Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill

Our Lady's Catholic High School
File:Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill 2.jpg Nitendo Vincamus (To strive is to conquer)
Address
6-16 Amhurst Park London, N16 5AF England
Coordinates
Information
Type	Voluntary aided comprehensive
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1904
Founders	Servite Sisters
Ofsted number	yes
Head teacher	Ms Justine McDonald
Gender	Girls
Age	11 to 19
Enrolment	700+
Website	http://www.ourladys.hackney.sch.uk/

Our Lady's Catholic High School is a Roman Catholic secondary school for girls situated in Stamford Hill, in the London Borough of Hackney, England.

History

On 11 January 1904, the Servite Sisters founded a small independent school called Our Lady's School, with Sr M. Phillipa as its first headmistress. The school later moved to 14-16 Amhurst Park during the 1930s. There were 27 pupils aged 10 and over; all the staff were Servite sisters; parents paid fees of £2/10/00 per term. The rooms in the house built in the 1800s were used as classrooms. There was a grass tennis court in the garden. The school has since expanded and the premises consist of the original buildings and newer additions (the most recent in 2003). The first lay headteacher, only the sixth in the school's history, was appointed in 1994. Our Lady's is no longer directly run by the Servites but remains under their trusteeship.

Current structure

Our Lady's is a Voluntary Aided Roman Catholic School, which has been awarded Specialist Status as a Language College. Permission to expand by one form of entry has meant that the school's total number is currently 780 students. The Sixth Form Centre admits boys and girls and has currently 180 students.

Our Lady's has four tutor groups: Hugh (H), which uses the house colour blue, Juliana (J), which uses the house colour red, Manettus (M), which uses the house colour yellow and Philomena (P), which uses the house colour green.

In September 2010, the school became split site, since as part of the Building Schools for Future (BSF), the school is to be completely remodelled and rebuilt. The lower school (years 7 and 8) still remains at the old site in Stamford Hill. The upper school (years 9, 10, 11 plus sixth form) have moved to Upper Clapton, occupying a building put up for the lower school of The Skinners' Company's School for Girls. The rebuilding of the school was finished in Autumn 2012. The School came together, back on one site, in September 2012.

Mr Andy English took on the headship in March of 2022. Ofsted visited in March 2022 and reaffirmed the school's rating as 'Good'.

Departments of the school

There are 19 departments in the school.

• Art
• Business studies
• Classical studies
• Citizenship
• Technology
• English
• Geography
• Government and politics
• Drama
• Health and Social Care
• History
• ICT
• Mathematics
• Modern languages
• Music
• Psychology
• Physical education
• Religious studies
• Science
• Sociology
• Economics

Notable former pupils

• Freema Agyeman, actress, Doctor Who as Martha Jones, attended the school circa 1990s
• Moira Stuart, BBC broadcaster and newsreader
• Dame Barbara Windsor, actress, BBC soap opera EastEnders, attended the school circa 1940s-1950s (left without graduating)