St Alban's RC High School (Welsh: ''Ysgol Uwchradd Catholig Sain Alban'') is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The school provides education from ages 11-16. The school is situated in Park House, the former home of the

Hanbury family Hanbury may refer to: People *Harold Greville Hanbury (1898–1993), English law academic and Vinerian Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford * John Hanbury (disambiguation), a number of men with this name * Robert Hanbury Brown (1916 ...

Pontypool Park Pontypool Park ( cy, Parc Pont-y-pŵl) is a park in Pontypool, Torfaen, Wales. The park was formerly the grounds of Pontypool House and was laid out in the closing years of the 17th century for John Hanbury, an ironmaster, who is closely associ ...

Park House

Built in the late seventeenth century by local ironmaster, Major John Hanbury, the house is in a style popularised by the architect

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

. In 1923 the Hanbury family sold the property to the Sisters of the Order of the Holy Ghost. It was initially reopened as a girls' day and boarding school. In 1963, control of the school was passed to the

Archdiocese of Cardiff The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff ( la, Archidioecesis Cardiffensis; cy, Archesgobaeth Caerdydd) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church which covers the south-east portion of Wales and the county of Herefordshire in ...

to become St Alban’s RC High School. In March 2023 - St Albans R.C. High School have opened the doors to its newly refurbished library, thanks to a £1.2 million grant from the Welsh Government.

2008 Estyn report

According to the Autumn 2008 report by

Estyn Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb ''estyn'' meaning "to reach (out), stretch or extend". Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality ...

, the school has a

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

pass rate of 75% (based on 5 GCSEs, grades A-C) which puts it in equal 17th place in

and within the top 10% of secondary schools in

. The inspection concluded that: ''St Alban’s Roman Catholic High School is a very successful school with many outstanding features. Its Christian values pervade its work and are important to all members of the school community.'' http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/SchoolsDirectory/Schools/St-Albans-RC-High-School.aspx St Albans R.C. High School

Former students

Gareth Maule Gareth Maule (born in Pontypool, Wales on 4 December 1987) is a Welsh rugby union player currently playing at Centre. He attended New College School Cardiff and St Albans RC High School. He is 191 cm tall and weighs 95 kg. Maule has ...

– Rugby player -

Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

Lloyd Burns Lloyd Burns (born 9 December 1984, Panteg) is a former Wales international rugby union player. Burns played in the hooker position and played his club rugby for Newport Gwent Dragons having made his debut in the 2008–09 season. He previously ...

– Rugby player -

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

Nick Thomas-Symonds Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (born 26 May 1980) is a British academic, barrister and politician who has been Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tor ...

- British Labour Party Politician, barrister and academic - MP for

, May 2015 – Present *

Kevin Owen Kevin Owen (born 1966) is a British television and radio news anchor, reporter and presenter who was born in Plymouth, UK. He has worked in UK regional and network broadcasting for more than three decades. From 2006 to 2022, he worked at the Ru ...

- British TV News Anchor - former Senior News Anchor at RT International, Moscow 2006–2022, ex-Sky News, BBC World Service, HTV Wales and West, and BBC Wales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Alban's Rc High School, Torfaen Secondary schools in Torfaen Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Cardiff Educational institutions established in 1924 1924 establishments in Wales Pontypool