St Mark's Church of England School, formerly known as St Mark's Church of England Primary School, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

all-through school An all-through school (also known as an integrated school) educates young people throughout multiple educational stages, generally throughout childhood and adolescence. Definition The term "all-through" can be legitimately applied to establis ...

Shirley, Southampton Shirley is a broad district and a former village on the western side of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Shirley's main roles are retailing and residential. It is the most important suburban shopping area in the we ...

, England. St Mark's was a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

but was demolished and renovated by

Morgan Sindall Morgan Sindall Group plc is a prominent UK construction and regeneration company, headquartered in London employing around 6,700 employees and operating in the public, regulated and private sectors. It reports through six divisions of Construct ...

to form an all-through school. The project started in 2020. The all-through school was opened by Debbie Sellin, the

Bishop of Southampton The Bishop of Southampton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Winchester, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the city of Southampton in Hampshire. The suffraga ...

, in 2022 and was fully completed in 2023. It made history by becoming Southampton's first all-through school. St Mark's is operated under the auspices of the

Diocese of Winchester The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Founded in 660 AD, it is one of the older dioceses in England. It once covered the Kingdom of Wessex, many times its present size. Today it is most of th ...

. Rated "Good" 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 ...

, it is currently educating students from ages 4 to 16. The school's catchment area includes Shirley, St Mary's, and other areas of Southampton.

History

The school was originally called "Millbrook Central Board School" and was constructed in 1894 and opened in 1895. At the start boys, girls and infants learned at the same school. However, in 1909, the school split by gender and age. Additionally in 1988, St Mark's Primary School was founded. In 2020, the government initiated a project to make a new all-through school which was completed in 2022.

The building expansion

In 2020, planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the school. The plan was to replace the outdated Victorian building and build a new all-through school for 1,346 pupils aged 4-16. So then the previous St Mark's C of E Primary School was demolished in 2020 to make way for Southampton's first

. Now the expanded school has made 900 needed secondary places with 180 per year groups alongside a pre-school offering 24 places and 420 primary places.

References

External links

School websiteGovernment informationOfsted reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mark's Church of England School, Southampton Secondary schools in Southampton Primary schools in Southampton Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Winchester Church of England primary schools in the Diocese of Winchester Voluntary controlled schools in England