Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill
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. Ms Justine McDonald took on the headship in January 2016. The previous headteacher was Mrs Jane Gray who had taken over from Mrs Margaret 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 Sister John, the last Servite head teacher, and the deputy Sr Sheila Sumner, the daily presence of the Trustees has gone, but these serve as Foundation Governors on the Governing Body. 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. Departments of the school. There are 19 departments in the school.