Notre Dame High School, Norwich

In 1889 a new wing was built to accommodate around 70 boarding pupils, and in 1915 what is now Franchise House with adjoining land on Surrey Street, was purchased. On this land the present main building was erected and opened in 1926 when there were 238 girl pupils. A year later, the school became recognised by the Ministry of Education. In 1939 additional buildings became available for the dining hall and domestic science and in 1973 the Lady Julian Building, which had formerly housed its prep department, became part of Notre Dame High School. The prep department later became separate and is now an independent school.[1]

A major development in the school took place on 1 September 1979 when ownership of the school was transferred from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to the Diocese of East Anglia, and the school's status changed from girls' direct grant grammar school to a voluntary aided mixed comprehensive school.

Since 1980, the St Peter's Building (Science & Technology completed in 1994), the St Paul's Building (Sports Hall, 1985), the St Julie's Building (Reception and Administration, 1996) and St Catherine's Building (Modern Languages, 1996) have been acquired and modernised. In 1995 the Lady Julian Building (Library, Careers, History and Sixth Form Centre) was refurbished. In 2006, the St Paul's building was extensively refurbished, providing a Drama Studio and four new classrooms for Religious Education. This allowed the old Chapel, up until then used as a Drama studio, to be refurbished and turned back into a chapel. The new St Mary's building was completed by the end of October 2006, and houses a Sixth Form centre, a cafeteria, a library and extensive language classrooms. The St Catherine's building will then be used for staff training. The old St Mary's building, formerly the cafeteria, was demolished. The school has purchased a plot of land, once belonging to Norwich Union, for use as a playground for pupils.

Mr John Pinnington became the first lay headmaster of the school in January 1997, as successor of Sister Mary Cluderay. The school was awarded specialist school status for Languages in September 2000.

The school also has a new teacher training building. Mr. Ed Balls, the former Education Secretary, visited the school on 19 December 2008. Following a long internal and public consultation, it was decided that the school would acquire Academy status on 1 March 2012. This move will give Notre Dame more power over finances and curriculum, as power is moved away from Norfolk County Council.[2]

In March 2015, a Director of the school, Father Tony Mcsweeney, was found guilty of abusing a child between 1979-1981.

"His trial heard how for four decades he was an active paedophile, and that the church and the authorities, including the Catholic church, ignored at least two clear warning signs of his sexual interest in children.

The Catholic church has admitted that two bishops were responsible for allowing McSweeney to continue as a priest in the late 1990s, leading to his appointment at Notre Dame, after the housekeeper at his parish in Essex found what she said was a video containing paedophile images.

He was later appointed to a post in the diocese of East Anglia after discussions between the then bishop of Brentford, Thomas McMahon, and the then bishop of East Anglia, Peter Smith, now the archbishop of Southwark" -Guardian, March 2015 [3] [4]

• Margaret Beckett – MP for Derby South and former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• Tanya Burr – YouTube vlogger
• Jim Chapman – YouTube vlogger
• John Emms – chess Grandmaster
• Myleene Klass – Classical pianist, broadcaster and former member of the manufactured pop group Hear'Say
• Bailey May – Filipino-British singer and actor; Now United member
• Jack Bannon - English actor

• Official website