Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School

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Established
  
1936

Religion
  
Catholic

Founder
  
De La Salle Brothers

Motto
  
"In Verbo Tuo"

Number of students
  
1,600

Type
  
Academy

Headmaster
  
Mr David Todd

Phone
  
+44 1202 421141

Color
  
Blue

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School

Location
  
St Catherine's Road Bournemouth Dorset BH6 4AH England

Address
  
Saint Catherine's Road, Bournemouth BH6 4AH, United Kingdom

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School is a Roman Catholic academy in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It is run under the joint trusteeship of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth and a religious order of teachers, the De La Salle Brothers. The headteacher, David Todd, joined the school in 2013 and converted the school into an academy.

Contents

St Peter's has achieved both drama and sports specialist school status. The nearest Catholic church is Our Lady Queen of Peace and Blesséd Margaret Pole.

The Lower Primary School (Years reception–6) is located on Holdenhurst Avenue, Iford; the Upper School (Years 7–13) is located on St. Catherine's Road, Southbourne. The Upper School site includes the De La Salle Theatre, which seats 470 people.

Jesuits

St Peter's was opened as a boys' boarding school on 29 September 1936 with 34 boys. Father Bellanti was the first headmaster and the school was run by Jesuit priests. Subsequently, the bedrooms have now been removed and the swimming pool was demolished due to building problems, now serving as the school's Sixth Form Centre, after a refurbishment.

De La Salle Brothers

In the summer of 1947, the school was handed over to the De La Salle brothers. The last Jesuit community consisted of nine fathers and two brothers. One of the Jesuit priests who was a housemaster at St Peter's was Father Gerard Hughes S.J., the author of God of Surprise in which he observed St Peter's boys were "affable and undemanding".

Independent grammar school

From the time of the first De La Salle headmaster, Brother Bernard Brady in 1947, until the last, Brother Bernard Hayward in 1993, the De La Salle brothers improved, enlarged and ran the school. In 1973 it sent nearly 14% of its graduating Sixth Form students to Oxford and Cambridge. Under the headmaster-ship of Brother Alan Maurice, the school became a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) association of public schools. Boaters were allowed to be worn by Sixth Form students.

The reorganisation of local education and the changes wrought by the Labour government in 1974 offered the opportunity for the school to examine whether it might serve the interests of the wider Catholic community in Bournemouth by becoming non-selective. It was therefore during this time that they oversaw the integration of the combining of the St Peter's, the St Thomas More and the Boscombe Convent schools. The notice of intent was published on the 13 October 1978. By 1980 Boscombe convent and St Thomas More had merged. All then joined under the same name of St Peter's.

Headteachers

1984—1992: Brother Bernard Howard

1992—2011: Mr Anthony McCaffery

2011—2012: Mr Martyn Egan

2012—present: Mr Todd

Comprehensive

The School achieved a huge amount during the years of Anthony McCaffery headmaster-ship. The long-serving headmaster retired at the end of the 2011 academic year after 19 years of leadership of St Peter's.

Academy status

The school achieved its Academy Status at the beginning of September 2011. Martyn Egan led the school throughout its first year as an academy. The headteacher from 1 September 2012 is David Todd.

From 1 September 2014 St Peter's became an "all-through" school, with the establishment of two Reception classes at the Iford site.

Arts and Sports College status

St. Peter's School gained Arts College status in September 2000 and in September 2004 gained dual specialist status in Arts and Sport.

One of the highlights of the school's Arts College status was being shortlisted for the Sky1 programme Hairspray: The School Musical. Although the school did not win, losing to Kingsmead School in Enfield, various performing arts students spent a week being interviewed by the shows hosts and performing for them.

Commemoration

A circular memorial to mark the motoring and aviation pioneer Charles Rolls, is situated in the bottom corner of the playing field at the Southbourne site of St Peter's School. The school was built adjacent to Hengistbury Airfield where Rolls had a fatal accident in July 1910. There was a large air show taking place, as part of Bournemouth's centenary celebrations. Rolls' aeroplane crashed; this being the first air-accident death in England.

In 2010, St Peter's marked the centenary of the death of Charles Rolls by having a fair on the Headmaster's Lawn at the Southbourne site. The memorial was also refurbished. The Central Band of the RAF performed in the school hall and there was an exhibition of Rolls-Royce aviation memorabilia, including an aero-engine.

Successful Former Pupils

  • Jack Donnelly, Actor.
  • Oliver Biles
  • Chris Butcher, England rugby international
  • James Chiriyankandath, academic
  • Leilani Dowding, model
  • Waldemar Januszczak, art critic and journalist
  • Adam Lallana, professional footballer for England and Liverpool F.C.
  • Andy Long, England rugby international
  • Henry McGee, actor
  • Geva Mentor, England netball international
  • Lance Secretan, author
  • Lucy Pinder, model
  • Robert Vincent McCabe, BAFTA-winning television director
  • References

    St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School Wikipedia