Our Lady's Convent RC High School

Our Lady's Convent High School
Motto	Nitendo Vincamus in Latin. In English means We strive to conquer"
Established	1664
Type	State Secondary
Affiliations	Catholic
Principal	Mrs. Jane Gray
Students	780
Grades	7-11 plus Sixth Form/College (12-13)
Location	Greater London, United Kingdom
Colors	Blue
Website	[1]

Our Lady's Convent RC Modern Languages College High School, is a Roman Catholic secondary school situated in Stamford Hill, in the London Borough of Hackney.

History

On 11 January 1904, Our Lady's School a small independent school moved from 114 Lordship Road to 14-16 Amhurst Park, the head was Sr M. Phillipa. There were 27 pupils aged 10 and over; all the staff were Servite sisters; parents paid fees of £2.10shillings per term. The rooms in the house built in the 1800s were used as classrooms. There was a grass tennis court in the garden.

Now, the address of the four form comprehensive 11-19 Voluntary Aided Language College School is 6-16 Amhurst Park; there are over 700 students; the specialist rooms and classrooms are all purpose built (the oldest in 1949, the most recent in 2003), along with the Servite Sisters being the Trustees.

Current structure

A tradition of excellence today, Our Lady's is a thriving 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.

The school has a deserved reputation for academic achievement and it strives continually both to maintain and raise its standards, under the continuing trusteeship of the Servite Sisters. The school itself is over-subscribed and is one of the most successful state schools in London.

In each year group, 120 children are admitted in accordance with their academic abilities and their general practice of the Catholic faith at home - for proof of this, a Baptism Certificate and Holy Communion Certificate and a reference from the child's priest confirming that they go to church on a regular basis must be shown upon entry.

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.

The current headteacher is Mrs Jane Gray, who took over from Mrs Margaret M.A Dixon in 2004 who served as headteacher from 1994-2003. Mrs Dixon was the first lay head teacher of the school. With the retirement of Sr John, the last Servite head teacher and the deputy Sr Sheila Sumner, meant the daily presence of the Trustees had gone. They do however, serve as Foundation Governors on the Governing Body.

As of September 2010, the school became split site. The reason being that as part of the Building Schools for Future (BSF), the school is to be completely remodeled and rebuilt. The lower school (years 7 and 8) still remain at the old site in Stamford Hill, as half of the school was knocked down in August 2010. The upper school (years 9, 10, 11 plus sixth form) have moved to Upper Clapton, occupying the building that was for the lower school of The Skinners' Company's School for Girls. The rebuilding of the school is said to be finished in Autumn 2012.

Departments of the school

There are 17 departments in the school all working towards developing the curriculum to meet the needs of the students.

• Art
• Business studies
• Classical studies
• Citizenship
• Technology
• English
• Geography
• Government and politics
• History
• ICT
• Mathematics
• Modern languages
• Music
• Psychology
• Physical education
• Religious studies
• Science

Notable alumnae

• Freema Agyeman, British actress, BBC series Doctor Who as Martha Jones, attended the school circa 1990s
• Barbara Windsor - British actress, BBC soap opera EastEnders, attended the school circa 1940s-1950s.

Coordinates: 51°34′28″N 0°04′32″W / 51.5744°N 0.0756°W / 51.5744; -0.0756