St Albans Girls' School

St Albans Girls' School
St Albans Girls' School
Address
	Sandridgebury Lane; St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 6DB; England
Coordinates	51°46′13″N 0°19′55″W / 51.77020°N 0.33195°W
Information
Type	Academy
Motto	Nobis Cura Futuri
Established	1920
Department for Education URN	137339 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Executive Headteacher	Margaret Chapman
Gender	Girls (Boys also attend at 6th Form)
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	1,400
Houses	8 houses
Colour(s)	Blue and Gold
Website	http://www.stags.herts.sch.uk

St Albans Girls' School, usually referred to as STAGS, is a girls' secondary school in St Albans, Hertfordshire. It was formerly known as "St Albans Girls' Grammar School."

It is one of three schools for girls in St Albans, the others being Loreto College and St Albans High School for Girls; the latter is private and selective. There are approximately 1,400 students, including boys, on roll at the school (2023 figures). The Executive Headteacher is Margaret Chapman.

Achievements and recognition

Number of students achieving 5 GCSE grades A*-C is usually between 85-90%.^[1]^[2]
The School was awarded the School Achievement Award by DfES in 2002.

House system

The school has eight houses, all named after famous women: Austen, Bronte, Curie, Franklin, Hepworth, Johnson, Parks and Seacole.^[3] The assigned colour of the house that a student belongs to is displayed as a small stag on their blouse collar. Parks is a new house that was made for the start of the 2019 academic year, after the school had finished its £2.5 million expansion that took a year to complete. The colours are as follows:

Austen - Red
Bronte - Yellow
Curie - Green
Franklin - Orange
Hepworth - Blue
Johnson - Silver
Parks - Pink
Seacole - Purple

Each house has two house captains elected from Year 12. The house system encourages a positive competitive nature in sports and competitions. There are a number of big events covered by the house system every year. The Christmas Fair includes stalls from each house competing for three awards: 'Best Stall', 'Best Display' and 'Best over all contribution to the Fair'. There is also an inter-house Easter event which has a different theme every year. There is also a themed 'House Challenge Day' every year, where each house has various tasks to fulfill to make up a final score. The winning house gets a large number of house points to add to their total.

The previous house system had seven houses, all named after planets: Krypton, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Pluto.

Uniform

The uniform consists of a navy blue blazer with badge, a navy, knee-length skirt or navy trousers, a navy jumper with school trim and blue badge with embroidered STAGs in house colours. The Sixth form may wear more formal, work-style clothes, which include a smart skirt of reasonable length or smart full-length trousers and a blouse or top with sleeves. Boys should wear a formal shirt and trousers. On formal occasions when representing the school, all sixth formers must wear a black tailored jacket with white shirt (and tie for the boys), black trousers or skirt.

Notable former pupils

Olivia Allison, Olympic synchronized swimmer.
Anouk Denton, footballer
Maddy Prior of the electric folk band Steeleye Span.
Jeany Spark, actress.

References

^ "St Albans Girls' School". BBC News. 19 October 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
^ "St Albans Girls' School". BBC News. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
^ "House System". www.stags.herts.sch.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2018.