It was originally next to
Plymouth Cathedral but the site was bombed in 1941. In 1965 a new school building was completed on the grounds of the convent at Looseleigh Lane in Derriford. Sister Mary Xavier was the headmistress.
Direct grant grammar school The school was a Catholic girls'
direct grant grammar school from 1946, the Notre Dame High School. In 1976 it was one of 51 direct grant schools, out of 170, that became comprehensive.
Comprehensive In 1981 it amalgamated with the Bishop Vaughan Secondary School to become Notre Dame Comprehensive School for Girls. St Boniface's became a comprehensive at the same time. In 1993 boys were accepted in the sixth form and the school became Notre Dame Roman Catholic School. Notre Dame had much building work done in the academic year 2007/8: among this was a large professional sports hall, a library and a five-classroom block for history and geography named Stang Block after
Dorothy Stang.
Academy The school converted to
academy status on 1 April 2014. ==Academic performance==