Formerly, a
grant-maintained school,
La Sainte Union Catholic School is now a
voluntary-aided school which teaches girls aged 11–16 and both girls and boys at sixth form as part of the LaSWAP Sixth Form Consortium. LaSWAP is made up of LSU and 3 other partner schools:
William Ellis School,
Acland Burghley School and
Parliament Hill School. The school is named after the order of
sisters that founded the school, the Sisters of La Sainte Union des Sacrés-Coeurs (also known as the
Holy Union Sisters). This teaching order was founded in 1826 by Father Jean-Baptiste Debrabant, a
Belgian priest who felt that the future of the Catholic Church lay in the hands of the young women who would eventually bring up future generations of the faithful, declaring that "a Christian-based education offers sure hope for the future of religion and society". The school site is on Highgate Road/Croftdown Road, opposite
Parliament Hill Fields. It was originally a small private
boarding school, becoming a
comprehensive school in 1966, following its amalgamation with Our Lady of Sion Girls' Grammar School which closed its school in Eden Grove, Holloway and moved to the Highgate site. During the 1990s the school had
grant-maintained status. It was one of the first schools in London to be named as a
Beacon school in a government scheme designed to recognize outstanding achievement in
inner-city schools. The school in 2004 was awarded specialist school (science) status, and High Performing Specialist School status in 2008. The school is also recognised as an International School by the British Council and has an award-winning careers education programme. The school was recognised as a good school by Ofsted in 2010, and confirmed as such in a Section 8 inspection in 2019. ==LaSWAP Sixth Form==