St Helen and St Katharine

St. Helen and St. Katharine is a private girls' day school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

History
St. Helen's School, Abingdon was founded in 1903 by the Community of St Mary the Virgin to provide a Christian education for girls. St. Katharine's School, in Wantage, was founded in 1894. The schools merged in 1938 to create St. Helen & St. Katharine.

The present school
St. Helen and St. Katharine is an independent day school for girls and young women located on the outskirts of Abingdon. An extensive network of school buses, which St. Helen and St. Katharine shares with Abingdon School, brings students to the school from across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and surrounding counties. 720 pupils, aged 9 to 18, study in a campus of Edwardian and modern buildings, set in 22 acres.

Bursaries of up to 100% of the fees are available to pupils from Year 7 and are based on means-tested assessments of financial circumstances.

Close links with Abingdon School add a co-educational dimension, with some joint sixth form teaching and collaboration in other activities, including a school bus service and joint Critical Thinking course taken by all Lower Sixth pupils. The close relationship between the two schools enables music, drama and debating, as well as many social events to take place together.

Buildings
The original school building dates from 1906. In recent years an extensive building programme has been undertaken. Most recent developments include a Performing Arts Centre; Sports Centre with fitness suite; a library facility which includes ICT Suites, lecture theatre and careers library which opened in 2010; and a Science Centre (2014) with 12 laboratories and a three-storey glass atrium event space was added. A sports centre with rowing suite, indoor cycle studio and fitness gym were added in 2016.

In 2023, the school opened its new Sixth Form Centre, the Benedict Building, featuring 9 classrooms, a Higher Education Library, independent and group study spaces, lecture hall and cafe.

Curriculum
The curriculum includes the following subjects: Art and design, Biology, Ceramics, Chemistry, Classics, Computer science, Design Technology, Drama and theatre, Economics, English Language and Literature, Food and nutrition, French, Geography, German, Politics, Greek, History, Latin, Mandarin, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Music, Personal Development, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religion, Philosophy and Ethics (RPE), and Spanish. The school has its own Chapel in which a weekly Eucharist is offered to staff and girls.

Sport
Major sports include lacrosse, netball, athletics, tennis, football and cricket, as well as basketball, cross country, hockey, trampolining, badminton, rugby, gymnastics, swimming, fencing and dance.

Music and drama
Tuition is provided in all major instruments including the harp and organ and over 300 individual music lessons take place each week.

Clubs and societies
The school's extracurricular programme, Beyond, boasts 100+ clubs and societies every week. From cricket, rugby and trampolining to TechSpace, Arti Club, Darwinian Society and Tycoon Enterprise, Beyond offers students an opportunity to explore and extend their interests, make friends across year groups, and build confidence and self-belief through personal achievement.

St Kate's Day celebrations
The school celebrates St. Katharine's Day, which it describes as ’St. Kate's Day’, in November each year. In the morning there is a Eucharist, followed by events to raise money for the school's chosen charities. A highlight of the day is the lunchtime lacrosse fixture between St. Helen's Senior lacrosse team and the boys of Abingdon School's Rugby First XV.

Alumnae

 * Mary Allen, former Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House
 * Hatti Archer (née Hatti Dean), athlete
 * Veronica Ashworth, RAF officer and nurse
 * Samantha Cameron, businesswoman and wife of former British Prime Minister David Cameron
 * Justice Johannah Cutts, Justice of the High Court
 * Jennie Formby, senior official in the Unite trade union and General Secretary of the Labour Party
 * Elspeth Hanson, violinist with "Bond"
 * Jessica Harrison, Olympic triathlete (2008 and 2012)
 * Phyllis Hartnoll, poet, author and editor
 * Claire Lawrence, former British Ambassador to Lithuania
 * Anne Mueller, civil servant and academic
 * Lindsey Russell, TV and radio presenter
 * Emily Sheffield, former editor of the Evening Standard
 * Alice Thomson, Leader Writer, The Times
 * Jane Tranter, TV producer and former Head, BBC Worldwide Productions
 * Rebecca Wait, novelist


 * Belinda Bucknall KC, Barrister, arbitrator, and mediator
 * Lucy Eaton, actress and podcaster known for BBC TV comedy series ‘Staged’
 * Gabrielle Kingaby, Bletchley Park codebreaker
 * Lulu Taylor, novelist, journalist and presenter