Notre Dame Catholic School Explained

Notre Dame RC School
Coordinates:50.4215°N -4.1273°W
Established:1865
Head:Michael Antram
Address:Looseleigh Lane
Country:England
Postcode:PL6 5HN
Ofsted:yes
Dfeno:879/4605
Urn:140737
Enrolment:728
Gender:Females (males in sixth form)
Lower Age:11
Upper Age:18
Houses:Parks, Stang, Nightingale, Curie and Hepburn
Free Label 1:Former name
Free 1:Notre Dame High School
Free Label 2:Diocese
Website:http://www.ndonline.org

Notre Dame RC School is a Roman Catholic school for girls in Derriford, Plymouth, England. Its sister school is St Boniface's Catholic College.

The former headteacher, Fiona Hutchings, was headteacher from 2001 until July 2012. Kate White, the current headteacher, assumed Hutchings' position in September 2012. It has 879 students attending. In the sixth form, boys may attend.

It is situated north of the A386, west of the now-closed Plymouth City Airport.

History

It was originally next to Plymouth Cathedral but the site was bombed in 1941. In 1965 a new school building was completed on the grounds of the convent at Looseleigh Lane in Derriford. Sister Mary Xavier was the headmistress.

Direct grant grammar school

The school was a Catholic girls' direct grant grammar school from 1946, the Notre Dame High School.

In 1976 it was one of 51 direct grant schools, out of 170, that became comprehensive.

Comprehensive

In 1981 it amalgamated with the Bishop Vaughan Secondary School to become Notre Dame Comprehensive School for Girls.[1] St Boniface's became a comprehensive at the same time.

In 1993 boys were accepted in the sixth form and the school became Notre Dame Roman Catholic School.

Notre Dame had much building work done in the academic year 2007/8: among this was a large professional sports hall, a library and a five-classroom block for history and geography named Stang Block after Dorothy Stang.

Academy

The school converted to academy status on 1 April 2014.

Academic performance

In 2019, at GCSE, the school's Progress 8 score was average.[2] The proportion of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate was below average, as was the percentage of pupils attaining Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs and the school's Attainment 8 score.[2]

The average result at the school for A level in 2019 was C−, just below the Plymouth and England figures.[3]

Notable former pupils

Notre Dame High School

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1978/mar/22/direct-grant-schools Direct Grant status
  2. Web site: Notre Dame RC School . Find and compare schools in England . Gov.UK . 10 June 2020.
  3. Web site: Notre Dame RC School . Find and compare schools in England . Gov.UK . 10 June 2020.
  4. http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/medicine/infectionandimmunity/staffprofiles/whyte.html Prof Moira Whyte BSc PhD FRCP (London) FMedSci - Staff Profiles - Department of infection and Immunity - The University of Sheffield