Our Lady's Abingdon is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, co-educational,

private day school Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * Private (Ryōko Hirosue song), "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private ...

Abingdon-on-Thames Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been ad ...

, Oxfordshire, England, for pupils aged 7–18.

History

Our Lady's Convent was founded in 1860 by Sister Clare Moore of the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

, who worked closely with

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...

. The school's main auditorium is named after her, the Clare Moore Auditorium, known as the CMA. The school began educating boys and girls from the local area, with a boarding school created in 1866. The school was reconstituted independently of the Sisters of Mercy in 2004 as a registered charity in England & Wales, formally titled Our Lady's Abingdon Trustees Ltd. The Sisters have since left Abingdon in 2011 but they maintain a representative on the Board of Governors. In 2009 the school began admitting boys into the senior school. The school name was changed to Our Lady's Abingdon to reflect the change. Since the 2013–14 academic year, it has been fully co-educational. As of 2016, there appeared to be a 50/50 split of boys and girls. Daniel Gibbons, formerly Deputy Head of

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Original ...

, took over as Head from September 2021.

Academics

A-level results 2020 Overall pass 99% Grade A* – B 75% GCSE results 2020 Overall pass 97% Grade A* to B 67% Grade A* to C 81%

Extracurricular

Extra-curricular music includes choir, orchestra and wind-band. Other activities include Drama, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Languages, Poetry, Reading, Science and Textiles. Students in Year 11 and sixth Form take part in a team challenge expedition and community work overseas. The PE department run sports clubs Monday to Friday both at lunchtime and after school. Activities include swimming, netball, hockey, cross-country running, trampolining, fitness, football, badminton, rounders, athletics, tennis, basketball, synchronised swimming, dance and gymnastics. Pupils are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular sports clubs regardless of their ability, and they offer a range of after-school fixtures which gives the pupils the opportunity to compete against other schools and take part in county and national competitions.

Pastoral Care

As a Catholic school,

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

and feast days are regularly celebrated and open to parents and visitors. The school is located within the Parish of Our Lady and St Edmund and is regularly visited by the parish priest, who is also a member of the Board of Governors.

References

External links

Our Lady's Abingdon website
*
Profile
on the

independent schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the bus ...