St James Catholic High School is voluntary aided mixed sex school for students from 11–18 years of age. It was founded by the Dominican sisters in 1934. Today it operates from one site in

Colindale Colindale is a district in the London Borough of Barnet; its main shopping street on the A5 forming the borough boundary with neighbouring Brent. Colindale is a suburban area, and in recent years has had many new apartments built. It is also ...

, Barnet in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, England. The current headteacher is Mr Anthony Ellul.

History

The Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St Catherine of Siena of Newcastle (Natal) in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

led the way in setting up St Rose's Convent Orange Hill Road in

Burnt Oak Burnt Oak is a suburb of London, England, located northwest of Charing Cross. It lies to the west of the M1 motorway between Edgware and Colindale, located predominantly in the London Borough of Barnet, with parts in the London Boroughs of Br ...

(north London) in February 1930. This was an independent school where children stayed on in education until the age of 14. This led to the foundation of St James' Catholic Central School in 1934, and amalgamated with St Rose's School with Sr Mary Catherine Walsh as the first Headteacher (1934–69). This was in response to Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster. Bourne had noticed that the new Watling housing estate had been built in north London by the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

intended to provide better quality housing for people then living in Islington and other parts of inner London - many of which lived in poor and sub-standard accommodation. Thus there was an opportunity to provide Catholic secondary education for the families of the Catholic parishes of north-west London. When it was set up, St James was the only mixed, although separated by single sex in the classroom setting, non-selective Catholic school in London. The other Catholic Secondary schools were single sex, selective and generally fee paying. In 1949 a further expansion followed when St. Thomas' Independent School in Stanmore was annexed to St. James'. In 1997 the school was reunited on one site in

, and in 2004 it became a

specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

Sports College Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The programme enabled sec ...

Headteachers

The former headteacher was Mrs. Niamh Arnull. The previous headteachers have been Sr Mary Catherine Walsh (1934–69), Sr Veronica Desmond O.P (1969 - 1984), Sr Mary Raymunda Jordan O.P (1984 - 1992), Mr. Kevin McSharry (1992 - 2005) and Mrs. Anne O'Shea (2005-2010).

Alumni

Shaun Donnellan Shaun Donnellan (born 16 October 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for side Livingston. Born in England, he has represented Ireland at youth level. Personal life Donnellan was born in Barnet, Greater London, Englan ...

(b. 1996) - professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Torquay United F.C. Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

The most (in)famous "Old Boy" was James Francis Hanratty, who was hanged for the A6 murder in 1962. Forensic evidence from the later post-mortum proved that he was guilty.

References

External links

League Tables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James Catholic Grammar School Secondary schools in the London Borough of Barnet Educational institutions established in 1934 Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster 1934 establishments in England Voluntary aided schools in London Specialist sports colleges in England Specialist science colleges in England