St Dominic's Sixth Form College
Encyclopedia
St Dominic's Sixth Form College is a Roman Catholic Sixth Form college on Harrow-on-the-Hill. It is regularly rated among the top FE institutions in West London and has a very high percentage of students obtaining top university places. The college has approximately 900 students aged between 16 and 18 and nearly 200 members of staff. The college was opened and initiated by Cardinal Hume. There are a variety of courses to choose from including the conventional GCSE 'A' Levels whilst students who get less than 5 GCSE A*-C can opt for more vocational BTEC Qualifications with GCSE resits. The college has been awarded many different accolades by both universities and examining bodies and has achieved Beacon Status
. In its latest Ofsted
inspection all departments were rated as 'Outstanding'.
, Basil Hume and St Catherine of Siena
. The Aquinas building contains the Open Access Computer suite, the Science department and the Music department. The Catherine building was the original school building and was completely remodelled to form the library, the Mathematics department, the Languages department, the IT department and the Psychology department as well as the canteen and the Careers Office and Theatre suites. The Hume building contains the Reception, the Business studies department, the Art department, the Humanities department, an Examination hall, the admin department and various other staff rooms including the Principal's and Vice Principal's office.
The chapel has services on Fridays and Sundays with regular public speakers visiting the college to give lectures to students. In 2006 large covered, outside seating areas were built as the courtyard and canteen had become overcrowded. There is also a field towards the back of the site with basketball
and tennis
courts which are informally used as a smoking area. These have now been destroyed in preparation for a new sports hall to be built
. The sisters first set up a girls' boarding school in 1878 in the Mount, Harrow-on-the-Hill, moving later to a new building in the convent grounds when day pupils were admitted. In 1937 the school was extended but the boarding school closed in 1948 and the junior department shortly afterwards (Harrow, including Pinner : Education 1971). At its peak in the early 1970s the school had three form entries per school year. Over the years the sisters' involvement in the school had diminished with the dropping in the number of vocations although the school was run, until it closed, by one of the order. In the mid 1970's it became apparent that the school could not continue in its existing form with constant pressure from the Local Authority to cease any grants. Eventually plans were made to close as a school and reopen as a Catholic sixth form college. From 1975 onwards there was no new intake of girls to prepare for this time and in March 1978 Cardinal Basil Hume laid the foundation stone which is now displayed outside the Hume Building. In July 1979 the school closed and the remaining nuns transferred to the Dominican convent in Stone, Staffordshire
, the convent building on Sudbury Hill having been sold the previous year for conversion to flats.
Over the subsequent years the site has been developed to provide state of the art facilities for the students but with the consequent loss of open space. The original tennis courts are now the Hume Building, the rounders field is the new Sports Hall and Gym, the cloister garden a courtyard seating area, convent grounds the Aquinas Building and school front lawns a car park.
Notable alumni include Dilys Laye
Beacon Status
Beacon Status is a learning and skills recognition of the excellence and innovation which exists within the Learning and Skills sector for the United Kingdom. The award congratulates learning providers that deliver outstanding teaching and learning and are well led and managed...
. In its latest Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
inspection all departments were rated as 'Outstanding'.
Grounds
There are four main buildings on the school grounds: the Aquinas building, the Catherine building, the Hume building and the Chapel. Each of the buildings was named after a notable figure in Christian theology; Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
, Basil Hume and St Catherine of Siena
Catherine of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D, was a tertiary of the Dominican Order, and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. She was proclaimed a Doctor...
. The Aquinas building contains the Open Access Computer suite, the Science department and the Music department. The Catherine building was the original school building and was completely remodelled to form the library, the Mathematics department, the Languages department, the IT department and the Psychology department as well as the canteen and the Careers Office and Theatre suites. The Hume building contains the Reception, the Business studies department, the Art department, the Humanities department, an Examination hall, the admin department and various other staff rooms including the Principal's and Vice Principal's office.
The chapel has services on Fridays and Sundays with regular public speakers visiting the college to give lectures to students. In 2006 large covered, outside seating areas were built as the courtyard and canteen had become overcrowded. There is also a field towards the back of the site with basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
courts which are informally used as a smoking area. These have now been destroyed in preparation for a new sports hall to be built
History
The college was established in 1979 from St Dominic's Independent Grammar School for girls which had been run by nuns of the Dominican OrderDominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
. The sisters first set up a girls' boarding school in 1878 in the Mount, Harrow-on-the-Hill, moving later to a new building in the convent grounds when day pupils were admitted. In 1937 the school was extended but the boarding school closed in 1948 and the junior department shortly afterwards (Harrow, including Pinner : Education 1971). At its peak in the early 1970s the school had three form entries per school year. Over the years the sisters' involvement in the school had diminished with the dropping in the number of vocations although the school was run, until it closed, by one of the order. In the mid 1970's it became apparent that the school could not continue in its existing form with constant pressure from the Local Authority to cease any grants. Eventually plans were made to close as a school and reopen as a Catholic sixth form college. From 1975 onwards there was no new intake of girls to prepare for this time and in March 1978 Cardinal Basil Hume laid the foundation stone which is now displayed outside the Hume Building. In July 1979 the school closed and the remaining nuns transferred to the Dominican convent in Stone, Staffordshire
Stone, Staffordshire
Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about seven miles north of Stafford, and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of...
, the convent building on Sudbury Hill having been sold the previous year for conversion to flats.
Over the subsequent years the site has been developed to provide state of the art facilities for the students but with the consequent loss of open space. The original tennis courts are now the Hume Building, the rounders field is the new Sports Hall and Gym, the cloister garden a courtyard seating area, convent grounds the Aquinas Building and school front lawns a car park.
Notable alumni include Dilys Laye
Dilys Laye
Dilys Laye was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for comedy roles. She died of cancer aged 74.- Early life :...