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

Pontypool Pontypool ( ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in South Wales. , it has a population of 29,062. Locat ...

Torfaen Torfaen (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Newport, Wales, Newport to t ...

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

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

Pontypool Park Pontypool Park () 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 (1744–1784), John Hanbury, an ironmaster, who is closely ...

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 an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

. 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 Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia (; ) is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church which covers south Wales and the county of Herefordshire in England. The Metropolitan Province of Cardiff covers all of Wales and parts of England. Its one suf ...

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 meaning 'to reach (out), stretch or extend'. Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality and stand ...

, the school has a

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

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 in European Professional Club Rugby com ...

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 previousl ...

– Rugby player -

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

* Menna Clatworthy - British immunologist who is Professor of Translational Medicine at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. *

Christian Coleman Christian Coleman (born March 6, 1996) is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He ...

– Rugby player -

Joe Goodchild Joe Goodchild (born 12 April 1998) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays for Cardiff RFC as a wing. Goodchild made his debut for the Dragons in 2016 having previously played for the Dragons academy, Cross Keys RFC and Garndiffaith RFC Garndif ...

– Rugby player -

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after which relocating to Ca ...

Nick Thomas-Symonds Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (born 26 May 1980) is a British academic, barrister and politician who has been Paymaster General, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations since July 2024. A mem ...

- 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-Menevia Educational institutions established in 1924 1924 establishments in Wales Pontypool