St Claudine's Catholic School for Girls (formerly Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College) is a girls'

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, north-west London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west towar ...

within the

London Borough of Brent Brent () is a London boroughs, borough in north-west London, England. It is known for landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Swaminarayan Temple and the Kiln Theatre. It also contains the Brent Reservoir, W ...

. It gained specialism in

modern languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead clas ...

since 1996 and became an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in September 2012.

History

The Religious of Jesus and Mary, who originated in France, were invited by Cardinal Manning to open a convent school in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...

. The school's

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid in 1888 and the Convent of Jesus and Mary opened as a private

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for girls, although boarding was scrapped at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was the first of three convent schools established by the Sisters in the present-day borough; the second convent school is now the local parish infant school. During the era of the

tripartite system The Tripartite System was the selective school system of State school#United Kingdom, state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 onwards in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementa ...

, the convent was unique as it operated as a

bilateral school In England, a partially selective school is one of a few dozen state-funded secondary schools that select a proportion of their intake by ability or aptitude, permitted as a continuation of arrangements that existed prior to 1997. Though treate ...

offering both

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

and

secondary modern A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupils ...

streams. During the 1950s-60s, the school went through a period of major redevelopment. In 1952, as with many Catholic schools across the country, it joined the state sector as a

voluntary aided school A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

and maintained this status until April 2012 when the school converted to an academy. A number of Catholic schools nearby were reorganised into primary/junior and infant schools and their senior pupils were all transferred to the Convent. The main Convent itself was split in two as younger pupils were transferred to the second convent school (now Convent of Jesus and Mary Infant School). It became a comprehensive in 1966 with the abolition of the tripartite system in the borough. In 2021 the school changed its name from Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College to St Claudine's Catholic School for Girls. Today the school continues to serve the Catholic community in the borough and welcomes girls of all faiths or none. The school is a diverse community with around three-quarters of the students coming from minority ethnic groups. Roughly a third of students are of

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

heritage or other Black backgrounds.

Achievements

In recent times the school has been awarded accolades such as the

International School Award The International School Award is a British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the Un ...

in 2008. In 2009, the school was rated "outstanding" in both the

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

and

Diocesan 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 associated ...

inspection reports. In 2000, long-serving

head teacher A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management Management (or managing ...

Mary Richardson (née Habgood; born 26 February 1936), BA, PGCE, who had retired the previous year, was created a

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) for her outstanding work at the school. When Richardson arrived at the school in 1985 only 8% of pupils left with more than 5A*-C GCSEs; this rose to 61% on her retirement in 1999.

Notable former pupils

Cait O'Riordan Caitlín O'Riordan (born 4 January 1965) is a British musician. She played bass guitar for the Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello as well as Bush Tetras and several other projects. She uses the name Rocky O'Riordan ...

(b. 1965) - musician, former bass player for

The Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

Lenora Crichlow Lenora Isabella Crichlow (born 4 January 1985) is a British actress. She became known for her starring roles as Maria "Sugar" Sweet in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series '' Sugar Rush'', Annie Sawyer in the BBC Three supernatural drama series ' ...

(b. 1985) - actress

Convent of Jesus & Mary

* Judy Grinham, swimmer who won the gold in the 1956 Olympic 100m backstroke in Melbourne * Anna Quayle (1932-2019) - actress * Jane Scott (b. 1947) - Baroness Scott of Bybrookm, politicianPeter Hetherington
Leader of Wiltshire Council
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' dated 28 May 2013, online at the guardian.com, accessed 16 November 2014.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Secondary schools in the London Borough of Brent Educational institutions established in 1886 Girls' schools in London Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster Academies in the London Borough of Brent 1886 establishments in England