school "for children of all denominations". In 1945, St Joseph's formally merged with St Bernards, becoming the preparatory school. In the 1970s and 1980s, the prep school moved to a new site where it continues today as an independent fee paying school for about 200 pupils, although it shares a badge with the state supported grammar school. Until August 2006, the school was also the home to nuns of the Bernardine order, who gave up their home for the school, and a few gave up their time to teach. At the time of the foundation, the convent was right in the countryside, with nothing but fields separating it from Windsor Castle. The convent, set in extensive grounds with fields, a vegetable garden, orchard and cemetery, provided an oasis of peace and prayer for those who visit. A large house - Stella Maris - in the monastery grounds served as a small pastoral centre. The Bernardines have always wished to co-operate with the pastoral life of the Church, and this was one such way of collaborating with the Church in the Diocese of Northampton. The nuns left the school in mid-2006. The school received a brand new Cafe in the Summer of 2019. Merger plans In October 2008 the schools confirmed that the Diocese of Northampton had approached the Department for Children, Schools and Families with a proposal to merge St. Bernard's Catholic Grammar School with St. Joseph's Catholic High School to form an all-ability Catholic Academy on the St Bernard's site. The proposal is supported by Slough Borough Council and the governing bodies of the two schools. The plan would result in the first closure of a grammar school since 1997. In March 2009 the DCSF responded with a Statement of Intent letter, inviting the Council to develop concrete plans (an Expression of Interest document), with a planned opening date of September 2011. A group of concerned parents calling themselves "Faith and Choice Together (FaCT)" had created a web site (Save St Bernard's) to highlight the opposition to the plan, and put forward three candidates who were elected as parent governors. They collected more than 1000 signatures on a petition. The parent's campaign was supported by the National Grammar Schools Association. In 2010 it was announced that the plans to merge the two schools had been abandoned. This was partially down to the large number of people, be it staff,