St Helen and St Katharine
| School of St Helen and St Katharine | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Faringdon Road , , OX14 1BE | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent day |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Church of England |
| Established | 1903 1938 (current school) |
| Local authority | Oxfordshire |
| Headmistress | Miss R Edbrooke |
| Gender | Girls |
| Age | 9 to 18 |
| Enrollment | 660~ |
| Colour(s) | |
| Website | http://www.shsk.org.uk/ |
The School of St Helen & St Katharine is an independent girls' school, located in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
History
The School of St Helen & St Katharine was created in 1938 under the auspices of the Community of St Mary the Virgin in Wantage from the merger of two separate girls' schools: St Helen's School, Abingdon (founded in 1903 to provide a Christian education for girls in the Abingdon area) and St Katharine's School, Wantage. The joint school is commonly known as "St Helen's".
The present school
The School of St Helen & St Katharine's buildings are numerous and have separate areas for more specialist subjects — eight science laboratories, a modern languages block and an English block including a specialist Language Learning Centre; a performing arts centre containing a circular theatre; a library and lecture theatre; many music rooms, including music technology with a recording studio; an exhibition gallery; and two modern sports halls - one for indoor sports such as netball and the other (opened in 2005) containing a specialist fitness suite, indoor area for gymnastics, trampolining, badminton, and large changing and teaching facilities. There is also a large outdoor swimming pool, although this is no longer in use as swimming lessons are taken at the recently opened pool at nearby Abingdon School. There are also lacrosse and rounders pitches, tennis and netball courts, a long jump and triple jump sand pit and grass running tracks.
A new library, the Jean Duffield Library, has been completed. It contains a lecture theatre, careers room, higher education office, sixth form study area, an archives area, a junior library, a reference library, two large ICT classrooms and a seminar room.
Academics
The school has a good academic record. It broke its record in the 2002 A Levels with 45% of its candidates scoring A* grades.[1] In the 2011 GCSEs, it was one of the top schools in Oxfordshire and ranked 56th nationally at its peak, gradually decreasing in its place.[2] Many school leavers go on to top British universities including Oxbridge, Bristol University, University of St Andrews, Durham University, University College London, Kings College London.[3]
Some Upper School (Sixth Form) lessons are taught jointly with the local independent boys' school, Abingdon School.[4]
Sports
St Helen has a strong sporting tradition.[5] They were 2006 county champions in lacrosse, netball, basketball and tennis and individuals have gone on to represent their country in sailing, squash, rounders, lacrosse and more. The school fulfills the national curriculum requirements and offers a wide range of other sports including yoga, t'ai chi, street dance, fitness, judo and fencing. The sports department also offer physical education for GCSE, AS and A Level. The physical education department was drastically changed at the beginning of the academic year 2011, when multiple new teachers came in and introduced new clubs and a wider range of opportunities for all pupils.[4]
The arts
The school studies music, providing lessons with permanent staff in specific instruments to the pupils such as the violin and flute, as well as hiring teachers to come in for a day a week to teach less-demanded instruments such as percussion and guitar. The pupils often compete in regional competitions, and sometimes national competitions. Many current and ex-pupils are members of institutions like the National Youth Orchestra. As well as lessons in instruments, there are many groups, bands and orchestras, who play in concerts, charity events and when hired.
The drama department is housed in the purpose built Studio Theatre, an in the round space with seating for over a hundred people, fully equipped with lighting and sound, in which lessons for the higher years are held, as well as most productions and clubs. The Yolande Paterson hall is also sometimes used for larger scale productions, like musicals, and is also fully equipped with lighting and sound. Teachers run various clubs, including groups working towards a devised or scripted piece, or audition clinics, which are usually one on one, to help those with interviews for drama schools or clubs. There are usually three Senior productions a year, outside of the curriculum, a full scale musical every other year, a medium sized piece, usually in the Studio Theatre, and often an unusual piece, such as recent productions in the Sports hall. The senior productions are joint with the nearby Abingdon school. There are also productions for the younger years. Overall, the drama department has an excellent staff, creating imaginative pieces and are even taking twenty girls and boys to Japan on a drama tour this summer.
Extracurricular
The school has a wide range of extracurricular activities available to the girls. These include dance classes, chess club, several, debating, drama clubs, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, many different musical orchestras and bands, pottery and Young Enterprise.
Former pupils
- Mary Allen, writer and broadcaster
- Samantha Cameron, wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron
- Hatti Dean, athlete
- Kat English, singer and actress
- Elspeth Hanson, violinist
References
- ^ "'An excellent set of results'". Oxford Mail. 24 August 2002.
- ^ "New GCSE results show the difference in how youngsters change at secondary school". Oxford Mail. 26 January 2012.
- ^ Destination of Leavers 2011
- ^ a b Upper School Curriculum
- ^ "St Helen's team is ace". Oxford Mail. 26 October 2011.
External links
- The School of St Helen and St Katharine Website
- 2010 ISI Inspection Report
- The SHSK Society (Old Girls)