Sacred Heart Catholic High School, Newcastle upon Tyne

Sacred Heart High School is a secondary school with academy status for girls. It is located on Fenham Hall Drive in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Sacred Heart High School
Location
Fenham Hall Drive Newcastle upon Tyne , Tyne and Wear , NE4 9YH England
Coordinates	54.983°N 1.657°W / 54.983; -1.657
Information
Type	Academy
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1905
Founder	Society of the Sacred Heart
Local authority	Newcastle upon Tyne
Specialists	Technology and Arts
Department for Education URN	137708 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Headteacher	Suzanne Howell[1]
Staff	350
Gender	Girls
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	1,000 +
Diocese	Hexham and Newcastle
Website	http://www.sacredheart-high.org/

General Information

The school educates around 1,400 girls between the ages of eleven and eighteen on the site which has had a near £10 million makeover. The school consists of the main building, a technology and art building, a P.E. block, a maths and modern foreign languages building, a geography building, the sixth form centre, a small pottery and a dance studio. The uniform is currently (2015) a navy blue blazer and jumper, and a Douglas Tartan kilt or trousers(dark blue, light blue, green and white).^[2]

History

A private college was founded in Fenham Hall in 1903 becoming a Government-recognised boarding and day school in 1905, taking ex-pupil-teachers, scholarship and fee-paying pupils. The college initially opened with 60 pupils and was under the sponsorship of the Society of the Sacred Heart nuns. It went through a number of changes until 1926 when it obtained Direct Grant status and became a grammar school.^[3]

The grammar school lasted until 1977 when it became the Sacred Heart Comprehensive School, taking girls from 11 – 18 years old. In 1998 it was renamed the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic High School.^[3]

In 2007 the school signed up to the Building Schools for the Future initiative.^[2][3]

Alumni

• Donna Air, actress and television presenter
• Emma Foody, Labour and Co-operative Party politician who has served as MP for Cramlington and Killingworth since 2024.
• Aimee Kelly, actress
• Catherine McKinnell (née Grady), Labour MP since 2010 for Newcastle upon Tyne North^[4]

Sacred Heart Grammar School

• Mary Glindon (née Mulgrove), Labour MP since 2010 for North Tyneside^[5]
• Frances Lannon, academic, principal from 2002 to 2015 of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford^{[citation needed]}
• Val McLane, actress, scriptwriter, director and teacher^{[citation needed]}
• Mo O'Toole, politician, Labour MEP for North East England from 1999 to 2004^[6]

Former teachers

• Sister Bernadette Porter CBE (taught 1975–78), Vice-Chancellor from 1999 to 2004 of Roehampton University