Hollies Convent FCJ School
Location
Manchester

England
Information
TypeComprehensive
EstablishedSeptember 1900
FounderMarie-Madeleine d'Houët
Closed1985
Local authorityManchester
GenderGirls
Age11 to 16
Enrolment720
Websitehttps://holliesfcjschool.blogspot.com/

The Hollies Convent FCJ School was a girls' direct-grant Roman Catholic grammar school in south Manchester, England.

History

In 1820, Marie-Madeleine d'Houët, also known as Marie Madeleine Victoire, founded the society of the Faithful Companions of Jesus in Amiens, France.

The school began at the Hollies in September 1900 in Fallowfield.

Grammar school

In the mid-1940s, it became a direct-grant grammar school. Éamon de Valera, aged 72, visited on Friday 18 February 1955.[1]

In October 1955, a new 15-acre site was found next to the Mersey, in Didsbury.[2] The new site would cost £300,000, with much of that to be funded by the local Catholic church. There were 430 girls, with 58 in the sixth form[3]

The University of Manchester acquired the site in the late 1950s for student accommodation (Fallowfield Campus), so a new site opened at West Didsbury in September 1961; a new preparatory school was built too. 520 girls joined the new £250,000 school in Didsbury, with grounds of 16 acres. By 1973 there were around 720 girls.[4]

The school had an excellent academic reputation.

Comprehensive

In 1976, the school was requested to become a comprehensive, as direct grant schools were being phased out. It became a comprehensive in 1977.

On Sunday 14 May 1978, the Radio 4 morning service was broadcast from the school.[5]

In 1983, RC Salford Diocese planned to amalgamate the school with the St Mark's school, on the St Mark's site, with the Hollies site closing in August 1984. The Hollies High School closed and the new and The Barlow Roman Catholic High School in 1985.

Demolition

The site was demolished in the late 80s, and it is now a housing estate.

Structure

The school was around a half-mile north-east of the M63 (now M60) junction 5, close to the River Mersey, near the B5167.

Alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ Manchester Evening News Friday 18 February 1955, page 8
  2. ↑ Manchester Evening News October 1955
  3. ↑ Manchester Evening News Saturday 5 July 1958, page 3
  4. ↑ FCJ Sisters
  5. ↑ Morning Service 1978
  6. ↑ Wilmslow Advertiser Thursday 28 February 1980, page 38
  7. ↑ "Catherine Reilly". The Independent. 10 October 2005. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
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