of GCSE entries received A*-C grades and more than half received A* or A. St Marylebone is one of the most oversubscribed schools in London; in 2013, almost 7 students applied for each of the places available in Year 7. It is the top non-selective school in London.
In September 2013, St Marylebone School opened an affiliate school, The St Marylebone Bridge School. The Bridge School is a co-educational Free Special School providing "an innovative education to students with statements for Speech, Language and Communication". As part of the Teaching School Alliance, St Marylebone School is working with various partners to support the development of other schools in London, including the expansion of St Mary and St John's Primary School in Hendon into a through-school from nursery through to sixth form. The former headteacher Elizabeth Phillips advised on the bid to establish a new free secondary school for boys in Marylebone, the
Marylebone Boys' School
Marylebone Boys' School is a free school set up by parents, teachers and local people of Marylebone in Central London. It opened on Wednesday 3 September 2014 in temporary accommodation in Priory Park Road, London NW6 7UJ, but later moved to ...
, which opened in 2014. The new school will receive support and guidance from St Marylebone through the Teaching School Alliance.
Headteachers
From 1993 to 2013, the headteacher of St Marylebone School was Elizabeth Phillips, OBE. The new headteacher is Kathryn Pugh, who took over in January 2014.
Notable former pupils
*
, model and actress
*
Amelia Dimoldenberg
Amelia Dimoldenberg (; born 30 January 1994) is an English journalist, comedian, YouTuber, and television presenter. She created the web series ''Chicken Shop Date'', in which she interviews rappers, grime artists as well as other YouTubers and ...
, comedian and YouTube personality
*
Theo Ellis, bass player in Wolf Alice
*
Naomie Harris
Naomie Melanie Harris (born 6 September 1976) is a British actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series ''Simon and the Witch'' in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film ''28 Days Later'' (2002 ...
, actress
*
Layla Kayleigh
Layla Kayleigh is a British-American TV personality, actress and philanthropist. She used to host ''The Feed'' segment of G4's ''Attack of the Show!'' and co-hosted MTV's ''America's Best Dance Crew'' where she was the backstage correspondent. S ...
, actress and TV personality
*
Hamilton MacCarthy
Hamilton Thomas Carlton Plantagenet MacCarthy (28 July 1846 – 24 October 1939) was one of the earliest masters of monumental bronze sculpture in Canada. He is known for his historical sculptures, in particular his Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons ...
, sculptor
*
Rina Sawayama
is a Japanese–British singer-songwriter, actress and model. Born in Niigata, Japan, she emigrated to London with her parents at age five. She is known for her musical versatility and has been labelled a "musical chameleon". In 2017, she ...
, musician and model
*
Marion St John Webb, author
[''London, England, School Admissions and Discharges, 1840-1911'']
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marylebone School
Secondary schools in the City of Westminster
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
Educational institutions established in 1791
1791 establishments in England
Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of London
Academies in the City of Westminster
Formerly selective schools in the United Kingdom
Specialist arts colleges in England
Specialist maths and computing colleges in England