St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School

Infobox UK school
name = St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School


size =
latitude =
longitude =
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motto = "Dieu Mon Abri"
("God is my shelter")
motto_pl =
established = 1869
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Grammar voluntary aided school
religion = Roman Catholic
president =
head_label =
head = Mr John McAteer MA
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label =
chair =
founder =
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specialist = Humanities College
street = 1 Langley Road
city = Slough
county = Berkshire
country = ENG
postcode = SL3 7AF
LEA = Slough
ofsted = 110084
staff =
enrollment = 866
gender = Co-educational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses =
colours =
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
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free_3 =
website = http://www.st-bernards.slough.sch.uk/
website_name = www.st-bernards.slough.sch.uk

St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School (formerly St Bernard's Convent School) is a Catholic School on Langley Road, Langley, Slough (originally Buckinghamshire but now Berkshire) and is also a Humanities College.

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. Now the area has become increasingly built up, and the Sisters lived their monastic life in the suburbs of a busy town in the South East of England, about 25 miles West of London. Nevertheless, 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. Some went to a new foundation in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and others to Hyning, Lancashire.

The student body is divided into four different houses - Annay, Clairvaux, Citeaux and La Plaine. The houses are names after various monastic houses, relating to the school's history.The school's motto is 'Dieu Mon Abri' which means 'God is my Shelter. The crest is a diamond, with three parallel, diagonal, swords on a blue background.

History

The school is built round and includes Aldin House, dating from about 1860. Pevsner believed the house was built by and for Charles Aldin [ [http://www.st-bernards.slough.sch.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=32 St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School website - Aldin House retrieved 23 September 2007] ] : it is also widely believed [p93, "The History of Slough", Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough 1973] that the house was built for Angela Burdess-Coutts but that she never lived there as Queen Victoria did not approve of her marriage to the much younger William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett. Given that this marriage did not take place until 1881 when the house had already entered use as a school, Pevsner's version seems more plausible.

In 1869, John Hawtrey opened St Michael's School in Aldin House. The school remained there for 14 years, with pupils including the future Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin.

The original chapel was built in 1875, and dedicated as an Anglican chapel by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of Oxford . After St. Michael's left, the site was used for a year by the Welsh Charity School of Ashford, Middlesex while their usual buildings were modified, and subsequently St George's School , Southwark used the building for the same purpose. The Jesuit Fathers then bought the house and used it as a college for eight years, and the house was bought (and renamed St Bernard's) by the Bernardine Nuns in 1897 [p94, "The History of Slough", Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough 1973] . Since then, various additions have been made to the building.

Beginning with a school for 12 French students, the educational work of the Bernardines at Slough has evolved enormously. In 1904 [p94, "The History of Slough", Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough 1973] , day girls were first admitted to the school, leading to the development of a girls' grammar school. The school became co-educational in 1989 [p16, "The Changing Face of Slough", Slough Museum, Breedon Books, Derby 2003] and now forms a large mixed Voluntary Aided Grammar School for about 900 students aged 11-18.

In 1906, a nearby house was bought and opened as St Joseph's day school 'for children of all denominations' [p94, "The History of Slough", Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough 1973] . 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 [ [http://www.st-bernards-prep.slough.sch.uk/Prep/school_history.htm History of St Bernard's Preparatory School] ] 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.

Both schools aim to provide a strong Christian caring environment in which young people can grow up in an atmosphere of trust and respect. The development of the whole person is of the utmost importance. Several nuns work in a variety of capacities in the two schools, although both have lay headteachers. The school frequently appears in high positions in both local and national league tables which measure academic performance.Fact|date=March 2007

Headteachers

Dame Marie HildaSr Mary Anthony
#Sr Mary Stephen (1954 - 1998)
#John McAteer MA (1998 - current)

Pupils

There are about 800 pupils, with four forms in each Year group; A, B, R and S. In the current year 10, there is also a W form. The letters correspond to the founder of the house (eg Citeaux, founded by Robert XXX, becomes R, and you get 7R, 8R, 9R etc.)

Notable alumni

* Stanley Baldwin (Prime Minister. Attended school when it was known as St Michael's School )
* Jeni Caruana - (née Paine) Malta-based artist
* Judith Church - former MP for Dagenham
* Ben Freeman (actor who plays Scott Windsor in ITV soap Emmerdale)
* John Nutter (Professional League Footballer)
* Joe Smith (vocalist and X-Factor contestant)

Notes and References

External links

* [http://www.st-bernards.slough.sch.uk/ St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School]
* [http://www.bernardine.org The Bernardine Community]
* [http://www.bernardine.org/sloughe.html#history History of St Bernard's School]