St Anne's Catholic School (known as St Anne's Convent School until 2006) is an 11-18

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, for girls. The school's

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

is coeducational. The school is close to the city centre, and has pupils from all round the city and beyond. The school converted to academy status in August 2012. , the school and sixth form had 1239 pupils.

History

St Anne's Convent School was established in 1904 by the La Sainte Union Sisters and is still under their trusteeship. Girls from this school joined

Talbot Heath School Talbot Heath School is a selective, private day and boarding school for girls aged 2–18 located in Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The school was founded as Bournemouth High School in 1886 by founding headmistress Mary Broad. Ta ...

in Bournemouth during WW2 as they were moved to safety. That school was open throughout the war. St Anne's was the first

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 ...

to convert to a comprehensive intake. After over a century of

single-sex education Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...

, boys were admitted into the sixth form for the first time beginning in the 2006-07 school year. The word "convent" was dropped from the school's official title to reflect this change.

Child abuse allegations

In 2024, the school's former headteacher, in post until 2023, was charged with child sexual abuse. The police said that four other teachers at the school were also under investigation. In January 2025, another former teacher was charged with rape and abuse of a position of trust. The school made a statement, saying that "While we do not know the full details of the allegations, there is no shying away from the severity of the charges". A third former teacher was charged in April 2025 with offences of sexual activity against a child. A fourth was charged in May 2025.

Premises

The school occupies a site on the corner of Carlton Road and Carlton Crescent back to Rockstone Place. Nos. 11 and 12 Carlton Crescent are

Grade II listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The westwards extension of No. 12 was built in 1961, for which the architects, Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners, received a Civic Trust design award; this was described as "a model of neighbourly treatment in terms of scale character and materials, and an outstanding example of a modern building meeting present-day requirements yet harmonising beautifully with an earlier style".

Academics

The school annually achieves significantly better than the national average. The progress students make from starting at age 11 places it in the top 10% of schools nationally. The school's 5A*-C indicator has been in the 70-80% range for the past four years. It achieved an

English Baccalaureate The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...

result of 47% in 2015. It regularly ranks at the top of the

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

results table for non-independent schools in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Ofsted inspection reports

The last full inspection of the school by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

was in 2016. The inspection team rated the overall effectiveness of the school as Outstanding in all areas, including the sixth form. A short inspection in 2022 repeated the judgement of Outstanding.

Notable former pupils

* Margaret Collins, nurse and senior Royal Navy officer *

Satvir Kaur Satvir Kaur is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Southampton Test since 2024. She previously served as Leader of Southampton City Council from 2022 to 2023, being the first female Sikh leader of a local ...

, Member of Parliament for

Southampton Test Southampton Test is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Satvir Kaur, a member of the Labour Party since 2024. History The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, when the previous two-me ...

and former leader of

Southampton City Council Southampton City Council is the local authority of the city of Southampton in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southampton has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council ...

References

External links

The school's website

The school on Ofsted's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Anne's Catholic School (Southampton) Girls' schools in Hampshire Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Portsmouth Secondary schools in Southampton Academies in Southampton Recipients of Civic Trust Awards 1904 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1904