St Cuthbert's
Encyclopedia
St Cuthberts Catholic Community College for Business and Enterprise is a high school situated in St Helens
, Merseyside
, England. The school has been awarded Specialist Business and Enterprise College
status. It has over 900 students. It is one of few schools in the world with a built-in hotel and school-run cafe. St Cuthberts is situated in the Parr ward of St. Helens.
A small number of former pupils have gone on to achieve celebrity status. Some even migrated to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States amogst other countries. Several distinguished themselves in the armed forces and others even became company directors. At one time its school uniform was the most distinctive in the town.
The school's academic record was somewhat poor in the first two decades with few pupils achieving any qualifications. Thankfully, that situation has been remedied. It started off as a secondary modern school and was not called a high school until education reforms of the early 1970s introduced comprehensive school
s. Prior to that, children sat the 11 plus preliminary examination and upon passing that took the examination for to attend one of the then four single sex grammar schools: West Park (boys), Notre Dame (girls), Cowley Boys, Cowley Girls. There was one Secondary Technical School called Grange Park. This school took pupils who had passed the preliminary examination but failed the 11 plus examination. In those days 90% or more pupils failed the preliminary examination. Interestingly, many secondary modern pupils did better in later life than their grammar school brothers and sisters. The oldest of the original pupils who would have been 14 in 1957 are now well into their 60s and drawing their pensions. Three generations have passed through the school since the mid 1950s.
The school's buildings have increased over the last half century to accommodate increased pupil numbers and more facilities. During the early 1960s, pupils and teachers even built a stone grotto with a statue of our lady inside. That has long since been demolished. The playing field area of the school was also extended during the summer holidays of 1962. The upper half of today's playing fields once contained a pond and willow trees which were filled in and cut down then grassed over and fenced off.
The original houses of the school were: Lourdes, Walsingham, Carmel and Fatima each being named after a Marian shrine where our lady was reputed to have manifested herself to chosen children. The houses are now Dignity, Faith, Hope and Unity. Each summer vacation saw trips of two weeks duration to Italy, France, Spain or St David's in Wales.
One former head of music, Patrick Booth, a then popular teacher, later became headteacher of a new secondary school, now defunct, and was later arrested, charged and convicted for sexual offences with pupils of that school in the late 1960s. Two long serving teachers also need mention. Mr Bradbury, who taught English and later became head of English, and Joe Ludden, who was once a physical education teacher who switched subjects and became a head of department. They were and remain still, the longest serving teachers at the school. They both taught the children of their original pupils at the school. In those days the school had a single pupil styled School Captain. There were also house captains and prefects. Each class elected a Class Captain in the first year who remained so for the next three years. In the then fourth and final year, the boys and girls were each placed into single sex classes. A fifth year class was introduced in 1962 but only for external pupils coming from other schools and they stayed on until age 16.
One teacher at the school, John Connelly, who was a mathematics teacher had a foul temper and was often violent towards pupils. He would drag pupils over desks and hang them from a hook by their blazers onto the blackboard if they did not pay attention. Once he even threw a pupil downstairs injuring him. He even locked pupils into his classroom and even the deputy headteacher, Mr Woods, could not persuade him to open the door for several hours. Strangely, he was never disciplined. This fellow also went to school with one of the pupil's uncles, who later became a missionary bishop in Malawi and was in the same diocese as John Connelly's brother, who was a parish priest. Most of the male teachers had served in the Second World War and others had done two years national service, often on active service in Britain's small wars of the immediate post-war decade. Most of the teachers were overly keen upon caning pupils and often an entire class was caned if one pupil did not own up to some minor infringement of the rules. Being caned for lateness was routine and often the teachers assigned to cane the late comers were themselves late arriving for work. The technical drawing teacher, Mr Westhead, would only pretend to cane pupils in his class if he was also their form teacher. He had done National Service in the Royal Navy. Until recently, the long serving John Armson taught as the head of maths. He was once in the Manchester United Football Academy.
Within the past few months the college has received a few awards including the National Church Schools Award and the Commitment to ICT award.
House is a hotel built onto the school by Farne Limited. It is a National and International Exchange Accommodation Centre offering good quality, low-cost accommodation for national and international schools exchanges, visiting students, amateur sports organisations and other national and international visitors and groups for whom the traditional hotel market is not an attractive or economical option. It has 13 en-suite single or twin rooms on the first floor. In 2004, the Hotel was re-opened by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, England. The school has been awarded Specialist Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields...
status. It has over 900 students. It is one of few schools in the world with a built-in hotel and school-run cafe. St Cuthberts is situated in the Parr ward of St. Helens.
History
Built in 1957, St Cuthberts is one of the oldest High Schools in St Helens, famous in the 1960s for its rugby and football achievements. In 2004, St Cuthberts became a Business and Enterprise High School thanks to funding from Scottish Power Learning. In 2006, St Cuthberts re-named itself as a College. The first Head Teacher was Frederick Grundy.A small number of former pupils have gone on to achieve celebrity status. Some even migrated to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States amogst other countries. Several distinguished themselves in the armed forces and others even became company directors. At one time its school uniform was the most distinctive in the town.
The school's academic record was somewhat poor in the first two decades with few pupils achieving any qualifications. Thankfully, that situation has been remedied. It started off as a secondary modern school and was not called a high school until education reforms of the early 1970s introduced comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
s. Prior to that, children sat the 11 plus preliminary examination and upon passing that took the examination for to attend one of the then four single sex grammar schools: West Park (boys), Notre Dame (girls), Cowley Boys, Cowley Girls. There was one Secondary Technical School called Grange Park. This school took pupils who had passed the preliminary examination but failed the 11 plus examination. In those days 90% or more pupils failed the preliminary examination. Interestingly, many secondary modern pupils did better in later life than their grammar school brothers and sisters. The oldest of the original pupils who would have been 14 in 1957 are now well into their 60s and drawing their pensions. Three generations have passed through the school since the mid 1950s.
The school's buildings have increased over the last half century to accommodate increased pupil numbers and more facilities. During the early 1960s, pupils and teachers even built a stone grotto with a statue of our lady inside. That has long since been demolished. The playing field area of the school was also extended during the summer holidays of 1962. The upper half of today's playing fields once contained a pond and willow trees which were filled in and cut down then grassed over and fenced off.
The original houses of the school were: Lourdes, Walsingham, Carmel and Fatima each being named after a Marian shrine where our lady was reputed to have manifested herself to chosen children. The houses are now Dignity, Faith, Hope and Unity. Each summer vacation saw trips of two weeks duration to Italy, France, Spain or St David's in Wales.
One former head of music, Patrick Booth, a then popular teacher, later became headteacher of a new secondary school, now defunct, and was later arrested, charged and convicted for sexual offences with pupils of that school in the late 1960s. Two long serving teachers also need mention. Mr Bradbury, who taught English and later became head of English, and Joe Ludden, who was once a physical education teacher who switched subjects and became a head of department. They were and remain still, the longest serving teachers at the school. They both taught the children of their original pupils at the school. In those days the school had a single pupil styled School Captain. There were also house captains and prefects. Each class elected a Class Captain in the first year who remained so for the next three years. In the then fourth and final year, the boys and girls were each placed into single sex classes. A fifth year class was introduced in 1962 but only for external pupils coming from other schools and they stayed on until age 16.
One teacher at the school, John Connelly, who was a mathematics teacher had a foul temper and was often violent towards pupils. He would drag pupils over desks and hang them from a hook by their blazers onto the blackboard if they did not pay attention. Once he even threw a pupil downstairs injuring him. He even locked pupils into his classroom and even the deputy headteacher, Mr Woods, could not persuade him to open the door for several hours. Strangely, he was never disciplined. This fellow also went to school with one of the pupil's uncles, who later became a missionary bishop in Malawi and was in the same diocese as John Connelly's brother, who was a parish priest. Most of the male teachers had served in the Second World War and others had done two years national service, often on active service in Britain's small wars of the immediate post-war decade. Most of the teachers were overly keen upon caning pupils and often an entire class was caned if one pupil did not own up to some minor infringement of the rules. Being caned for lateness was routine and often the teachers assigned to cane the late comers were themselves late arriving for work. The technical drawing teacher, Mr Westhead, would only pretend to cane pupils in his class if he was also their form teacher. He had done National Service in the Royal Navy. Until recently, the long serving John Armson taught as the head of maths. He was once in the Manchester United Football Academy.
Within the past few months the college has received a few awards including the National Church Schools Award and the Commitment to ICT award.
Hotel and Café
The school has many facilities but the most unusual ones are a built-in hotel and café. LindisfarneLindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
House is a hotel built onto the school by Farne Limited. It is a National and International Exchange Accommodation Centre offering good quality, low-cost accommodation for national and international schools exchanges, visiting students, amateur sports organisations and other national and international visitors and groups for whom the traditional hotel market is not an attractive or economical option. It has 13 en-suite single or twin rooms on the first floor. In 2004, the Hotel was re-opened by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.