A History of the Mertten's Drive Site

Mertten's Drive

The building which is now the Parish Hall, was built in 1853 as a Boys’ Catholic School , thanks to the generosity of Captain Hibbert, the benefactor of St Marie’s, and was opened in January 1854. Girls continued to be taught in an improvised schoolroom in a house in Dunchurch Road where the Royal Oak Inn now stands.

Mrs Hibbert prevailed upon her husband’s kindness and persuaded him to provide equally favourable conditions for the girls. She wanted them to be educated by nuns and in particular the Rosminian Sisters, called the Sisters of Providence and so the convent and adjoining school were built where they are still standing and in use today.

Although completed in September 1854 they were not opened until August 1855 when four Rosminian nuns were available to take up residence in the Convent. The schools provided education for children from age six to thirteen.

In 1911, after the school had become a voluntary aided school, the Education Board demanded that younger children should be taught separately from the older girls and a new classroom was added to the existing girls’ school. It was opened the following Year. In 1919 St Marie’s became mixed schools. Reorganisation became necessary because of the raising of the school leaving age from twelve to fourteen.

The girls’ and infants’ school then became St Marie’s Junior (mixed) School and catered for infants and juniors up to the age of eleven, whilst the boys’ school became St Marie’s Central (mixed School) and catered for children between the ages of eleven and fourteen. Following World War II the number of children increased dramatically and extra accommodation became necessary.

Temporary arrangements carried the school through the next few Years and with the opening of Bishop Wulstan School in 1955 the Junior School expanded into the vacant Senior School . When, in 1956 separate infant and junior schools were established, the infants had the convent site and the juniors, the old Senior School site.

Plans were made for a completely new junior school but many difficulties delayed the building until 1965. The school on the Mertten’s Drive site was finally opened in 1968 and became a middle school in 1974 until 1996 when it reverted to being a junior school. Now in 2011, the building has become part of a  Primary School and looks forward to the future.