Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College
Address
St. Mark's Avenue Yorkshire & Humbershire Leeds , West Yorkshire , LS2 9BL England
Coordinates	53°48′39″N 1°33′10″W / 53.81075°N 1.55289°W / 53.81075; -1.55289
Information
Type	Sixth form college
Motto	Ah! Qu'il est bon le Bon dieu (Ah! How good is the Good Lord)
Religious affiliation(s)	Christianity
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Established	c. 1989
Founder	Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
School district	Public School
Local authority	Leeds City Council
Department for Education URN	130548 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair	David Wright
Principal	Justine Barlow
Chaplain	Andrew Sullivan
Gender	Mixed
Age range	16-19
Enrolment	c. 2,000
Average class size	20
Language	English
Hours in school day	7
Former name	Notre Dame Grammar School
Diocese	Leeds
Website	www.notredamecoll.ac.uk

Notre Dame is a catholic Sixth Form College in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The college is situated on Saint Mark's Avenue, near the engineering departments of the University of Leeds in Woodhouse, Leeds. It is near the (formerly C of E) St Mark's Church, Woodhouse, Leeds,^[1] and the Leeds Universities Catholic Church and Centre.^[2] It provides A-Level and vocational full-time courses in further education.

History

In 1898 the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur came to Leeds and to the two-classroom parish school of St Anne's situated behind it. In 1904 the main part of what is now the Sixth Form College was built and opened as Notre Dame Collegiate School for Girls from the age of eleven to fourteen.^{[citation needed]}

Notre Dame was one of three catholic direct grant grammar schools in Leeds, and the second that was all-female from 1946.^[3] It later was known as Notre Dame Grammar School. The school was handed over to the diocese in the 1970s when the Sisters of Notre Dame changed their focus to education in developing countries.^{[citation needed]}

The school became Notre Dame High School in 1978, a catholic comprehensive school for ages 13–19 with around 650 girls.^[4] All the other Catholic direct grant schools in Leeds also changed this year.

The sixth form college was formed in September 1989 as the sixth form centre for Catholic education in Leeds. It was decided to merge the boys and girls sixth forms together in one college (from, Notre Dame High School itself, Mount St Mary's, St Michael's College and Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School). For nearly ninety years before this, a girls’ school was present on the same site. This was one of a network of girls’ secondary schools in England and Scotland which belonged to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.^{[citation needed]} Admissions for girls (Year 3, age 13–14 years old) ceased in 1989, with the school pupils present moving up each year, and a growing number of Sixth Form admissions.

Admissions

Notre Dame currently has a student body of approximately 2,000 pupils between the 2 years (of A levels); giving it a ten times larger student body than the average Leeds Sixth form. It is a Roman Catholic faith institution and the only one of that denomination in the city for ages 16–18.

Notable alumni

• Matty Lee^[5]
• Gabby Logan^{[citation needed]} nee Yorath
• Jonathan Mason (actor)
• Akierra Missick, Turks and Caicos Islands politician and lawyer^[6]

Notre Dame Collegiate School for Girls

• Janet Dibley, actress who played Lorna Cartwright in EastEnders in the late 1990s
• Prof Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences since 2005 at the Open University, who gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 2003^{[citation needed]}
• Lady Parkinson, journalist and television presenter, and wife of Sir Michael Parkinson^{[citation needed]}
• Kazia Pelka, Polish-heritage actress who played Anna Wolska in Brookside, and sister of actor Valentine Pelka
• Patricia Ruanne, ballerina
• Marion Ryan, singer^{[citation needed]}