St John's College is an independent co-educational day school in the village of
Old St Mellons
Old St Mellons ( cy, Pentre Llaneirwg) is a village, a community and a civil parish on the eastern edge of Cardiff, Wales. Lying to the east of the Rhymney River, it forms part of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is separated from the mo ...
in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
,
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 ...
. It is the choir school of Wales' national Catholic cathedral,
Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral.
History of St John's College
De La Salle Prep School
The De La Salle School for Boys, established in the 1930s, was originally based at 9 Richmond Crescent, Cardiff at a site formerly occupied by St Peter's Catholic Young Men's Society. The School was run by the
Brothers of the Christian Schools
french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes
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, image_size = 175px
, caption =
, abbreviation = FSC
, nickname = Lasallians
, named_after =
, formation ...
and sought to provide an education within a strong Christian context. Later, the school moved to a site off Greenway Road near
Trowbridge
Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southe ...
in north-east Cardiff.
In the 1980s the De La Salle School faced imminent closure. A group of parents, some of whom had been pupils at the school, were determined to keep the school open and in 1987, decided to establish St John's College.
St John's College
The new school, still located at Greenway Road, opened its doors to both boys and girls up to the age of 16; A Levels were introduced in 1996. The founding Headmaster, Dr David Neville, put the academic and choral foundations at the very heart of the new college and St John's became the choir school to the Metropolitan Cathedral of St David, providing choristers for Sunday Mass and other weekday services.
As the school roll grew, it became apparent that St John's had outgrown the site at Greenway Road. In 1995 the college moved to its current site, Ty-to-maen, a mansion built in 1885–9 by the Cardiff architect E. Bruce Vaughan for Richard Allen of
Spillers
Spillers Ltd was a British company that owned flour milling operations, operated bakeries and also sold pet food and equine feeds.
History
The business originated in 1829 from the establishment of a flour mill in Bridgwater, Somerset, by Joel Sp ...
flour mills. It was later owned by Sir William Edgar Nicholls, the manager of Spillers, who gave the house and its estate to the
Cardiff Royal Infirmary
Cardiff Royal Infirmary ( cy, Ysbyty Brenhinol Caerdydd) (also known as the CRI or YBC) is a hospital in central Cardiff, Wales. It is managed by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
History
The hospital has its origins in the Cardiff ...
, when it became the William Nicholls Convalescent Home.
The Cathedral Choir
At the heart of St John's College is the Cathedral Choral Foundation. As the choir school to Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral, St John's College provides the boy and girl choristers (ages 8–18) for weekly Sunday masses, also participating in an annual Christmas Concert at St David's Hall and numerous performance opportunities throughout the year.
Over the years the Cathedral Choir has appeared in a major Hollywood film, participated in radio broadcasts for BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Four, performed with the world-renowned consort The Tallis Scholars, sung at Nôtre Dame, Paris and performed alongside the Prague and Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestras in performances of Mahler's Third Symphony.
In addition, the choir has also given performances in Madrid, El Escorial, the cathedrals of Bruges and Ghent, St David's Hall, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, Brecon Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
College structure
St John's College is divided into four sections: the Nursery and Infants (ages 3–7); the Junior School (ages 8–11); the Senior School (ages 12–16); the Sixth Form College (ages 17–18).
House system
Pupils and students at St John's College are divided into four houses, each named after a significant person from Welsh or Catholic history:
* Bute –
the family who owned Cardiff Castle and were responsible for much of the industrialisation of Cardiff.
* De La Salle –
John Baptiste De La Salle, the Catholic patron saint of teachers and founder of the De La Salle schools
* Mostyn –
Francis Mostyn who served a Archbishop of Cardiff from 1921 to 1939
* St David's – named after
the patron saint of Wales
The house names were inherited from the old De La Salle school and are an important part of the St John's heritage. A recent house competition allowed pupils to submit designs for new House Shields, one set for Juniors, Infants and Nursery, another for the Senior School and Sixth Form.
College achievements
The examination results achieved by the school are among the best in the UK. In 2017 it was the highest-ranked secondary school in the UK with 98% of pupils attaining A* to B at
Advanced Level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
. This led to St John's being named 'Welsh Independent Secondary School of the Year' in the Sunday Times 'Parent Power' annual supplement.
The school has successfully participated in the
F1 in Schools
''F1 in Schools'' is an international STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) competition for school children (aged 11–19), in which groups of 3–6 students have to design and manufacture a miniature car out of the official F1 ...
competition to design and build a miniature racing car. In 2019, Infinity Racing, a team of 12–13 year old pupils from the school won the Development Class National Finals and competed in the World Finals in Abu Dhabi. Most recently in 2022, Blackout, a team of 15-16 year old pupils also from the school, became runners-up to Team Hydron in the World Finals in Silverstone after achieving the fastest average race time at the competition. They also managed to achieve the Fastest Car in UK History, recording 1.036 seconds at the 2021 Virtual National Finals.
References
External links
St John's College websiteCardiff Cathedral Choir websiteProfileon the
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website
*
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 ...
inspectio
reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:St John's College, Cardiff
Private schools in Cardiff
Cathedral schools
1987 establishments in Wales
Roman Catholic private schools in the Archdiocese of Cardiff
Educational institutions established in 1987