Xaverian College

Xaverian College

Motto	Concordia res parvae crescunt 'In Harmony, Small things grow'
Established	1862
Religion	Roman Catholic
Founder	The Congregation of the Xaverian Brothers
Location	Lower Park Road Victoria Park, Manchester Greater Manchester M14 5RB England
Local authority	Manchester
DfE number	???/8602
DfE URN	130504
Ofsted	Reports
Students	Approx 1800
Gender	Mixed
Ages	16–18
Colours	Blue, yellow and white
Diocese	Salford
Former name	Xaverian School
Website	Xaverian College

Xaverian Roman Catholic Sixth form College is a College in the city of Manchester.

Admissions

It lies in the inner city suburb of Rusholme close to Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road. The College's location means that its intake is extremely diverse with many students coming from ethnic minorities as well as from various socio-economic classes.

As well as running conventional AS-Level and A-Level courses, the college also provides facilities for the resitting of core GCSE subjects and various vocational courses. The college also accommodates a group of around 50 students from the University of Manchester taking a foundation degree in dentistry and medicine.

As well as accommodating Roman Catholic students primarily, the College also accommodates any students of any faith that comply with and adhere to the college's policy of Peace and Harmony. The college prayer is the "Salve Regina".

It is situated in Victoria Park just off Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road (B5117), south of Whitworth Park. It is just east of the St Edward the Confessor RC church, and in the Anglican parish of St Chrysostom's Church.

History

The College has rich and diverse history spanning over several decades, including connections with first Irish Prime Minister Éamon de Valera, Piccadilly records and Mancunian Films, a film production company.

1862-1976

The Xaverian Brothers or Congregation of St. Francis Xavier (CFX) are a religious order founded by Theodore James Ryken in Bruges, Belgium in 1839 and named after Saint Francis Xavier. The order is dedicated to Catholic education in the United Kingdom, the United States and many other countries. The Xaverian Brothers are, to this day, travelling around the world establishing Xaverian institutes where they are needed most.

The College was founded by the Xaverian Brothers in 1862 and until 1903 was located in a four storey building on Oxford Road Manchester opposite what was to become the BBC Manchester HQ (personal reminiscence of former pupil (1902 - 1907) Reginald Nairn Rourke of Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester). On the move to the then gated Victoria Park it was originally housed in just a single building known as Firwood but over time through new building projects and acquisition, the Campus has grown. For this reason, buildings on Victoria Park campus date from 1840 onwards.

Firwood was home to the brothers up until 1993 when the last of them left. It has been rumoured that the first Irish Prime Minister, Éamon de Valera, was hidden within the building while fleeing the British authorities.^{[citation needed]} Another former house which has now become part of the college, Ward Hall, was used as a camp for American servicemen during the Second World War.^{[citation needed]}

Mancunian Films, a motion picture production company, used the exterior of the College in several of their films, including It’s A Grand Life starring Frank Randle and Diana Dors. The film company sold their local Dickenson Road Studios to the BBC in 1954, making Dickenson Road Studios the first regional BBC TV studio. When the BBC left in 1974 to move to their present location on Oxford Road, Xaverian College inherited their lighting rigs, now used in the drama studio in Redcliffe. From 1946-77 the school was a direct grant grammar school.

1977 to present

The College operated as a Roman Catholic grammar school for boys until 1977, when it became a mixed sixth-form college. This allowed a significant expansion.

The college's Ofsted report rates it as outstanding: grade 1, the highest grade of the scheme. The college has a very strong academic reputation in Manchester and indeed the rest of the country with many subjects having 100% pass rates.^{[citation needed]} More recently, additions and renovations have been ongoing. The Ryken Centre and Mayfield buildings have been added within the last decade and provide students with high-tech information technology equipment. The Ryken building was suitably named after one of the founders of the Xaverian order, Theodore James Ryken.

Buildings

Xaverian College consists of many buildings situated on two sides of Lower Park Road. In total there are 8 buildings that make up the campus. They are; Ward Hall, Redcliffe, Marlylands, Firwood, Xavier, Sunbury, Ryken and Mayfield. The buildings on campus date back from 1840 onwards. The college buildings revolve around a central green where sports and social activities take place.

• Ward Hall accommodating Modern Languages, Geography, History, Ancient History and Classical Civilisation.
• Redcliffe for Sport Studies, Drama and Music.
• Marylands for English Language and English Literature.
• Firwood houses the main student common room, Catering Facilities, student services, learning support suite, additional learning support and tutorial rooms, college chapel and RE rooms, administration offices and the main reception.
• Xavier is home to the University of Manchester foundation courses in Biology, Medicine and Dentistry and also houses Mathematics and Sciences.
• Sunbury housing RE classes, Art Foundation students and a computer network laboratory.
• Ryken holds the careers service and library. It also provides a seminar room for visiting speakers and a large drop centre where students are able to make use of college ICT facilities. The ground floor of the building plays host the College Art Department and Photographic Studio.
• Mayfield accommodating Business Studies, Economics, Film Studies, Health and Social Care, ICT, Computing, Media Studies, Psychology and Sociology.

Notable alumni

Sixth form college

• Caroline Aherne – actress and comedy writer
• Peter Ash – actor
• Afshan Azad – British actress; best known for playing Padma Patil in the Harry Potter films
• Mark Collins – guitarist, member of the British indie/rock band The Charlatans
• Wilfred Hopkins – author, under the pseudonym Billy Hopkins, of Our Kid and other works^{[citation needed]}
• Sally Lindsay – actress, comedienne and friend of Peter Kay
• Tachia Newall – actor, plays the character of Bolton Smilie in Waterloo Road
• Chris Ofili – Turner Prize award-winning artist
• Nedum Onuoha – Premier League footballer for Manchester City F.C.
• Shaun Wright-Phillips – Premier League footballer for Manchester City F.C.

Grammar school

• David Ansbro, Chief Executive from 1988-91 of Leeds City Council
• Brian Bagnall, cartoonist and writer for Private Eye, notably Dear Bill
• Chris Boffey, journalist
• Chris Buckley (footballer)
• Anthony Burgess – author, poet; author of the novel A Clockwork Orange
• Prof Wilfred Carr, Professor of the School of Education since 1994 at the University of Sheffield
• Rt Rev James Cunningham, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle from 1958-74
• Augustine Hailwood, Conservative MP for Manchester Ardwick, 1916-22
• Martin Hannett – record producer and Factory Records co-founder
• Peter Hebblethwaite, journalist
• Bernard Hill – British actor; best known for playing Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff, Captain Edward John Smith in Titanic, King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and as the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime
• Tony Howell, Chief Education Officer since 2002 of Birmingham City Council
• Major Henry Kelly (VC)
• Rt Rev Bernard Longley – Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham since 2009
• Terence Maher, Chairman from 1977-93 of Dillons Bookstores
• Gary Mounfield – musician (Mani), member of The Stone Roses
• Tim Willocks – British doctor and novelist

See also

• List of direct grant grammar schools

External links

• Xaverian College website
• Audio interview with Brother Cyril - headmaster of Xaverian College from 1962 to 1989.
• EduBase