The Saint John Henry Newman School is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

with academy status in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England. In its most recent

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inspection it was classed as a good school and the diocesan report, assessing quality of Catholic education, classed it as outstanding. It converted to academy status on 1 March 2012.

History

Hitchin

St. Michael's College was established in Grove Road,

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

—next to the site of a new Catholic church—in 1903 by Fr. A. Prével of the Society of Saint Edmund. In 1925, the priests from the Order of Augustinians of the Assumption assumed control of both the church and the college. St. Michael's College was a Catholic boys' school which housed a number of boarding pupils. In 1953, following a General Inspection, the College was granted temporary recognition as a

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and this status was made permanent in 1958

Stevenage

The expansion of Stevenage New Town during the 1960s led to the relocation of the school to Sandown Road, Stevenage, in 1968. It changed its name to St. Michael's RC School. In 1985, the process of merging St. Michael's School with St. Angela's School for Girls began. The merging process was completed in 1987 under the leadership of Chair of Governors, John Alan Scouller and the site of St. Michael's was sold, while the new "John Henry Newman School" moved to the former site of St. Angela's on Hitchin Road. The name of the school commemorates Cardinal St John Henry Newman.The School then changed its name to the Saint John Henry Newman School in 2019 after the canonisation of John Henry Newman in the Vatican city

School facilities

The school's drama, music and dance facilities are in a 'pavilion' building built in 2015 that cost £3 million. The school's sporting facilities including a hockey/football astroturf, tennis courts, sports hall and 2 full size pitches.

Notable people

Former pupils

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

(b. 1985) - racing driver. Hamilton left the school at 15, after being wrongfully expelled by the Headmaster. He was reinstated following an appeal to the school board. * Ashley Young (b. 1985) - footballer, Watford F.C.,

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English foot ...

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...

, Everton F.C. * Seb Webber, international DJ and A&R at XL Recordings (1996-2001) * George Beck (1904-1978),

Archbishop of Liverpool The Metropolitan Archbishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool and Metropolitan bishop, metropolitan of the Province of Liverpool (also known as the Northern Province) in England. Th ...

, (at St Michael's, Hitchin), (also Headmaster) * Ross Kempsell (b. 1992) - political adviser and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

Former staff

* David Konstant, 8th Bishop of Leeds. Acting Head 1967 (at St Michael's, Stevenage)

References

External links

*
St. Michael's College, Hitchin

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School, The Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster Schools in Stevenage Secondary schools in Hertfordshire Educational institutions established in 1987 Academies in Hertfordshire 1987 establishments in England