St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool
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| St. Francis Xavier's College | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
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, , L25 6EG England | |
| Coordinates | 53°22′58″N 2°52′49″W / 53.382662°N 2.880281°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Academy |
| Motto | "...life in all its fullness." Jn 10:10 |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
| Established | October 27, 1842 |
| Founder | Society of Jesus |
| Local authority | Liverpool City Council |
| Specialist | Mathematics and Computing College |
| Department for Education URN | 138463 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Chair | Lisa Riccio-Jones[2] |
| Headteacher | David Hayes |
| Staff | 130 |
| Gender | Boys, Coeducational in the 6th form |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 1297 |
| Houses | Almond, Bryant, Campion, Kemble, Mayne, Lewis, Owen, Rigby |
| Colour(s) | Year 7-11 Maroon & Blue Year 12-13 Black & Blue |
| Publication | SFXtra and Prospectus |
| Website | www |
St Francis Xavier's College is a Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Woolton, Liverpool, England. Year 7 to Year 11 are male only, whereas the Sixth Form (years 12 and 13) are coeducational.
The college is under the trusteeship of the Brothers of Christian Instruction. Their mission is that of their founder, Jean Marie de la Mennais, "To make Jesus better known and loved".
The school is a specialist school for mathematics and computing, and was the first school in Liverpool to gain specialist school status in that category.
Origins and history
The college was founded in 1842 in association with Stonyhurst College, Lancashire by the Society of Jesus which is a Roman Catholic religious order.[3]
1842–1843: Soho Street
The college had a rector from 1842 to 1844. It had two pupils.[4]
1843–1845: St. Anne Street
A year later, it had a dozen pupils. Father Francis Lythgoe moved the college to St. Anne Street where it stayed until 1845.[4]
1846–1877: Salisbury Street
In 1844 Father Johnson took over from Father Francis Lythgoe and moved his 24 pupils to the newly opened Presbytery on Salisbury Street. Father Collyns took over the college in 1853.
With more than 50 pupils the rector Father Collyns decided that a new premises was needed. By 1856 the college had its own building built alongside the Presbytery and in 1877 a new college was built on 6 Salisbury Street.[5]
Second college building
The newest Salisbury Street building was designed by Henry Clutton, a Catholic architect. He used the designs of Father Vaughan as the bases of his designs. The new college was completed in the summer of 1877 and cost £30,000.[5]
Move to Woolton
In 1961 the college was transferred as a grammar school to its present twenty-six-acre site at High Lee, Woolton. From 1984 to 1990 the Lower School site for Years 7, 8 and 9 was located on Queens Drive (Formerly Cardinal Newman RC) in Wavertree L15. Later, the Lower School was re-sited with the Upper School at High Lee. In 1990, the college opted out of local authority control, becoming a grant-maintained school. The college was granted Technology College status from April 1996. In September 1999 it became a Foundation School. In 1992, the college became co-educational in the sixth form and in September 2000 the De La Mennais Sixth Form Centre was opened.
School choir
The choir was formed in 1994 and has performed in front of Pope John Paul II. They have toured Europe and the United States, and gained a place in the Guinness Book of Records for singing at every cathedral in England and Wales.[6]
The school sang on the reworked version of The Farm's 1990 hit "Alltogethernow", remixed by BBC Radio 1's DJ Spoony. The single, which reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart, was the official song for the England football team at the UEFA Euro 2004 competition. It was performed by the choir on Top of the Pops in 2004.[7]
Controversy
In December 2005, Keith Knowles, a music teacher at the school and choirmaster, was arrested by police on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, and was bailed pending further enquiries.
Knowles was suspended from his teaching post at the school and in April 2006 was charged with 15 counts of making and 8 counts of possessing child pornography.[8]
In November 2006 he was found guilty at Liverpool City Magistrate's Court of all 15 counts of making child pornography and 6 out of the 8 counts of possessing it. The Liverpool Echo reported that the 15 images were of young boys downloaded from the internet, whereas the others were of an ex-girlfriend when she was much younger.[9]
In June 2007, Keith Knowles was cleared of his charges after an appeal to Liverpool's Appeal Court. He was released after nineteen months in prison and said of the experience: Justice has been done. It has been an horrific 19 months".[10]
The chief witness in his prosecution, Hayley Doyle, had a mental breakdown after Keith Knowles's release. She went as far as to threaten to kill the at-the-time headmaster of the school, Mr L D Rippon. Hayley Doyle was dismissed from the school and sent to live in a psychiatric clinic. She maintains her own innocence and Keith Knowles's guilt.[11]
Head Teachers
| D Hayes | 2021 | Present |
| P Evans / C Flaherty | 2020 | 2021 |
| P Halliwell | 2019 | 2020 |
| P Ferguson / K Maddocks | 2019 | 2019 |
| D Yates | 2018 | 2019 |
| G Flowers | 2016 | 2018 |
| L D Rippon | 2004 | 2016 |
| Brother Francis Patterson | 1979 | 2004 |
| Brother Robert Power | 1974 | 1979 |
| Father Doyle | 1962 | 1974 |
| Father Edward James Warner | 1953 | 1961 |
| Father Neylan | 1939 | 1953 |
| Father Brinkworth | 1937 | 1938 |
| Father Woodlock | 1919 | 1937 |
| Father J. Sponson | 1902 | 1919 |
| Father Thomas Poter | 1870 | 1902 |
| Father Collyns | 1853 | 1870 |
| Father West | 1851 | 1853 |
| Father Johnson | 1844 | 1853 |
| Father Francis Lythgoe | 1842 | 1844 |
Notable former pupils
- James Clement Baxter – Liberal politician and former chairman of Everton FC[12]
- Piaras Béaslaí (Percy Beazley) – Irish revolutionary and writer[13][14]
- Charles Brabin – American film director[15]
- Keith Briffa – climatologist
- Denis Cosgrove – former professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles
- Elvis Costello – musician, singer, and songwriter[16]
- Gabriel George Coury – recipient of the Victoria Cross[17]
- Chris Crookall – actor[18]
- Walter Bryan Emery – former Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London
- Jon Flanagan – footballer
- Paul Gallagher – Roman Catholic cleric and diplomat, titular archbishop of Hodelm
- John Gregson – actor
- Franny Griffiths – musician
- Augustine Harris – Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough from 1978 to 1992, prison chaplain at HM Prison Liverpool from 1952 to 1965
- George Hartland – Conservative MP for Norwich from 1931 to 1935
- Paul Aloysius Kenna – recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Lancelot Lawton – British historian, military officer, scholar of Ukrainian studies
- Sammy Lee – former footballer and assistant manager of Liverpool FC[19]
- George Lynskey – High Court judge on the former King's Bench
- Vincent Malone – bishop
- Jimmy McGovern – screenwriter[20]
- Brian Nash - musician
- Mike Newell – footballer[21]
- Laurence O'Keeffe – UK ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1988 to 1991, and to Senegal from 1982 to 1985
- Edward J. Phelan – director-general of the International Labour Organization[22]
- Paul Raymond – publisher of pornographic magazines
- Peter Serafinowicz – actor, writer, comedian[23]
- Leslie Stuart – composer of Edwardian musical comedies[24]
- Tony Warner – footballer
- Michael Xavier – musical theatre actor
See also
- St Francis Xavier
- St Francis Xavier Church, Liverpool
- Secondary school
- Foundation school
- List of Jesuit sites
References
- Notes
- ^ http://www.sfx1842.org
- ^ "Contact Us". St Francis Xavier's College. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- ^ "College History". St. Francis Xavier’s College. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- ^ a b Heery, Pat; Bewley, Bill (2002). "Chapter 2: The College Premises". The History of St. Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool 1842–2001. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-9535782-1-4. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
- ^ a b Heery, Pat (2002). "Chapter 2: The College Premises". The History of St. Francis Xavier's College Liverpool 1842 - 2001. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-9535782-1-4. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
- ^ "Liverpool choir's Number One goal". Liverpool City Council. May 2004. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- ^ "Gold disc for Euro anthem choir". BBC. June 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- ^ "Choirmaster in child porn arrest". 6 January 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Choirmaster is charged over porn". 10 April 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ Echo, Liverpool (22 June 2007). "Ex-choirmaster wins appeal in porn case". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ Turner, Ben (18 June 2007). "New twist in school child porn case". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "The History of Everton Football Club - Dr James Baxter". www.efchistory.co.uk. 7 December 2008. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- ^ "Béaslaí, Piaras | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie.
- ^ "Piaras Béaslaí: the writer who became a rebel". 9 August 2020 – via www.rte.ie.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Charles Brabin - Bio". connect.in.com/. 26 August 2009. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- ^ "The Merseyside Roots of Elvis Costello - Merseysider MagazineMerseysider Magazine".
- ^ Gabriel Coury from Catholic Herald Archived October 16, 2009, at the Portuguese Web Archive
- ^ Grange Hill back for Series no. 27 from Liverpool Echo, 2 February 2004, retrieved 18 December 2014
- ^ Sammy Lee Archived 2009-04-06 at the Wayback Machine from BobPaisley.com, retrieved 18 December 2014
- ^ Rampton, James (30 November 1996). "Profile: Jimmy McGovern: TRUTH WILL OUT". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 May 2010.[dead link]
- ^ Students looking to Ferry elite cup across the Mersey from Liverpool Echo, 14 May 2003, retrieved 18 December 2014
- ^ "Edward J. Phelan". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Peter Serafinowicz". The Sunday Telegraph. September 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Lamb, Andrew. "Barrett, Thomas Augustine (1863–1928)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, May 2007, accessed 26 May 2012 (subscription required)
- Bibliography
- Heery, Pat (2002). The History of St. Francis Xavier's College Liverpool 1842 - 2001. Pat Heery. ISBN 978-0-9535782-1-4.
