St Anne's Catholic School, Southampton

Coordinates: 50°54′53″N 1°24′20″W / 50.91472°N 1.40556°W / 50.91472; -1.40556

St Anne's Catholic School

Motto	Semper Fidelis (Always faithful)
Established	1904[1]
Type	Academy
Religion	Roman Catholic
Headteacher	Ms Lyn Bourne
Location	Carlton Road Southampton Hampshire SO15 2WZ England
DfE number	852/5417
DfE URN	138476 Tables
Ofsted	Reports Pre-academy reports
Students	1080
Gender	Girls; Coeducational Sixth Form
Ages	11–18
Houses	7
Colours	Blue and yellow
Diocese	Portsmouth
Website	www.st-annes.uk.com

St Anne's Catholic School is an outstanding 11-18 secondary school in Southampton, England, for girls. The school's sixth form is coeducational. The school is situated close to the city centre, and attracts pupils from all round the city and beyond. The school converted to academy status in August 2012. In January 2016, there were 1080 students enrolled in the school, with 48 students at the end of Year 13.^[2] Until 2006, it was known as St Anne's Convent School.^[3]

History

St Anne's Convent School was established in 1904 by the La Sainte Union Sisters and is still under their trusteeship. It was the first direct grant grammar school to convert to a comprehensive intake.^[4] After over a century of single-sex education, boys were admitted into the sixth form for the first time beginning in the 2006-07 school year. The "convent" was dropped from the school's official title to reflect this change.^[3][5]

Premises

The school occupies a site on the corner of Carlton Road and Carlton Crescent back to Rockstone Place. Nos. 11 and 12 Carlton Crescent are Grade II listed buildings. The westwards extension of No. 12 was built in 1961, for which the architects, Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners received a Civic Trust design award;^[6] this was described as "a model of neighbourly treatment in terms of scale character and materials, and an outstanding example of a modern building meeting present-day requirements yet harmonising beautifully with an earlier style".^[7]

Houses

The school is organised into a house system, with each of the seven houses named after a Saint (Alban, Becket, Bede, Campion, Edmund, Fisher and Gregory). There are two House Captains for each house: students from the Sixth form who apply for the posts. The students have several "House Assemblies" per year, in addition to their weekly "Year Assemblies". Along with Tutor Groups (in houses) there are Teaching Groups. In KS3 these are named after trees and rivers and arranged according to English and maths ability.^[8]

Academics

The school annually achieves significantly better than the national average.^[9] The progress students make from starting at age 11 places it in the top 10% of schools nationally.^[10] The school's 5A*-C indicator has been in the 70-80% range for the past 4 years. It achieved an English Baccalaureate result of 47% in 2015.^[11] It regularly ranks at the top of the A Levels results table for non-independent schools in Hampshire.^[3]

Ofsted Inspection Reports

The school was last inspected by OFSTED in March 2016. The inspection team rated the overall effectiveness of the school as Outstanding in all areas, including the sixth form.^[12][13]

Key findings of the Inspection

• The headteacher’s excellent leadership has improved all aspects of the school since the last inspection. Governors and senior leaders are highly effective. Together they have created a culture where staff and pupils flourish.
• The headteacher has systematically developed the staff so that they have high levels of expertise in teaching and learning.
• Governance is first-rate. Governors effectively contribute to the school’s success because they rigorously monitor their impact on driving the school forward and challenge themselves and school leaders to do better where necessary.
• Outcomes are outstanding. Excellent relationships between teachers and pupils, challenging teaching and highly effective systems for tracking pupil progress ensure all groups of pupils, including the most able, achieve very well.
• Achievement at GCSE has improved every year for the last three years and is well above the national average. Progress is above average in all subject areas.
• Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary and their attendance is above average and improving.
• The school is a warm and caring community where pupils flourish. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is woven through lessons and is a particular strength of the school.
• Leaders and teachers have imparted the pupils with a very strong work ethic, a love of learning and a desire to excel.
• Disadvantaged pupils are very well supported and so make the same progress as, or better than, other pupils nationally.
• Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are also very well supported and so make very strong progress.
• The curriculum is effective in both key stages and in the 16–19 provision, and provides excellent opportunities for pupils’ personal and academic development.
• Pupils are happy at St Anne’s Catholic School and staff keep them safe. Leaders robustly monitor safeguarding procedures and ensure that no issues slip through the net.

References