St. Michael's School (Welsh: ) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

day and boarding school for pupils aged from 3 to 18 years old in

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

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 is divided into four sections, comprising the Pre-Preparatory School, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form. The current

head teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

is Benson Ferrari.

History

The school was first established in 1923 and has been situated in the east Llanelli village of Bryn since 1928. The school was originally established by the Rees brothers, with Percy Rees as the founding Headmaster. Upon retirement of the Rees' brothers, former head boy Mr Vaughan-Evans was appointed Headmaster in 1962. The school's main building, St. David's House, dates back to the 19th century and was originally a large house belonging to a local industrialist. The school's Pre-Preparatory School is housed in a converted former public house, The Royal Oak, which was purchased by the school in 2012

Ownership

The school was acquired in 2019 by Chinese company Bright Scholar, as part of a £150m purchase of colleges in the UK. Bright Scholar is also the largest operator of international and bilingual schools in China. The deal for St Michael's, along with

Bosworth Independent College Bosworth Independent School is a private co-educational boarding school, located in Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of ...

, specifically cost the company a sum of £38m.

Results

The school offers

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 ...

and

A-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 ...

qualifications, with 60.9% of all A-Level entries graded A* or A in 2018, winning the

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

2018 ''Welsh Independent Secondary School of the Year'' award.

Incidents

In 2012 the school appeared in national headlines after accusations arose that education officers at Cognita UK, a rival education company, had posed as parents at St Michael's in order to obtain commercial information. Cognita at the time operated nearby

Ffynone House School Ffynone House School is an independent co-educational secondary day school in Swansea, Wales. It is situated in the Uplands area of the city at 36 St. James Crescent. The school teaches children from age 11 to 18 (Year 7 to GCSE and A Level) ...

in Swansea but denied all of the allegations. In 2016 the school was twice the victim of hoax calls warning of a bomb on the school estate. The school twice evacuated its premises, and a heavy police presence was required to confirm the communications were both in fact a hoax. The threat was linked to a number of other hoaxes around that time including threats to schools in Kent and Newcastle.

Notable former pupils

Notable former pupils of St Michaels' include: * Robert Buckland MP, politician,

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

Cerys Matthews Cerys Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the " Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s. Matthews programmes an ...

, singer * Kirsty Williams AM, politician, Minister for Education and Skills for Wales *

Ivor Richard Ivor Seward Richard, Baron Richard, (30 May 1932 – 18 March 2018) was a British Labour politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 until 1974. He was also a member of the European Commission and latterly sat as a life pee ...

, politician and diplomat,

British Ambassador to the United Nations The Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative to the United Nations, and in charge of the ''United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations'' (UKMIS). UK permane ...

* John Geoffrey Jones, British judge, president of the

Mental Health Review Tribunal A mental health tribunal is a specialist tribunal (hearing) empowered by law to adjudicate disputes about mental health treatment and detention, primarily by conducting independent reviews of patients diagnosed with mental disorders who are det ...

for England and Wales * Siân Gwenllian AM, politician St Michael's alumna and singer

has acknowledged in interviews that her career benefited from attending St. Michael's, because "through the

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

system, you've had so many leg ups", and avoids playing music by privately educated acts on her

6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

show. She is subsequently an advocate for state educated acts in the music industry.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:St Michael's School, Llanelli Boarding schools in Wales Llanelli 1923 establishments in Wales Schools in Carmarthenshire