Ursuline High School, Virgo Fidelis, Notre Dame

[VeryHappyIndeed]

Hello! I am looking into these schools to apply in the autumn and I would appreciate very much any comments from parents currently sending their daughters to these schools or who have left recently.

Are there other all girls catholic schools that you would recommend? Or all girls state schools (selective or not) near SE London?

Many thanks!

Re st ursula Greenwich...
the teaching school just means they have visiting trainee teachers who are completing their training ... it's not a major feature of the school for the girls but shows how good it is held to be!
Progress is excellent and I'm really pleased with how well my daughters are doing there. They pride themselves on all children's progress and that shows in their being a top 100 school in the country for progress 8. They are non selective academically but they still have incredible results. They just have one open day in September definitely worth coming to see for yourself

When I was at the ursuline we all laughed at st philomena uniform. Calf length brown kilt!
The ursuline uniform has a striped shirt that makes you go cross eyed when you iron it though...

I was at La Retraite, but back in the 1980s so I suspect my opinion on it is irrelevant! I loved it there, though.

@VeryHappyIndeed do you meet the ‘catholic’ credentials for the catholic schools? Is your Dd at a catholic primary? Don’t catholic primaries and churches generally have schools that their children / worshippers go on to?

You will need to make sure that your list of preferences includes at least one school that you will definitely get a place in.

Thank you very much for all the comments, they are all extremely helpful. My daughter is baptized and churchgoer, but does not attend a catholic primary and we recently moved to this area. In addition, we attend a church that is not local to us. I am not sure that we will meet the distance criteria for the oversubscribed schools, but at least there are several options, so hopefully it will be all right in the end.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your views!

Is single sex education your main aim?

Schools can only admit in accordance with the published admissions criteria.

Make sure the priest knows your Dd is attending! Often there is a register which is used as the basis of schools admissions.

Another all girls schools you might check the admissions criteria for is St Martin in the Fields. It is an outstanding CoE girls secondary. More popular now they changed the previous hideous uniform

Lots of good co Ed comps in SE London, though.

@FranckieManca I would prefer single sex and catholic as my first option but of course, if the commute is terrible or we are not accepted in our preferred ones, then we would be open to coed. Would you mind sharing the good co Ed comps? I am aware of the Charter in Dulwich. Thanks!

It depends where you live. The comps really do work on tight distance criteria.

Charter (two schools now, North Dulwich and East Dulwich)
Kingsdale
People talk about Habetdashers, Prendergast, etc.

Sydenham School is an excellent girls school if you are near there.

@VeryHappyIndeed I'm a bit late to the thread, but will be attending la retraite open day next week. So will post my thoughts. I live in north London and it's in my top 3.

Thank you! I was not aware that they have an open day. Is it a virtual open day or in person? Many thanks!!

Just googled the St Martin uniform after reading the post above and yes it is certainly a big improvement. The previous one was not easy on the eyes!
I grew up near St Philomenas and remember when they brought in the current uniform as a replacement for the previous teal and rust number. Not sure the brown, beige and cream replacement was such an improvement though!

@VeryHappyIndeed no, not virtual. I think there may still be slots available on the website.

Re Virgo Fidelis, I assume you mean the girls school in Norwood. My eldest DD was in the Junior school for 2 years many years ago and from what I know the Senior School has been in rapid decline since and in recent years looked on the verge of closure.

@SJaneS48

Re Virgo Fidelis, I assume you mean the girls school in Norwood. My eldest DD was in the Junior school for 2 years many years ago and from what I know the Senior School has been in rapid decline since and in recent years looked on the verge of closure.

I don't think that is fair or accurate. Its latest Ofsted describes it as a good school.

@LifeAfterBreastCancer

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/insidecroydon.com/2020/05/05/head-quits-as-high-risk-virgo-fidelis-struggles-with-budget/amp/

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/insidecroydon.com/2020/08/18/240-virgo-fidelis-pupils-sent-away-due-to-unsafe-buildings/amp/

That is really sad to see.

And it looks like it is in consultation to close. Always sad to see a school close, particularly one like this.

I agree.

‘ A landmark Victorian school building in Upper Norwood is “not currently safe for pupils and staff” and has been deemed to be beyond repair, forcing Croydon Council to tell the parents and carers of 240 pupils that they will have to go to other schools in September.’

Hard to see how it will come back from that without significant investment.

It'll probably be turned into flats. I agree it's sad when a school with a long history closes. You'd think a girls' catholic school would be really popular as they often are

@stokeybaby87 hello Stokey! Did you manage to attend the open day in La Retraite? Would you mind sharing your impression of the school? Many thanks!

Hi!
I left Notre Dame in 2015, other sisters left 2017 and 2020, just thought I'd give you my opinion on the school.

Teaching is okay if you're academically gifted. If you're not, they give barely any support.

Headteacher is really negative and doesn't show support to struggling pupils. Instead, she will gather them in her office in year 11 all at once when their mocks aren't great and instead of showing support and helping them, she will tell them all that they will fail and never get a good job or go to university. In all my 5 years of being there, I think I spoke to her once for a reward from the PE teacher.

Since I left in 2015, it seems to have gone rapidly downhill from the stories my sisters told me, e.g. phones out in lessons, (headteacher bans phones which I agree with 100%, but students seem to always have them out in lessons and seem to be getting away with it, including teachers allowing students to film snapchats in the PE changing rooms).

They reward the badly behaved children for being good for one lesson, I never got rewarded for my good behaviour, nor did my sisters.

Pupil wise, I was really lucky. I'm still in contact with a big group of students and bullying was something I never really experienced, however, my other 2 sisters don't speak to anyone since leaving and had problems with other girls in mostly every year (always the same group of girls and nothing was sorted out over it after many phone calls).

My advice to you would be to check the school out for yourself, you might like the school. The school itself is tiny compared to other schools, which is good in my opinion and something I liked over other schools I toured in year 6. Your daughter may like Notre Dame the best (year 7 have their own building now which is a good way to settle into secondary) and she could also have a mainly positive experience like myself. I personally had an ok experience and I do miss my secondary school days. I think if the current headteacher left and one of the assistant/ deputy heads took over, the school would be a great school, but sadly, the headteacher lacks building good relationships with her students, (whereas I would say the senior leadership team has much better relationships with students) and from my sister's experience, the headteacher really embarrassed and degraded her.

Any questions you have I'll be happy to answer them, hope this helped a bit :)

@gs2202 thank you very much, this is very useful! It is difficult because not many schools have real open days, so have seen a couple of schools virtually. It is really useful to actually hear from somebody who attended the school. Thanks again!

@VeryHappyIndeed No problem! They have an open day this Saturday (10th Oct), if its a school you are considering definitely check it out, best to get a feel for it. Lots of my friends had really good experiences, just best to know both sides of people's experiences. If you have any questions after I am more than happy to help :)

@Rockbird

I went to the Ursuline but left in 1990 so am possibly not much help...

You were 2 years behind me. I left in 1986 but went elsewhere for sixth form. I hated it, but we were taught by quite a few nuns when I was there in the 80s. I have only heard good things about it though in recent years.

Virgo Fidelis has closed. Very sad.

Not sure where you are OP as you seem interested in schools over a wide area. St Catherine's in Bexleyheath is a fantastic school. Best progress 8 in the Borough and holds its own results wise against the grammar schools. It may be too far out for you though.