Maria Fidelis Catholic School FCJ is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

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 ...

in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was founded by the

Faithful Companions of Jesus The Faithful Companions of Jesus Sisters (FCJ Sisters, French: ''Fidèles compagnes de Jésus'') is a Christian religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church directly subject to the Pope. It was founded in Amiens in France in 1820 by Marie M ...

History

The school was founded in 1830 by the

, or more specifically, their founder,

Marie-Madeleine d'Houët Marie-Madeleine d'Houët (1781–1858) also known as Viscountess de Bonnault d'Houët,Life of the Viscountess de Bonnault d'Houet: foundress of the Society of Faithful Companions of Jesus, Fr Stanislaus, F.M. Capuchin, Longmans, Green & Co., 2n ...

. Just months after the school's opening,

Marie Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compo ...

later realised she could not keep running the school and passed the role of

headteacher 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 of the school. Role While s ...

to Julie Guillemet, a friend of hers and FCJ

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent 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 ref ...

. It was at first an industrial school financed by charitable appeals. The school then progressed to being a convent boarding school and then to a selective non-fee paying

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

known as St. Aloysius. The school then became a comprehensive in 1974 with the merger of St. Aloysius with St. Vincent's Schools which was run by the

Sisters of Charity Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition alone, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (whose sisters are also of ...

. The name ''Maria Fidelis'' was chosen by the Sisters meaning ''Mary Most Faithful.'' Maria Fidelis today stands on Drummond Crescent in the Somers Town area of Camden, near Euston. The school won

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ' School Choir Of The Year' and are known for their vocal arrangements under the direction of Karen Gibson. The choir performed for

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

The Big Assembly ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

St Mary's University College, Twickenham St Mary's University, Twickenham is a public university in Strawberry Hill, London, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its stated commitment is to the mission of the Catholic Church in higher education. ...

on during his visit to the UK. Since , the school admits boys as well as girls, in

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

Current Building

The

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...

rail

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

's planned route was to go through North Gower Street, the location of the school's previous building. This meant the school was required to move locations to Drummond Crescent, nearby to

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...

. Work began on the site in and the school started moving in , before its official opening in .

Notable alumni

Jane Wymark Jane Wymark (born 31 October 1952) is an English actress. The daughter of English actor Patrick Wymark (1926–1970) and the American writer and playwright Olwen Wymark (1932–2013), she is best known for playing Morwenna Chynoweth Whitworth ...

(b. 1952) - actress, ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'' *

Kathy Burke Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964) is an English actress and comedian. She appeared in sketch shows such as '' French and Saunders'' (1988–1999), played a recurring role as Magda on the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992� ...

(born 1964) - comedian, actress and theatre director *

Roisin Conaty Roisin Conaty ( born 1979) is an English comedian, actress, and writer. She won the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 for her show ''Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar''. She played Jo in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Man Down'' from 20 ...

(born 1979) - comedian and actress *

Brooke Kinsella Brooke Kinsella (born 17 July 1983) is a British actress. A graduate of the Anna Scher Theatre School, Kinsella has been acting since childhood. She has had various roles on television and in film. Her most notable role is that of Kelly Taylor, ...

(born 1982) - actress

References

External links

Official websiteOfsted inspection reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Fidelis FCJ Catholic School Secondary schools in the London Borough of Camden Girls' schools in London Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster Educational institutions established in 1830 1830 establishments in England Voluntary aided schools in London