St Ursula's School

St Ursula's School

Motto	Misericordia Dominus Illuminatio Mea
Established	1896
Closed	2010
Type	Independent
Religion	Roman Catholic
Head	Lynette Carter
Founder	Sisters of Mercy
Location	Brecon Road Bristol BS9 4DT England
Students	Around 120 (at closure)
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	5–16
Houses	Wingfield, Torpy, McAuley
Colours	Red, gold

Coordinates: 51°29′11″N 2°36′51″W / 51.4864°N 2.6142°W / 51.4864; -2.6142

Oasis School Westbury

Motto	Dominus Illuminatio Mea (The Lord is my Light)
Established	2010
Closed	2011 (replaced by St. Ursula's E-ACT Primary Academy)
Type	Independent
Religion	Christian
Head Mistress	Lynette Carter
Founder	Oasis
Location	Brecon Road Bristol BS9 4DT England
Students	130
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	4–16
Houses	Avon (red house), Sevon (blue house), Frome (green house)

St Ursula's School was a private school in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, England. In 2010, St Ursula's went into administration, but was saved by Bristol City Council and Oasis Community Learning, which led to the opening of Oasis School Westbury as an interim measure during the 2010/2011 academic year. Bristol City Council owns the school site, and Oasis operated the school with a one year lease and closed in July 2011. At the start of the 2011/2012 academic year, the site was taken over by the St Ursula's E-ACT Academy, the first primary academy in Bristol.^[1]

The school consisted of a Junior Department and Senior Department, providing education for pupils up to age 16. The main building is large with a clock tower known as the Nuns' Tower. There is a sports hall and large playing fields, a forest area and small garden behind in an estate covering a total of 9 acres (3.6 ha).

Another school, the Bristol Free School, applied to open on the site, but the move was blocked in October 2011.^[2]

History

St Ursula's school consisted of a Junior Department and Senior Department, providing education for all ages up to 16, and previously had a sixth form. The main building was large with a clock tower known as the Nuns' Tower. There is a sports hall and large playing fields, a forest area and small garden behind. There are a number of "quads" around the school, some with religious statues and elegant gardens.

Pupils were assessed upon entry to the school. Pupils applying for entry at ages 7 and above took an English and Mathematics assessment, whilst pupils applying at ages 11 and above took an English and Mathematics assessment and a reasoning/problem-solving test. The school offered scholarships for up to half of the school fees, if the pupil did exceedingly well in all tests.

The school was named after its patron saint St. Ursula, a British princess who accepted death rather than marriage to a pagan tribal chief while returning from pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She and her 1,000 maiden companions were slaughtered somewhere near Cologne in Germany and became the patron saint of young girls and students.

Opened in 1897 by the Sisters of Mercy, St. Ursula's was originally a girls' boarding school. The school stopped accepting boarders in 1927 but went on to accept boys, first in the Junior School and then in the Senior Department in 1996 when a major programme of development took place overseen by the first lay Headmistress, Margaret Macnaughton. At this time the Sixth Form was closed due to inadequate numbers.

The school retained close links with the Sacred Heart Catholic Church positioned at the rear of the school but lessons were not taught by the nuns after 1988, when the Sisters of Mercy withdrew from independent education in the UK and the school was taken over by an Educational Trust. The first lay headmistress was Mrs Margaret McNaughton who served until 2005. In 2005, Mrs Lynette Carter, who previously had served as Senior Mistress of the Junior Department, took over command of being Headmistress. She continued into Oasis Westbury.

During the Second World War, the cellars served as air raid shelters to the population of Henleaze and in 1942 the school was bombed and evacuated. In addition to the cellars, it is believed that there is an air-raid shelter under the school grounds and a secret tunnel which leads from St Ursula's to The Red Maid's School. At the front of the school next to the main gate, there is a graveyard for the nuns of the Sisters of Mercy.

On the top floor of the school (with the little single square windows) is the old rooms where the boarders used to sleep. They also used to sleep in rooms along the corridor where there is currently the kitchen, offices and the senior department library. In 1986, the gym/sports Hall for games lessons and the community was opened after contribution from the parents.

The school's badge and motto was known as the Mercy Shield or Misericordia Shield and is the insignia of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy. It has been a symbol of mercy since the thirteenth century. The motto 'Dominus Illuminatio Mea' is Latin for 'The Lord is my Light'.

Houses

At St. Ursula's, pupils would register with a tutor during the week but on one day during the week they would visit their Pupil Achievement Mentor (PAMs.) In St. Ursula's there were three houses: Wingfield, McCauley and Torpe. The St. Ursula's houses were named after people involved in the history of St. Ursula's. Torpe was named after an ex-Chair of Governors of the school. McCauley was named after a nun who was the Headmistress of St. Ursula's School for roughly 20 years. Wingfield was named after a nun, who previously taught at the school for roughly 40 years.

Closure

Facing falling pupil numbers, in early 2010 the school expressed interest in moving to the state sector as an Academy.^[3] This did not come to fruition, and as the Trustees were unable to find a purchaser, Grant Thornton were appointed as administrators. In August 2010 they announced that the school would close.^[4]

Oasis School Westbury

Oasis took it over with a one year lease from the council and guaranteed 2 years free education. It was expected and hoped that Oasis would run an all-through academy on the site or at least a primary only. However the bids failed and education provider E-ACT were chosen to run a primary only academy on the site. The "Bristol Free School Trust" which is made up from the old "Parent's Voice" and the "Russell Education Trust" will not be running their senior only Bristol Free School on the site but will be running it on the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) site on Burghill Road in Brentry, Bristol. They have intentions to move from the Burghill Road Council Offices to the St. Ursula's Site in September 2012 and run a Sixth Form on the DEFRA site. However it is not yet clear whether they actually have the planning permission to move onto the St. Ursula's Site and may have to stay on the DEFRA site.

There was a bid by the OSW Parent's Action Group (PAG) to run an all-through free school on the site. However this bid failed also and the reasons why this bid failed were witheld. On the evening when it was announced that the PAG bid and Oasis bids had failed, a group of parents formed a new group called "Bristol Children First." This group worked to create a school without any secrecy or witholding of information. They negotiated with the Council and the Bristol Free School Trust to form an all-through free school or a secondary only free school and a primary school run by a different provider. After this much negotiating, it was announced that the free school would open.

Initially, senior parents and senior pupils at Oasis Westbury were under the belief that the Bristol Free School was going to accept all of the current Senior pupils and teach them as they are with no additional pupils in those year groups. However on 20 May 2011, the Bristol Free School Trust announced that they would not be offering the current pupils places at the free school, but just taking in 150 year 7 pupils with the school growing from that. The year 6 pupils at Oasis Westbury were all offered places in year 7 at the free school.

The Russell Education Trust announced that it might be possible to run a small private school on the site for the current senior pupils charging roughly £8,000 per year. However about a week later they announced that this would not be viable considering the very small number of pupils.

Students were supported by Student Academic Mentor (SAMs) which also acted as form tutors and students would register with their SAM and be mentored as well. The houses were Avon, Severn and Frome; named after the three South West rivers. All pupils and teachers were placed into one of these houses.On the first and last Sports' Day of Oasis School Westbury, the house of Avon won the House Cup.

Oasis School Westbury closed on 15 July 2011 and reopended as St Ursula's E-Act Academy in September 2011.

References

1. ^ "Bristol's St Ursula's Ready For Life As An Academy". Jack FM. 28 August 2011. http://www.jackbristol.com/news/bristols-news/bristols-st-ursulas-ready-for-life-as-an-academy-6657/. Retrieved 28 August 2011. 
2. ^ "Bristol Free School to remain at Brentry site". BBC News. 7 October 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-15221189. Retrieved 7 October 2011. 
3. ^ Academy hopes for Bristol private school, BBC News, 16 February 2010
4. ^ Grant Thornton administrators called in at St Ursula's High School Trust, Accountancy Age, 3 August 2010