Finchley Catholic High School

Updated on Nov 12, 2023

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Established 1926 Religion Roman Catholic Phone +44 20 8445 0105 Number of students 1,124 Former name Richard Challoner School		Type Voluntary aided school DfE number 302/5405 Founded 1926 Local authority London Borough of Barnet
Founder Rev Monsignor Canon C. H. Parsons Location Woodside LaneNorth Finchley, LondonGreater LondonN12 8TAEngland Address Woodside Ln, London N12 8TA, UK Motto Da Nobis Recta Sapere; (Grant that we may be truly wise) Similar Mill Hill County High Sch, Saint Michael's Catholic, Ashmole Academy, Friern Barnet School, Hendon School Profiles Twitter

Finchley catholic high school 1972

Finchley Catholic High School is a boys' secondary school with a coeducational and mixed sex sixth form in North Finchley, part of the London Borough of Barnet.

Admissions

Finchley Catholic High School, as its name declares, is a faith school; it is also - up to the end of Year 11 - exclusively for boys.

It is a school for boys aged 11–18, with a mixed-sex Sixth Form. The sixth form is increasing in size, and 25% of the intake is offered to girls since the 2007-08 academic year.

Location

The school is situated to the west of Finchley's High Road (A1000), and immediately to the east of that stretch of the Northern Line which constitutes the school's western boundary. Lying adjacent to the postcode boundaries of Whetstone (N20) and Woodside Park (N12), it is roughly halfway between Woodside Park tube station and Totteridge and Whetstone tube station.

History

Finchley Catholic Grammar School was founded in 1926 by the redoubtable Canon (later Monsignor Canon) Clement Henry Parsons (1892–1980), parish priest of St. Alban's Catholic Church, Nether Street, North Finchley. He founded the Challoner School (a fee-paying grammar school for boys who had not passed their 11+); as well as St. Alban's Catholic Preparatory School ("The Prep" - now absorbed into Woodside Park International School) as a feeder primary for the Grammar and Challoner schools. 1971 saw its two institutional forebears, Finchley Catholic Grammar School ("Finchley Grammar") and the Challoner School, merge to become Finchley Catholic High School). It was the sister school of the all-girls St. Michael's Catholic Grammar School during the grammar school era.

The school started as a private initiative and parents were able to consider allowing their children to remain at school for longer. They were even willing and able to pay limited fees to the school. In a short time demand outgrew accommodation, the school had to extend. An appeal from the pulpit by Canon Parsons began the collection that by Christmas 1928 had produced enough money to purchase a building. Woodside Grange seemed an ideal site for the new school but it took the intervention of the Anglican Bishop of London to complete the purchase.

The deal was finalised and the building taken over in September 1929. The changes in the education system led to the care of the house and grounds being split between the Governors, the Local Authority and the Archdiocese of Westminster. Each was charged with keeping one part of the house in good order. The school grew and the use of the house was restricted to the staff and A-level pupils.

The decision to demolish the seriously deteriorated house was taken by two council workmen who, in 1972, when sent to repair the porch found that it was covered in valuable lead, and might require some skill to repair. By then the school had ceased to be a grammar school and become a comprehensive. A former pupil of the school saw the damage being done and wrote to the local and national newspapers, leading to a temporary preservation order being placed on the house. Reginald Maudling asked a parliamentary question on the matter.

When asked about the removal of the building from the list of buildings of architectural merit, the Minister of the Environment, Anthony Crosland, replied that the member for Chipping Barnet had been misinformed. This was countered with a photocopy of the document being slapped onto the dispatch box and the government decided to put the building back on the list and listed Grade II.

Traditions

Its motto, Da Nobis Recta Sapere (Grant that we may be truly wise) comes from the collect (opening prayer) of the Mass of Pentecost. The school newsletter, "The Albanian", is named after the school's patron saint, St Alban, Britain's protomartyr. It is sent out six times a year (every half term) to all parents, governors and other key members of the school community.

Ethos

The school has a Catholic ethos. Religious education is taught twice a week in Key Stage 3 (years 7, 8 and 9); and, as in all Catholic schools in England, the GCSE is compulsory (Key Stage 4 - years 10 and 11), also being taught twice weekly.

Products with the Fairtrade Certification Mark are encouraged, and the school has an action group dedicated to making Barnet a Fairtrade borough. Every year, during Lent, pupils raise money for charities such as CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), and various local and national charities, including the neighbouring (and non-denominational) North London Hospice.

Sport

There is an extensive range of clubs offered in FCHS, including football and rugby teams. Facilities include a recently installed full size astroturf pitch and playing fields in nearby Southover, a street in Woodside Park Garden Suburb, the other side of Dollis Brook. Of particular note was the archery club which for 15 years from 1960 until 1974 was one of the most successful in Great Britain. Various archers won county and national competitions, notably Peter Sweetman, Peter Santamaria, Andrew Brennek and Peter Monson. From 1965 until 1972 they were undefeated in interschool competition

Music & drama

The standard of Performing Arts at FCHS has increased dramatically over the past few years. The show "Remember" written by Mark Sell and Lena Santos, and performed by students of FCHS and St. Michael's, has been a major success. It is about the remembrance of the Holocaust, and has been to Poland, where it was the first-ever performance in the Auschwitz camp itself. Music includes partisan music, and other music with Yiddish and Hebrew lyrics.

Science & engineering

The school offers a government-funded Engineering Club to Key Stage 3. It is currently working on making a green energy supply to run an oxygenating system for the school pond, in the form of a wind turbine.

Languages

French or Spanish are compulsory throughout Key Stage 3, and optional at GCSE. French is also taught up to A2 level. There are after-school lessons in Latin, which is available up to GCSE(no longer available).

SNAAP

The SNAAP club (St. Nicholas Academy for Autism Project) is held on the school premises under the auspices of Barnet and its head leader Christine Haugh. Pupils from FCHS help there every Wednesday 15:30 - 18:00. Activities are I.T. based, but sports and art are also practised commonly as well. It is a strong base with linking people on the autistic spectrum and the school. Over 200 families with members affected by autism attend the club.

At the end of the 2014 school year, SNAAP was disbanded.

School buildings

The school's buildings vary in age and quality:

The 'White House', built in 1872 by Cubitt, is the school's oldest building. Grade II listed, it houses the school's reception, main offices, a small chapel and a medical centre.

The Bourne Block, completed in 1936, is the largest building and houses most of the classrooms, as well as the Sixth Form common room and a newly built business centre.

The Challoner Block, completed in 1954, originally housed the separate Challoner School, until it became part of FCHS in 1971. It contains the second largest number of classrooms.

Bampfield House, a private residence built before 1920, was acquired in the early 1950s as a dormitory block for the Challoner School. FCHS used it as a music and drama centre until the construction of the Performing Arts Centre (see below). It was demolished in 2013 and is now home to the Canon Parsons Sixth Form Centre which opened in 2014

The School Hall, built in 1956 and originally used solely as a chapel, now functions as an assembly hall.

The Stephenson Block, (named after the late chemistry teacher, "Mo" Stephenson), also known as the '1971 Block', houses the ICT and art rooms, a small library and the recently renovated cafeteria.

The Performing Arts Centre, built in 2004 and opened by local girl Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), replaced Bampfield House as a multi-purpose music and drama centre, including three music rooms and a drama studio. It also houses a seminar room for conferences.

Canon Parsons Sixth Form Centre built in 2014 and opened by Bishop John Sherrington it cost £3 million to build. It replaced the former music and drama centre Bampfield house.

There are two other buildings of note.

Challoner Lodge (originally 'Feckenham Lodge'), built around 1930 as a kind of dower house for the founder's aged mother, is now the school keeper's residence.

Parsons Lodge, originally the coachman's lodge for the 'White House' and also Grade II listed, was recently converted into two private flats.

There is another structure, which could be mistaken for a neglected gatehouse, but is in fact the school's very own electricity substation (strictly out of bounds!).

School houses

The school is made up of 5 (sometimes 6) houses, which are represented by each year's form classes, which in turn are represented by the colour of stripes on their ties. These are named after prominent Catholics (mostly with some personal connection to Finchley): Bampfield (green), Bourne (blue), Feckenham (gold), Fisher (white), Challoner (red), More (orange) and Alban (purple). Purple is not always included, but sometimes another form is made to accommodate more pupils, typically every other year.

The forms (houses) each have their own letter, which together make up the initials of the school. This is FRCHSB, standing for Finchley Roman Catholic High School for Boys, and each letter is for a different form.

At the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, another tie colour, orange, was introduced due to a complication about the number of pupils admitted that year.

As stated by the school:

F(inchley) is Green Tie. Bampfield

R(oman) is Blue Tie. Bourne

C(atholic) is Gold Tie (often referred to as Yellow - Yellow and Gold being heraldically equivalent). Feckenham

H(igh) is White Tie. Fisher

S(chool) is Red Tie. Challoner

B(oys) is Purple Tie.

A(lban) is Orange tie

Around about 2013-14, they removed orange tie. For most lessons, classes partner up with another one. Green tie and Blue tie pair up, Gold tie and White tie pair up, and Purple tie and Red tie pair up. They do it for subjects that are not as vital as English and Maths, like art, performing arts, and so on. For Spanish, White tie, Red tie and Purple tie partner up and for French blue tie, green tie and yellow tie are partnered up.

Notable old boys

Dom Aidan Bellenger, currently Abbot of Downside Abbey; former Head Master of Downside School

Declan Danaher, rugby player, back row London Irish

Tony Gallagher, former Editor of the Daily Telegraph

Giuliano Grazioli, former striker for Swindon Town and Barnet

Martin Ivens, Editor, The Sunday Times

Dennis Kelly, theatre and television writer

Paul Rincon, BBC News, broadcast journalist, specialist in science & technology

Chas Smash, backing singer and dancer in British band Madness, also co-wrote one of their trademark hits, "Our House".

Finchley Grammar School

Derek Edwin Berry FRICS ATII, Company Secretary of Racal Electronics Limited (1969 - 1986), Founding Director of Vodafone Ltd,

Prof Christopher Bliss, Nuffield Professor of International Economics from 1992-2007 at the University of Oxford, and brother of Jill Paton Walsh

James Bredin, former BBC news and documentary producer, Managing Director from 1964-82 of Border Television, and directed ITN's first broadcast in 1955

Air Vice-Marshal Robert Chapple CB, Principal Medical Officer of the RAF from 1991–94

Tony Chanmugam, Finance Director of BT since 2008

Terry Forrestal, stuntman extraordinaire; former soldier

Michael Gorman, academic librarian and author, former president of the American Library Association

Sir John Hegarty, founder of global advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Jerry Lordan, composer of hits "Apache" and "Wonderful Land" for The Shadows

Prof David Luscombe, Professor of Medieval History from 1972-95 at the University of Sheffield

Troy Kennedy Martin, screenwriter; co-creator of 1960s British TV hit series Z-Cars, scripted 1960s classic The Italian Job

John Leslie Marshall, Conservative former MEP for London North and former mayor of Barnet London Borough Council

Eric Merriman, radio comedy writer

Nicholas J. Phillips, UK hologram pioneer

Sir Hugh Rossi, Conservative MP for Hornsey, then Hornsey and Wood Green, 1966–92

Prof Thomas Wiedemann, historian, former Professor of Latin from 1995-2001 at the University of Nottingham

John Adams, NSOI, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland from 1966-2006

References

Finchley Catholic High School Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA