Record

Repository	Archives of the Archbishop of Westminster
Ref No	AAW/DOW/PAR/232/5
Title	Schools Material
Level	Sub series
Description	The Religious of Jesus and Mary, who originated in France, were invited by Cardinal Manning to open a convent school in Willesden. The school's foundation stone was laid in 1888 and the Convent of Jesus and Mary opened as a private boarding school for girls, although boarding was scrapped at the outbreak of World War II. It was the first of three convent schools established by the Sisters in the present-day borough; the second convent school is now the local parish infant school. During the era of the tripartite system, the convent was unique as it operated as a bilateral school offering both grammar and secondary modern streams. During the 1950s and 1960s, the school went through a period of major redevelopment. In 1952, it joined the state sector as a voluntary aided school and maintained this status until April 2012 when the school converted to an academy. A number of Catholic schools nearby were reorganised into primary/junior and infant schools and their senior pupils were all transferred to the Convent. The main Convent itself was split in two as younger pupils were transferred to the second convent school (now Convent of Jesus and Mary Infant School). It became a comprehensive in 1966 with the abolition of the tripartite system in the borough.

Album amicorum of George Strachan

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