St. Edward's College

Infobox School | name = St. Edward's College


imagesize = 220px
motto = Courage Through Faith
established = 1853
type = Voluntary Aided
principal = John Waszek
enrollment = 1200
free_label = Colours
free_text = Purple, Black
location = Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
website = http://www.st-edwards.co.uk

St. Edward's College is top rated voluntary aidedFact|date=September 2007, Catholic school in the UK located in the West Derby suburb of Liverpool. The institution was formerly a boys grammar school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. The school pupils are identifiable by the bright purple blazer that is part of the uniform for pupils in years 7 to 9 (years 10 to 13 wear a black blazer).

History

In 1853 the Catholic Institute was founded by Father James Nugent, at a time when barely 5% of Catholic children received any education at all.

An early visitor to the CI, based in Hope Street near the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, was Cardinal Wiseman, who formally opened the school.

The Institute progressed through the nineteenth century, but by the beginning of the twentieth century the school was in decline. In 1909 Bishop Whiteside approached the Irish Congregation of Christian Brothers to invite them to take over the running of the school.

The original St Edward's College had been established as a boarding school in 1848 in a large mansion called St Domingo House; named after the Isle of San Domingo, where one George Campbell, a privateer and subsequently Mayor of Liverpool, had captured a rich prize.

The change of name from the Catholic Institute to St. Edward's College was fairly unpopular, especially amongst former pupils who had lost friends during the First World War. To this day, the Association of former pupils is called the CIEA (Catholic Institute Edwardian Association).

The school was boys only until 1982, when girls were admitted into the 6th form. In 1991 girls were admitted into year 7, and by September 1995 the school was completely co-educational.

andfield Park

The school relocated from St. Domingo Road, Everton to Sandfield Park, West Derby on 19 September 1938, an event which was marked by every pupil walking the 3 miles from Everton to West Derby.

The site at Sandfield Park consisted of two Victorian mansions, Runnymede and St. Clare's, each of which had substantial grounds. Runnymede became a preparatory school, whilst St. Clare's became the home of the Congregation of Christian Brothers teaching at the school. A new school building, consisting of four wings around a large quadrangle, was erected, along with a gymnasium. Laboratories were built in the 1950s and a swimming pool and running track in the 1960s. A Sixth Form Centre and Sports Hall were added in the 1970s. A Design Centre was built in the 1980s. The John Morgan Sports Complex and Dining Hall and Performing Arts facilities were added in the 1990s. The turn of the century saw the complete refurbishment of one of the original properties, St Clare's, into the new Upper School Centre.

Cathedral choir

St Edward's has been Choir School to Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral since the early 1970s, and there are usually about 18 Cathedral Senior Choristers amongst the pupils of the College. It therefore has the honour of being the only voluntarily aided Roman Catholic Cathedral School in the country.

Masters of the Music/Directors of Music

*Timothy Noon : August 2007 - Present (Director of Music)
*Terence Duffy : March 2005 - July 2007 (Director of Music)
*Richard Lea & Terence Duffy : November 2004 - March 2005 (Joint Acting Directors of Music)
*Keith Orrell : January 2004 - October 2004 (Director of Music)
*Richard Lea: September 2003 - January 2004 (Acting Director of Music)
*Mervyn Cousins : 1997 - 2003 (Director of Music)
*Katherine Dienes : 1996 - 1997 (Acting Master of the Music)
*Philip Duffy : 1966 - 1996 (Master of the Music)
*Christopher Symons : 1960 - 1966 (Master of the Music)

Philip Duffy and Terence Duffy are brothers. During Philip's tenure as Master Of The Music, Terence was the organist. Richard Lea is the current organist of the cathedral and was asked to act as choir director during September 2003 - January 2004 while a permanent replacement for Mervyn Cousins was found.

Keith Orrell was the most recent appointment as Director of Music from open competition however his tenure was short lived - just 10 months. Following his departure, Terence Duffy was asked to return from retirement to be the Director of Music. In doing so, he has cemented the link between the Cathedral musical tradition and the Duffy family.

Terence Duffy returned to retirement in July 2007 and thus left the choir. Timothy Noon (previously Director of Music at St David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire) is the new Director of Music.

Motto

The school's traditional motto was 'Viriliter Age', or 'Act Manly/Courageously', however, since the admitance of girls into the college, the has been changed to 'Courage Through Faith', based on the spirit, rather than the letter of Psalm 27.

Uniform

The uniform of St. Edward's College consists of standard school uniform (shirt, trousers, skirt, etc.) with purple blazers in yrs. 7-9 and black blasers in yrs. 10-13. The fact that the local wheelie-bins are coloured purple has prompted the nickname 'Wheelie-bins' used by pupils who do not attend St. Edwards College, or pupils who no longer have to wear the purple blazers (yrs.10-13) as a derogatory, yet playful, term for the lower years of the school.

Rugby tradition

During the Second World War the pupils were evacuated to Llanelli, Wales. The game of rugby was already played before the war but when the pupils returned from Llanelli the tradition of playing rugby began in earnest. In particular, this period established the tradition of St. Edward's playing Union, rather than League, rugby. Since then, the school has produced rugby stars such as England internationals Mike Slemen,Ted Rudd and Kyran Bracken.

The school has a fine track record in both the fifteen and seven man game, with tournament wins at Ampleforth and Rosslyn ParkFact|date=February 2007.

The team had its finest hours during the mid-1960s, when the 1st XV side went unbeaten for 3 years and won many sevens competitions cite web| date = June 7 2006| url =http://www.ns7.co.uk/glory.htm| title =Rossyln Park Seven's History| publisher =Rossyln Park RUFC| accessdate =2006-07-07] .

The u-16 team of 2004-2005 won the Liverpool St Helens U16 Floodlit Cup and recently embarked on a tour of New Zealand where it became the first team to score against Auckland Grammar School in almost two years.

Rankings

The school is ranked as one of the better schools in the North West of England. It is consistently ranked as one of the top three schools in Liverpool on both GCSE and A-Level performance. Fact|date=February 2007 Recently, the class of 2006-2007 from the college, was recognized for having placed 3rd in the National GCSE rankings for comprehensives. Fact|date=October 2007

Alumni

Former pupils are referred to as Old Edwardians. Noted Old Edwardians include:

*Andrew Crawley, historian and Latin Americanist. Author of "Somoza and Roosevelt".
*Kyran Bracken, member of England Rugby Union World Cup Winning Squad
*Jennifer Ellison, "actress"/pop singer/glamour model; winner of reality television show "Hell's Kitchen"
*Peter Kilfoyle, British Member of Parliament
*Sir Terry Leahy, CEO Tesco
*Sir Brian Pearse, former Chairman of Midland Bank and HSBC UK
*Michael Williams, actor; late husband of Dame Judi Dench

References

External links

* [http://www.st-edwards.co.uk/ St. Edward's College]