Cardinal Newman College
Established | 1978 |
---|---|
Type | Voluntary aided sixth form college |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Principal | Nick Burnham |
Deputy Principal | Paul Vaughan |
Location |
Lark Hill Road Preston Lancashire PR1 4HD England Coordinates: 53°45′24″N 2°41′16″W / 53.7566°N 2.6878°W |
Local authority | Lancashire County Council |
DfE number | 888/8601 |
DfE URN | 130745 Tables |
Staff | 270 |
Students | 3,500 |
Gender | mixed |
Ages | 16+ |
Website |
www |
Cardinal Newman College is a Catholic sixth form college close to the centre of Preston.
The College was graded "outstanding" by Ofsted in May 2009.[1] The College was then granted "Beacon college" status by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service in November 2010.[2]
The College was ranked as the best sixth form college in England according to the Sunday Times' analysis of A-level performance for 2011.[3] With nine other high-performing sixth form colleges, the College was a founder-member of the Maple Group of colleges in March 2013.
The College has undergone significant new build and refurbishment since 2008. This has included the addition of the newly built St Cecilia’s Building in 2009, the acquisition of the St Augustine’s Centre in 2010 and the St Francis Building in 2015, situated next to the St Mary's Building.
History
The college contains Lark Hill House, built in 1797 as private house for Samuel Horrocks, a cotton manufacturer and later Mayor and Member of Parliament for Preston.[4][5] The house was unoccupied after the deaths of both Horrocks in 1842 and his son four years later, until 1860 when it was sold to the Faithful Companions of Jesus Sisters, to become Lark Hill House School for girls. The house was modified in 1870, with more classrooms added in 1893, 1907, and 1932. The school was a direct grant grammar school from 1919 known as Larkhill Convent Grammar School. From 1967, the school took in sixth-form students from other Catholic secondary schools around Preston. The introduction of comprehensive schools in Lancashire forced the school to stop admitting under-16 pupils from 1978. In that year, the Lark Hill sixth form merged with the sixth forms of the other two Catholic grammar schools in Preston, namely Winckley Square Convent School and Preston Catholic College, to form Cardinal Newman College,[6] named after John Henry Newman. Initially the sites of all three former schools were used, but within a few years the college was concentrated at the Lark Hill site. However, the former Catholic College's playing fields, one mile (1½ km) south of the college, are still used by Newman College.
Football Club
At the turn of the 20th century, Newman had a very successful football team and old students often continued to play together after their college years for the nearby Preston Winckley FC from 1903 onwards in the Lancashire Amateur League. The league, and subsequently the team, folded in 1911, and led to the creation of a purpose made Catholic College Old Boys FC, changing the name to Newman College FC in 1982. The club fielded 5 teams in the 1990/91, but the club has been in decline ever since, fielding only 1 team since 2006. The club still sports the traditional Catholic colours of green and white hoops and has played on their own same pitch for 100 years.
Notable former students
- Helen Southworth Former labour MP for Warrington South
- Isaac Towers Paralympian athlete
- Sean Haslegrave, professional footballer
- Myles Pearson, Paralympics GB athlete [7][8]
- Guy Flanagan, actor[9]
- Julie Atherton, actress[10]
- Rae Morris, pop singer-songwriter
Notes
- ↑ , Ofsted website, accessed 3 August 2012
- ↑ , LSIS website, accessed 14 August 2012
- ↑ "Sixth Formers in the Top 20", Blackpool Gazette, 19 November 2012, accessed 25 November 2012
- ↑ Hartley, p.48
- ↑ Follow the Yarn: 1766 Samuel Horrocks accessed 27 November 2007
- ↑ Garlington, pp.78–79
- ↑ , accessed 21 August 2012
- ↑ , Paralympics GB website, accessed 21 August 2012
- ↑ "Performing Arts Course: Stars in Their Eyes!" (PDF). Cardinal Newman College. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
- ↑ "Pulling Focus: Julie Atherton interview". the industri. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
References
- Garlington, J. (1995, new edition 2006), Images of England: Preston, Nonsuch Publishing, Stroud, ISBN 1-84588-307-1
- Hartley, S. (2006), "Lancashire Historic Town Survey: Preston" (PDF). (20.1 MiB), Lancashire County Council, Preston, accessed 11 December 2007