Notre Dame High School (Sheffield)
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| Notre Dame High School | |
| Ah! Qu'il est bon est le bon dieu French: "God is Good" |
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| Established | 1860 |
|---|---|
| School type | Semi-Independent, Roman Catholic |
| Head Master | Mr. Jim Conway |
| Location | Sheffield, Yorkshire, England |
| Website | Notre Dame High School |
Notre Dame High School in Sheffield, England caters for the children of Catholic families from all over the city and further afield. The school was originally a girls' school and became coeducational in 1973. It was split over two sites, one in the city centre and the other in the leafy suburb of Ranmoor. In the 1980s the school consolidated on one site at Ranmoor which is a particularly attractive site with a Victorian mansion (Oakbrook House) that was originally the home of Mark Firth (a steel baron), then became the sisters' convent and is now the VI form centre. The main school building is a 1930s building with many architectural features including a main hall, known as the salle, with a high vaulted ceiling. As the school has expanded other buildings have been built that complement the architecture of the site making use of local sandstone or red pantiles depending where the building fits in. The Hallam City Learning Centre which is hosted on site has distinct modern architectural merit and receives a mention in the Pevsner guide to the architecture of Sheffield.
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[edit] Achievements
As a school it is very high achieving - OFSTED described the school as "outstanding in every way" in 2005. It has been a Specialist Technology College since 1995 and was awarded a second specialism in 2005 in Humanities. ICT has been a particular strength; the school won a national award at the Specialist Schools and Academies Conference in 2005 in recognition of this work. A new environmental learning centre is planned in the school woodland area which will make use of the latest technology to enhance learning.
[edit] Academic
The GCSE (A*-C) rate is one of the highest in the city of Sheffield with 81% of 5th Year (Y11) students attaining these grades. Of particular note are the outstanding AS/A2 results of the VI Form where 60% of grades are A or B.
[edit] Students
The students, aged 11-18, are all from full ability backgrounds. The vast majority of the students are Roman Catholic, with only a small proportion ( a quota of 30 per yeargroup) being other Christian/other faiths. The traditional bottle green jumper and tie of the Notre Dame uniform will be familiar to many Sheffielders.
The school has four houses: Picardy, Compiegne, St Julie, Cuvilly, all having roots in places associated with St Julie Billart, the founder of the Order of Notre Dame.
Students are encouraged to take a lead in the school and there are annual elections (usually in November) for the captaincy of the four houses, and also to select the student year council. This year the school make a great leap forward by running these elections on line using [1]
[edit] Ethos and traditions
The school continues with its strong Catholic ethos and offers excellent opportunities for students and staff to work together to prepare for various pastoral occasions, for example, the whole school Mass at the end of the year, and for the 5th year leaver's mass during May.
A Head Boy and Head Girl are also elected annually in December. The current incumbents are Christopher Southeran and Danielle Kennedy. They will lead their team of eight deputies, (Matthew "Paddy" Lowson, Timothy Hutty, Andrew Heyes, Jack Campbell, Jack Kidder, Ruth Aitken, Ruth Connolly and Martin Conwill) thoughout their year of office, which begins and ends on the school's traditional Prize Night attended by the leaving Y11 students who are invited, the Outgoing and incoming Head Boy and Girl and the Y13's who leave at the same time of the Year 11's after external examinations.
The school is known for its Dramatic performances through Musicals (performed by the students) and also the Staff Pantomime. Drama Musicals are usually organised twice a year, one for an older age group in December and a musical (traditionally a collection of pieces, e.g. the summer 2005 performance "It's a Sin" featured many songs and scripts referring to the seven deadly sins).
The school is known for its charitable work and often collections are organised to raise monies for campaigns such as CAFOD. Also some light-hearted activities take place on behalf of charities such as FOND (Friends of Notre Dame) and Children In Need.
[edit] Buildings and departments in the school
In April 2006, the new Science block opened and in the previous school year, the new History block was opened.
- Main - English and Mathematics (English led by Mrs. Gabrielle Watson, Mathematics led by Mr. Peter Sides)
- OLC - Library, Languages and Geography (Languages led by Mrs Gill Bishop, Geography led by Mr Tim Murray)
- Cavendish (with Cavendish Extension) - The Sciences (led by Mr. Simon Growcott and Andrew Cook)
- St Joseph's - Religious Studies and Theology (led by Mr. Dominic Curran)
- Oakbrook - Sixth Form Centre (led by Mr. Gerard Bonner)- Oakbrook also stages the subjects of Government & Politics and Psychology, of which only Sixth Form studnets can take as a subject. Government & Politics is led by Gerard Bonner and Mr. Stuart Scriven while Psychology is led by Mr. Morton
- History - History (led by Mr. Michael Shaun O'Connor)
- Technology - Technology (led by Mr. Gerard Griffith)
- ICT - (led by Miss C. Tasker)
- Sports Hall - PE (led by Miss Jeanette Nicholls)
- Chapel - Services and Dramatics (led by Miss Rachael Driskell)
- Music Block - Music (led by Mr. Graham Wilkinson) (merged with drama to become dramatic arts, led by Mr. Graham Wilkinson)
- Various parts of the main building - Art (led by Mr. Neil Gledhill)
[edit] Notre Dame Virtual School
The school collaborates with Notre Dame schools all over the world through the Global Virtual Learning Environment 'Notre Dame Virtual School' (NDVS)
