Notre Dame is a

Sixth Form College A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate ...

Leeds, West Yorkshire Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populatio ...

, England. The college is situated on Saint Mark's Avenue, near to the engineering departments of the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in Woodhouse, Leeds. It is near the (formerly C of E) St Mark's Church, Woodhouse, Leeds, and the Leeds Universities Catholic Church and Centre. It provides A-Level and vocational full time courses in further education.

History

In 1898 the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) are a Catholic institute of religious sisters, founded to provide education to the poor. The institute was founded in Amiens, France, in 1804, but the oppo ...

came to Leeds and to the two-classroomed parish school of St Anne's situated behind it. In 1904 the main part of what is now the Sixth Form College was built and opened as Notre Dame Collegiate School for Girls from the age of eleven to fourteen. Notre Dame was one of three catholic

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

s in Leeds, and the second that was all-female from 1946. It later was known as Notre Dame Grammar School. The school was handed over to the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

in the 1970s when the

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

of Notre Dame changed their focus to education in developing countries. The school became the Notre Dame High School in 1978, a catholic comprehensive school for ages 13–19 with around 650 girls. All the other Catholic direct grant schools in Leeds also changed in this year. The sixth form college was formed in September 1989 as the sixth form centre for Catholic education in Leeds. It was decided to merge boys and girls sixth-forms together in one college (from, Notre Dame High School itself, Mount St Mary's, St Michael's College and Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School). For nearly ninety years before this, a girls’ school was present on the same site. This was one of a network of girls’ secondary schools in England and Scotland which belonged to the

. Admissions for girls (Year 3, age 13–14 years old) ceased in 1989, with the school pupils present moving up each year, and a growing Sixth Form admissions.

Admissions

Notre Dame currently has student body of approx 2,000 pupils between the 2 years (of A levels); giving it a ten times larger student body than the average Leeds Sixth form. It is a Roman Catholic faith institution, and the only one of that denomination in the city for ages 16–18.

Notable alumni

Matty Lee Matthew Lee (born 5 March 1998) is a British diver and Olympic gold medallist. Adept in both individual and synchronised diving, and across both 3-metre springboard and platform, Lee won the gold medal in 10-metre platform at the 2015 Europ ...

* Gabby Logan ''nee'' Yorath *

Jonathan Mason (actor) Jonathan Mason is an English actor. He is known for playing the lead role of the 2005 version of ''Lassie''. He is most notable for the part of Joe Carraclough in ''Lassie'' and as the roles of James, in ''Nits'' and Alistair Fury on ''The Rev ...

Akierra Missick Akierra Mary Deanne Missick (born 1983) is a Turks and Caicos Islands lawyer and politician. She served as Deputy Premier and Minister of Education from 2012 to 2016 and Leader of Government Business and Minister of Infrastructure from 2021 to 2 ...

, Turks and Caicos Islands politician and lawyer

Notre Dame Collegiate School for Girls

Janet Dibley Janet Dibley (born 13 December 1958) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Elaine Walker in the 1980s sitcom '' The Two of Us'', Lorna Cartwright in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', and Elaine Cassidy in the BBC soap opera '' D ...

, actress who played

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in EastEnders in the late 1990s * Prof

Monica Grady Monica Mary Grady, CBE (born 15 July 1958 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK), is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University and is al ...

, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences since 2005 at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

, who gave the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...

in 2003 * Lady Parkinson, journalist and television presenter, and wife of Sir

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

* Kazia Pelka, Polish-heritage actress who played Anna Wolska in ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Br ...

'', and sister of actor

Valentine Pelka Valentine Pelka (born 23 February 1956) is an English actor who has starred in film and on television. Biography Pelka was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, to a Polish civil engineer father and an Irish actress mother, and attend ...

Patricia Ruanne Patricia Ruanne (3 June 1945 – 1 November 2022) was a British ballerina, ballet mistress, teacher, repetiteur, and director. Early life Ruanne was born in Leeds, Yorkshire on 3 June 1945 to Robert and Joan Ruane (née Castell). Her fathe ...

, ballerina * Marion Ryan, singer

References

External links