__NOTOC__ St Peter's Catholic School, colloquially known as St Peter's, is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

located in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

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 ...

. It is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

school affiliated to the

Diocese of Arundel and Brighton The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton () is a diocese in southern England covering the counties of Sussex and Surrey (excluding Spelthorne, which is part of the Diocese of Westminster). The diocese was erected on 28 May 1965 by Pop ...

History

The present school was formed by the merger of the original St. Peter's Boys school and Merrow Grange, a Catholic girls school. St Peter's School was founded by Archbishop Amigo in 1947, and named after his patron saint, St. Peter . It was housed in two buildings. One was the present site on Horseshoe Lane East, and the other in Horseshoe Lane West. The Headmaster and a number of the teachers were Diocesan Priests. Merrow Grange was on the corner of Horseshoe Lane East and the Epsom Road. In October 1945 it was purchased by the Ladies of Mary (who later became the Daughters of Mary and Joseph) and became an independent girls school called Merrow Grange. It was a Convent School run by the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, a foundation which continues to fund educational project in many other geographic areas. In 1971 by agreement the Diocese took over the running of the Girls' School to form a coeducational school. The larger mixed institution's newly constituted governors' board, with teacher consultation, named itself ''St Peter's and Merrow Grange School'' and later for some years ''St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School''. In May 2010 the school adopted the name St. Peter's Catholic School. Previously a

voluntary aided school 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 ...

administered by

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader ...

, in September 2019 St Peter's Catholic School converted to academy status and is now sponsored by the Xavier Catholic Education Trust.

Facilities

Theatre

In the early 2010s the school expended savings and received grants, such as from the registered charity named after Humphrey Richardson Taylor for music activities in education, to open its 'St Cecilia's Theatre'. after the Patron Saint of Music. As of now, the theatre has been built and is being used for productions put on by Drama Students and regular students.

Sixth Form Centre

The school's enlarged sixth form centre opened in September 2011. The sixth form currently consists of 200 students, and benefits from a means-tested 16–19 bursary fund for bursaries. To prepare for further study or workplace positions the centre enabling students to take AS and A2 tutor-directed and assisted courses in many subjects.

Structural Incidents

In January 2018 the new school building which was in construction caught on fire due to what was believed to be an incident with a gas cylinder. '' Get Surrey'' reported that "Flames could be seen rising from the side of the school, which is currently under construction". Firefighters were called.

Catchment and key admissions factors

The school's geographical catchment areas are drawn and redrawn regularly, taking into account demand and the other admissions' criteria. Influencing redrawing and admissions policy are attendance at or residence within any of the nine parishes forming the Guildford Deanery and the ease to transportation to the school, relative to other schools. Four primary schools form with St Peter's its closest 'Family of Schools', preferential feeder schools, and are variously spread across the majority of the Boroughs of

and Waverley forming the approximate south-west quarter of the county, numbered '6' and '7' in the map shown to the right.Family of Schools
St Peter's School. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peters Catholic School Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton Secondary schools in Surrey Educational institutions established in 1969 1969 establishments in England Schools in Guildford Academies in Surrey