La Sainte Union Catholic School


La Sainte Union Catholic School is a girls' Roman Catholic secondary school based in Highgate, Camden in North London.

History

Formerly, a grant-maintained school, La Sainte Union Catholic School is now a voluntary-aided school which teaches girls aged 11–18. It is a Specialist Science College. It was awarded Beacon school status in 1999.
The school is a part of the LaSWAP Sixth Form consortium, together with William Ellis School, Acland Burghley School and Parliament Hill School. As such, although the main student body is female, the school has a mixed sixth-form.
The school is named after the order of sisters that founded and continues to run the school, the Sisters of La Sainte Union des Sacrés-Coeurs. This teaching order was founded in 1826 by Father Jean-Baptiste Debrabant, a Belgian priest who felt that the future of the Catholic Church lay in the hands of the young women who would eventually bring up future generations of the faithful, declaring that "a Christian-based education offers sure hope for the future of religion and society".
The school site is on Highgate Road/Croftdown Road, opposite Parliament Hill Fields. It was originally a small private boarding school, becoming a grammar school in the 1960s, and then a comprehensive in the 1970s. During the 1990s the school had grant-maintained status. It was one of the first schools in London to be named as a Beacon school in a government scheme designed to recognize outstanding achievement in inner-city schools. The school has recently also been awarded specialist school status.

LaSWAP Sixth Form

The LaSWAP Sixth Form is the sixth form consortium of four North London schools: Acland Burghley School, La Sainte Union Catholic School, Parliament Hill School and William Ellis School. It is one of the largest sixth form consortia in the Greater London area offering some 42 different AS and A2 courses, AGCEs, BTECs, NVQs and GCSE courses. The name was formed from the first three letters of La Sainte Union and the first letter of the other three schools.

Notable former pupils