The
Saint John Henry Newman School is a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
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* 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 let ...
secondary school with
academy status in
Stevenage,
Hertfordshire, England. In its most recent
Ofsted 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—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
The Assumptionists, officialy named the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption ( la, Congregatio Augustinianorum ab Assumptione) abbreviated AA,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men (priests and b ...
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 an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
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 School and became a comprehensive.
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
*
Sir Lewis Hamilton, British racing driver. Hamilton left the school at 15, after being wrongfully expelled by the Headmaster and then being reinstated following an appeal to the school board.
*
Ashley Young
Ashley Simon Young (born 9 July 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or full-back for Premier League club Aston Villa, where he is club captain.
Young started his career at Watford and made his first senior appea ...
,
Aston Villa footballer
*
Seb Webber, international DJ and A&R at XL Recordings (1996-2001)
*
George Beck (bishop),
Archbishop of Liverpool, (at St Michael's, Hitchin), (also Headmaster)
Former staff
* Rt. Reverend
David Konstant, 8th Bishop of Leeds. Acting Head 1967 (at St Michael's, Stevenage)
References
External links
*
St. Michael's College, Hitchin
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Henry Newman 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