St John's College, Cardiff

Last updated

St John's College
St John's College, Cardiff - Main School (cropped).JPG
Address
St John's College, Cardiff
Newport Road

Cardiff
,
CF3 5YX

Wales
Coordinates 51°31′41″N3°06′40″W / 51.528°N 3.111°W / 51.528; -3.111
Information
Type Private day school
Cathedral school
MottoUbi amor, ibi oculus (Wherever there is love, there is vision)
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Established1987
Local authority Cardiff
Department for Education URN 402013 Tables
HeadteacherShaun Moody
GenderCoeducational
Age3to 18
Enrolment550
HousesBute, De La Salle, Mostyn, St David's
Colour(s)Red, Gold
  
Website www.stjohnscollegecardiff.com

St John's College is an independent co-educational day school in the village of Old St Mellons in Cardiff, Wales. It is the choir school of Wales' national Catholic cathedral, Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral.

Contents

History of St John's College

De La Salle Prep School

The De La Salle School for Boys, established in the 1930s, was originally based at 9 Richmond Crescent, Cardiff at a site formerly occupied by St Peter's Catholic Young Men's Society. The School was run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and sought to provide an education within a strong Christian context. Later, the school moved to a site off Greenway Road near Trowbridge in north-east Cardiff.

In the 1980s the De La Salle School faced imminent closure.

St John's College

In 1987, Dr David Neville became the founding headteacher of the new school, still located at Greenway Road, opening its doors to both boys and girls up to the age of 16; A Levels were introduced in 1996. Neville (1987 until his death in 2016), emphasised academic and choral foundations and St John's became the choir school to the Metropolitan Cathedral of St David, providing choristers for Sunday Mass and other weekday services. The Inspectorate ESTYN praised the School for its exceptional ethos.

As the school roll grew, it became apparent that St John's had outgrown the site at Greenway Road. In 1995 the college moved to its current site, Ty-to-maen, a mansion built in 1885–9 by the Cardiff architect E. Bruce Vaughan for Richard Allen of Spillers flour mills. It was later owned by Sir William Edgar Nicholls, the manager of Spillers, who gave the house and its estate to the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, when it became the William Nicholls Convalescent Home. [1] [2]

The Cathedral Choir

As the choir school to Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral, St John's College provides the boy and girl choristers (ages 8–18) for weekly Sunday masses, and sings annual concerts at St David's Hall.

The Choir has given several performances at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and other venues such as St Bavo’s Cathedral in the Netherlands (2007), Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (2011), Magdalen College Oxford (2012), Bath Abbey (2013), Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, Madrid Cathedral and El Escorial, as well as Bruges Cathedral and Ghent Cathedral (2014), St Paul’s Cathedral London (2015), Westminster Abbey (2016), Gonville and Caius Chapel and Westminster Cathedral (2017).

The Cathedral Choir sang frequently for the BBC, in live broadcasts on BBC Radio 4, and for Doctor Who and Hollow Crown.

In these years, 2005-17, the Choir sang with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Chamber Strings of Melbourne Australia, London Oratory Choir, Philadelphia Boys Choir, Sint Bavo Cathedral Choir, Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society, Uppingham Choir, Gonville & Caius Chapel Choir and The Tallis Scholars. In 2016, the Choir sang for King Charles III.

In recent years, choristers have performed alongside the Prague and Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestras in performances of Symphony No. 3 (Mahler).

College structure

St John's College is divided into four sections: the Nursery and Infants (ages 3–7); the Junior School (ages 8–11); the Senior School (ages 12–16); the Sixth Form College (ages 17–18). [3]

School performance

The examination results achieved by the school are among the best in the UK. In 2017 it was the highest-ranked secondary school in the UK with 98% of pupils attaining A* to B at Advanced Level. [4] [5] [ failed verification ] This led to St John's being named 'Welsh Independent Secondary School of the Year' in the Sunday Times 'Parent Power' annual supplement.

In 2012, the school was inspected by Estyn and judged excellent. [3] In 2018, it was inspected again and judged excellent in Standards, Well-being and attitudes to learning, and Care, support and guidance; and good in Teaching and learning experiences, and Leadership and management. [6]

School activities

The school has participated in the F1 in Schools competition to design and build a miniature racing car. In 2019, Infinity Racing, a team of 12–13 year old pupils from the school won the Development Class National Finals and competed in the World Finals in Abu Dhabi. [7] [8] Most recently in 2022, Blackout, a team of 15-16 year old pupils also from the school, became runners-up to Team Hydron in the World Finals in Silverstone [9] after achieving the fastest average race time at the competition. [10] They also managed to achieve the Fastest Car in UK History, recording 1.036 seconds at the 2021 Virtual National Finals. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's School, Worcester</span> Public school in Worcester, Worcestershire, England

The King's School, Worcester is an English private day school refounded by Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Severn in the centre of the city of Worcester. It offers mixed-sex mainstream education that follows the UK National Curriculum to around 1,465 pupils aged 2 to 18. At age 11, approximately two thirds of pupils join the senior school from its two prep schools, King's Hawford and King's St Albans, while others come from maintained schools in the city of Worcester and the surrounding areas that include Malvern, Redditch, Kidderminster, Evesham and Pershore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Ely</span> Public school in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England

King's Ely, is a co-educational public school and Cathedral school in the city of Ely in England. It was founded in 970 AD, making it one of the oldest schools in the world. It was given its first royal charter by King Henry VIII in 1541, its second by Queen Elizabeth I in 1562, and its third by King Charles II in 1666. The school consists of a nursery, a pre-preparatory school, a prep school, a senior school, a sixth form, and an international school. King's Ely is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. In 2021, The Independent Schools Inspectorate published their report writing that "King's Ely achieved the highest grading possible in every category inspected and was judged to meet or exceed all regulatory standards for independent day and boarding schools."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chorister School</span> Preparatory day and boarding school in Durham, County Durham, England

The Chorister School is a co-educational independent school for the 3 to 11 age range. It is part of the Durham Cathedral Schools Foundation, in Durham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral school</span> Centers of advanced education of the Early Middle Ages

Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these early cathedral schools, and more recent foundations, continued into modern times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pilgrims' School</span> School in Winchester, Hampshire, England

The Pilgrims' School is a 4–13 boys preparatory school and cathedral school in the cathedral city of Winchester, Hampshire, England.

The Choirboys was an English boy band, made up of cathedral choristers. In 2005, a talent search was held to find a young chorister to bring choral music into the current music scene. However, the judges could not decide which of the three finalists should be given the recording contract and decided to assemble them as a trio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choir of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle</span>

The Choir of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle exists to sing services in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

A choral scholar is a student either at a university or private school who receives a scholarship in exchange for singing in the school or university's choir. This is a common practice in the UK at schools attached to cathedrals where the choir is the cathedral choir, and at Oxford and Cambridge University Colleges, many of which have famous choirs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral</span> Church in Cardiff, Wales

The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St David, also known as St David's Cathedral, Cardiff, is a Catholic cathedral in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales, and is the centre of the Archdiocese of Cardiff.

Martin Gerard James Neary LVO is an English organist and choral conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cathedral School, Llandaff</span> Independent school in Cardiff, Wales

The Cathedral School, Llandaff is a coeducational private day school located in Llandaff, a district north of the Welsh capital Cardiff. Originally established as a choral foundation to train choir boys for the affiliated Llandaff Cathedral, it is now part of the Woodard Schools foundation and continues to provide choristers for the cathedral. It is the only surviving Anglican choir school in Wales and is a member of the ISC, IAPS and the Choir Schools Association. The Head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference of leading independent schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church Cathedral School</span> Private day and boarding school in Oxford, England

Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent preparatory school for boys in Oxford, England. It is one of three choral foundation schools in the city and educates choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chapels of Worcester College and Pembroke College. It is a member of the IAPS and the Choir Schools Association.

Newport High School is a co-educational secondary school in the Bettws district of the city of Newport, South Wales, UK for pupils aged 11–18 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge</span> Constituent college of the University of Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius, is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of the wealthiest. In 1557, it was refounded by alumnus John Caius. The college has been attended by many students who have gone on to significant accomplishment, including fifteen Nobel Prize winners, the second highest of any Oxbridge college.

Paul Brough is a retired English music teacher, church musician, choirmaster and orchestral conductor. His final appointments were as a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music (2004-2022), and Director of Music at both St Mary's, Bourne Street (2015-2022) and Keble College, Oxford (2020-2022).

Heathcote Dicken Statham CBE was a conductor, composer and organist of international repute.

Geoffrey Webber is a musician and academic, and the former Director of Music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

The Choir Schools' Association is a U.K. organisation that provides support to choir schools and choristers, and promotes singing, in particular of music for Christian worship in the cathedral tradition. It represents 44 choir schools attached to cathedrals, churches, and college chapels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reigate St Mary's School</span> Private day school in Reigate, Surrey, England

Reigate St Mary's Preparatory and Choir School is a mixed private prep and choir school in Reigate, Surrey, England.

References

  1. ↑ "Ty-to-maen; William Nicholls Convalescent Home; St John's College (32016)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "St John's College (formerly Ty-to-Maen)". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 "St John's College" (PDF). Estyn. 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ↑ "Best Schools, The Top 100 Senior Schools A + B Grade at A Level". www.best-schools.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006.
  6. ↑ "St John's College" (PDF). Estyn. 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Success in the F1 in Schools Regional Final". St John's College Cardiff. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "Odiham School team crowned Formula 1 Education Challenge champions at the fastest and largest UK finals". F1 in Schools. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  9. ↑ "Australian team Hydron crowned 2022 F1 in Schools World Champions". Off The Track. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  10. ↑ "2022 F1 in Schools World Finals: Which teams are the most consistent?". Off The Track. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "UK's Fastest Car". F1 in Schools UK. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.