St Michael's Catholic Grammar School is a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

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 ...

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

for girls, and boys in the sixth form, situated in Finchley, Barnet, London. Its current headmaster is Mr Michael Stimpson.

History

The school was founded as St Michael's Convent in 1908 by the

Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus The Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious congregation for women, founded at Aachen, Germany, in 1844 for the support and education of poor, orphan, and destitute children, especially girls. It was approved by Pope Pius IX ...

and is now under their trusteeship. It was the first

school in Finchley since the Reformation. It was a small fee-paying school serving the parish. Under the Education Act 1944, in 1958, St Michael's became a

grammar school to complement the all-boys Finchley Catholic Grammar School (now Finchley Catholic High School). When the Barnet

LEA Lea or LEA may refer to: Places Australia * Lea River, Tasmania, Australia * Lake Lea, Tasmania, from which the Lea River flows * RAAF Base Learmonth, IATA airport code "LEA" England * Lea, Cheshire, a civil parish * Lea, Derbyshire, a set ...

abolished the

tripartite system The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944 and th ...

, St Michael's did not turn comprehensive and has remained a grammar school to this day.

Ofsted inspection reports

: ''St Michael's is a high achieving school where relationships are excellent. The pupils are happy and well cared for morally, socially and spiritually. The school's national reputation in the Catholic community is justifiably high.'' ( Ofsted, 1995) :''St Michael's is an exceptional school; which is outstandingly effective because of its excellent leadership, management, teaching and learning'' ( Ofsted, 2005)

St Michael's curriculum

The pupils study Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, History, Geography, Science, Music, Art, Physical Education, Drama, Technology, ICT and Education for Living with Citizenship. Pupils have a choice of either Food/Graphics Technology as well as Physical Education.

St Michael's traditions

School uniform

The school has a distinctive purple uniform, which is the colour of the St. Michael's flower, the Michaelmas Daisy. It consists of a pleated purple skirt, a lilac shirt and purple jumper. In addition there is a purple blazer which must be worn when travelling to and from the school. In the winter there is also a long black coat which pupils have to wear instead of the blazer to and from school. This royal purple symbolises the status of St. Michael as the

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

who quelled the rebellion of

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...

. The School motto "Quis ut deus" is a Latin translation of the sarcastic rhetorical question uttered by Archangel Michael as he slew Lucifer: "Who is like God?" (The name 'Michael' in fact derives from the Hebrew form of this question.)

School song

The school song ''Dux Michael'', which is sung in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

praising St. Michael the Archangel, protector and defender of the faith. It is always sung on St. Michael's Day and at various key stage certificate assemblies along with the school prayer.

Committees and clubs

In Year 12, a husting takes place to elect the Head Girl/Boy and the two Deputies at St. Michael's. As well as this, several committees and clubs are set up according to the interests of the girls, which vary each year. The pupils are welcome to start their own club or committee along with the help of Year 12 pupils and the permission of the headteacher. Some of the committees and clubs this year include Athletics, Art, Book, Chess, Year 7 Choir, Glee Club, Chamber Choir, Drama, Cultural, Debate, Italian Film, French Film, Justice and Peace, Language, Library, Magazine, Mandarin Chinese, Netball, Badminton, Chamber Orchestra, Junior Orchestra, Jazz Band, Cheerleading, Poetry, Prom, Spanish Film and Year Book.

School events

St Michael's Day is the most important day of the academic year at St Michael's. On this day the whole school, pupils and staff, join in celebration of Mass in the school hall with a liturgy of music and drama. After Mass, free ice cream is given out to its pupils and staff in celebration of St Michael the Archangel. Mass is not only celebrated on St Michael's Day but liturgies are prepared on the Holy Days of Obligation found in the Catholic Calendar there are also Masses on every Friday lunchtime as well as on the last days of term, part of St Michael's Catholic ethos along with prayers said daily, and Mass weekly. The staff assembly takes place on the last school assembly before the term breaks for Christmas. It is here that the staff organise an assembly for its pupils, either a talent show or a mini pantomime. Many events are organised throughout the year organised by the staff or various committees. An example includes the Cultural and Charity Committee who organise the traditional "Nigeria, Ireland & Montserrat v. The Rest of the World" netball match played by the staff on St Patrick's Day, with all monies raised going to charity. St Michael's celebrated their centenary on 28 September 2008, the day before St Michael's Day. The Duke of Gloucester was invited to the school to mark the centenary with the opening of the new sports hall.

Notable former pupils

Natasha Collins Natasha Louise Collins (7 July 1976 – 3 January 2008) was an English actress and model. Following a car crash that curtailed her career, she fatally overdosed on cocaine, which Mark Speight, her fiancé, was initially suspected of supplying, b ...

, children's TV presenter who died of drug overdose *

Karen Harrison Karen Harrison (16 November 1960 – May 2011) was the first woman in Britain to be appointed as a train driver, during which time she was an active trade unionist and political campaigner. Early years Karen Harrison, the daughter of a custom ...

, first woman in Britain to be appointed as a train driver, trade unionist and political campaigner *

Lisa Jewell Lisa Jewell (born 19 July 1968) is a British author of popular fiction. Her books include ''Ralph's Party'', ''Thirtynothing'', ''After The Party'' (a sequel to ''Ralph's Party''), and later ''Then She Was Gone'', ''The Family Upstairs'', ''Invi ...

, author *

Jill Paton Walsh Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford, (née Bliss; 29 April 1937 – 18 October 2020), known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her Booker Prize-nominated n ...

, author *

Jessica Martin Jessica Cecelia Anna Maria Martin (born 25 August 1962) is an English actress, singer, and impressionist whose career has diversified to include comic writing and illustrating. Her television roles have included ''Spitting Image'', '' Copy Cats ...

, actress and comedienne *

Lois Joel Lois Kathleen Joel (born 2 June 1999) is an English footballer who plays as a defender for London City Lionesses. Joel has represented England internationally at under-17 and under-19 level. Early life Joel grew up in the London suburb of Nor ...

, footballer for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

References

External links

St. Michael's Catholic Grammar School websiteFinchley Catholic High School websiteSchool Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's Catholic Grammar School Grammar schools in the London Borough of Barnet Girls' schools in London Educational institutions established in 1908 Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster 1908 establishments in England Voluntary aided schools in London Finchley