All Saints Catholic School, York is a split site, coeducational comprehensive Catholic secondary school and sixth form. The school is regarded as the oldest Catholic school in England.
The school has a split site. The Upper Site is between South Bank and Scarcroft Road in the south side of York, England, and is where years 10–13 are taught. The Lower Site is on Nunnery Lane close to Micklegate Bar and is where years 7–9 are taught.
In 2022, it was announced that All Saints is the best school in York, fifth best School in the North.
The school has been serving the Catholic population of York and more broadly Yorkshire (in some form) since 1665, and plays a role in the Catholic education of the region as the only Catholic Secondary school and Sixth Form in York.
Admissions All Saints is a secondary school and sixth form (being the single largest Catholic school in the region) for children from the York and Yorkshire Catholic Parishes, however welcomes students from other faiths and belief backgrounds.
Traditional entry points are at the beginning of each Key Stage when form (re)attribution also takes place.
At Sixth Form, two-thirds of the student body is typically from other York secondary schools.
History Founding Mary Ward, a nun from York, initiated a mission in to educate girls in the Catholic faith, with the aim of preserving Catholicism for future generations. She assumed leadership of the community and established convent-run schools on the Continent, where Catholicism was still legal. Following her death, the Sisterhood returned to York in 1686 and formalised a previous informal establishment Mary Ward had created. With the assistance of Thomas Gascoigne, a Yorkshire businessman who desired his daughters to receive a local Catholic education, the Bar Convent Girls School was founded. Gascoigne provided a £450 donation to set up the school. The school eventually became the first Roman Catholic institution to teach girls in the nation. The site was chosen because it lay beyond the city walls, beyond the reach of city authorities tasked with identifying and prosecuting Catholics.
During the 18th century the school had a lavish garden and small farm, where livestock was said to have been kept. Between 1766 and 1789, Thomas Atkinson designed and built a house frontage on Blossom Street and building a hidden domed chapel where in April 1769, the first Roman Catholic mass was celebrated in the school chapel. The strategically designed chapel includes eight exits for rapid escape during anti-Catholic raids. Renovations in the 21st century also revealed a priest hole, designed due to the death penalty Catholic Mass carried with it. 'no more than a boarding school for young ladies of Roman Catholic families'.
– Drake describing the Convent and school in 1736During the 1800s, an additional wing was added for a day school, as the school was growing.
The school soon became known as the oldest Catholic school in England, and also considered to be one of the best schools in the nation.
First World War The school played a significant role in the war effort, notably establishing a military hospital in September 1914. The sisters' offered to establish a military hospital as early as September 1914, and by 16 October 1914, the hospital had been opened, situated in the newly constructed Concert Hall. It operated until late 1917, the hospital was managed by the teachers, supported by nurses from York County Hospital and numerous volunteers from the local VAD. Over three years, nearly 400 patients received treatment at this facility.
Bar Convent school, as it was then known, also accommodated nun and refugees from Belgium during this time, in the dormitories traditionally used by pupils.
In 1925, the Bar Convent School became a grammar school following the merger of the fee-paying boarding school and the day school, allowing locals to apply for scholarships.
Second World War During the Baedeker raids of 1942, the school infirmary was bombed and destroyed in the Luftwaffe's bombing campaign. At the time, the school was being utilised as a military hospital, and medical equipment was installed in the school hall. Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the school's facilities were expanded, and an additional seven classrooms, a laboratory, a needlework room, and a dining room were constructed, effectively doubling the school's accommodation. 5 of the schools teachers were killed in the bombing.
Comprehensive Education During the mid-1970s, the school began admitting boys in an attempt to fill the shortage of Catholic boys places in the city. In 1978, plans for the establishment of a new Catholic comprehensive school in York were submitted. The Bar Convent Grammar School, associated with the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), would be converted into the senior section of a new co-educational comprehensive school.
The nuns invested £102,000 to adapt the existing Bar Convent site for use as the senior section of the new comprehensive school. Their deep involvement was pivotal in shaping the school's transition, yet it also raised concerns about the integration of lay leadership and male students, given that the plan proposed a lay headteacher. The IBVM demonstrated its commitment to comprehensive education by relinquishing its direct grant status.
The reorganisation plan proposed a split-site arrangement, with the senior section at the Bar Convent and the junior section at St. Margaret Clitherow School. This plan faced criticism for logistical inefficiencies and limited space for expansion at the Bar Convent site. Critics argued that consolidating the school on a single site would have been more practical and sustainable in the long term. Nonetheless, supporters emphasized the historical significance and superior facilities of the Bar Convent, including its well-equipped science laboratories, as key assets.
A major point of contention was the proposed governance structure. The 18-member governing body would include representatives from the IBVM, Middlesbrough Diocese, Leeds Diocese, and Ampleforth Abbey, but it lacked representation from parents, teachers, and local community stakeholders. This exclusion contrasted with the recommendations of the Taylor Report, which advocated broader representation in school governance. While some critics pushed for greater lay involvement, the Middlesbrough Diocese maintained that the proposals adhered to existing regulations for voluntary schools and were not bound by the Taylor recommendations.
The transition to comprehensive education in York unfolded against a backdrop of conservatism among Catholic parents, many of whom preferred traditional grammar schools and threatened to pull their children out and send them to Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School or Nunthorpe, both however would change into comprehensives within the decade.
A settlement was reached in the early 1980s whereby the Bar Convent Grammar School was transferred from the IBVM Sisterhood to the Diocese of Middlesbrough. The school was reopened as All Saints Roman Catholic School in 1985, with the inclusion of pupils from St. George's and St Margaret Clitherow Secondary Schools (due to the Vale of York Catholic School restructuring), resulting in a doubling of the school's size. The Bar Convent became the junior section, whereas the Mill Mount Manor House were purchased after the closure of Mill Mount County Grammar School for Girls.
Mill Mount County Grammar School For Girls
The school was established in 1920 and was initially administered by the City of York Education Committee until 1974 when it was taken over by North Yorkshire County Council. The school had 124 girls enrolled in March 1921, some of whom were transferred from Queen Anne School.
The original Manor building and stables (still used on the upper site), which was built in 1850 for Charles Heneage Elsley Esq., J.P. and Recorder of York, was purchased and adapted by the municipal authority for use as a school.
The school added a chemistry laboratory in 1922 and a cookery centre in 1925. By 1933, there were 272 girls enrolled, and extensions were added in 1935 to provide accommodation for 150 more girls. A games field at Nunthorpe was opened in 1938. By March 1946, there were 383 girls attending the school. The curriculum was expanded over the years, with subjects such as chemistry, general science, and physics being added, and the original School Certificate being replaced with General Certificate of Education (GCEs). In 1965, a plan was proposed to turn York into a comprehensive education system by 1970, with Nunthorpe and Mill Mount joining to become a sixth form college, and the two other grammar schools becoming a comprehensive. However, this plan fell through, and the school remained a girls' grammar school until 1985, and the site was sold to All Saints.
St George's Roman Catholic Secondary School
During the period of 1927–1932, St George's School on Margaret Street underwent a reorganisation, resulting in three separate departments for Senior Boys, Mixed, and Infants.
In 1939, construction of a new building for the Senior Boys department began, and was completed in 1948, adjacent to the Primary school.
By 1956, both schools had become voluntary aided schools, with 240 children enrolled in the primary school and 290 boys in the secondary modern school.
However, the Senior school was eventually closed in 1985 due to discussions on the reorganisation of York's Catholic senior schools in the late 1970s. The buildings remained abandoned for many years before being demolished in 1996 to make way for housing. The school was incorporated into All Saints RC School, with the campus relocated to Nunnery Lane and Mill Mount respectively.
Headteachers Mother Superiors of the Bar Convent School:
Frances Bedingfield 1686‒1696 Dorothy Paston Bedingfield 1696‒1734 Ester Conyers 1734‒1746 Mary Hodshon 1746‒1760 Ann Aspinal 1760‒1790 Catherine Rouby 1790‒1810 Elizabeth Coyney 1810‒1826 M. Austin Chalmers 1826‒1830 M. Agnes Dunn 1830‒1840 M. Angela Browne 1840‒1860 M. Juliana Martin 1860‒1883 M. Loyola Giles 1883‒1891 M. Germana Noble 1891‒1897 M. Francis Pope 1897‒1909 M. Cecilia Kelly 1909‒1925 M. Alacoque Murphy 1926‒1932 M. Aquinas Duran 1932‒1935 M. Gertrude Murphy 1935‒1950 and 1953‒1964 M. Imelda Gilbert 1950‒1953 M. Ancilla Barton 1964‒1970 M. Magdalen Ingram 1970‒1976 M. Agatha Leach 1976‒1979, 1982‒1985 M. Pia Buxton 1979‒1982
Headteachers of All Saints Catholic School: Dr. Adrian Elliott 1985–2003 Mr. Bill Scriven 2003–2019 Mrs. Sharon Keelan-Beardsley 2019–present
Specialist Schools Programme All Saints School was formerly a Language and Performing Arts College which was part of the Specialist schools programme. This meant that it received extra funding for language teaching. It no longer holds this title as the programme was abolished.
Academisation Previously a voluntary aided school administered by York City Council, the school attempted to join the Saint Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust (SMCCAT) which was established by the Diocese of Middlesbrough for the central vicariate, however following a change in structure, SMCCAT was dissolved and in May 2023, All Saints Roman Catholic School converted to academy status sponsored by the Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust which had originally been formed for the northern vicariate. On 5 May 2023, the School was renamed All Saints Catholic School when it became an academy.
Present day At present, the Bar Convent serves as a museum, guest house, and café. The Mary Ward sisters and Sacristan live in the Convent, and the Lower School shares the chapel. The School was linked closely to Saint Francis-Xavier School (SFX) in Richmond for a brief period in 2022–23, when All Saint's headteacher (previously headteacher of SFX) became executive headteacher of both schools.
Chaplaincy and tradition