St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool

This article is about the college in Liverpool. For other schools and colleges of the same name, see St Francis Xavier College (disambiguation).

St. Francis Xavier's College
Address
Beaconsfield Road Woolton Liverpool , Merseyside , L25 6EG England
Information
Type	Foundation
Motto	Jesus came that we might have life, "........life in all its fullness." Jn 10:10
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	Thursday 27 October 1842
Founder	Society of Jesus
Local authority	Liverpool City Council
Specialist	Mathematics and Computing College
Department for Education URN	104718 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair	Mr. H. N. King
Headteacher	Mr L.D. Rippon
Staff	130
Gender	Boys, Coeducational in the 6th form
Age	11 to 18
Enrollment	1297
Colour(s)	Year 7-11 Maroon & Blue     Year 12-13 Black & Blue
Publication	SFX Extra and Prospectus
Website	http://www.sfx.liverpool.sch.uk

St. Francis Xavier's College is a Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form college located in Woolton, Liverpool, England. Year 7 to Year 11 are male only, whereas the Sixth Form (years 12 and 13) are coeducational.

The College is under the trusteeship of the Brothers of Christian Instruction. Their mission is that of their founder, Jean Marie de la Mennais, ‘To make Jesus better known and loved’. The school is a specialist school for Mathematics and Computing, and was the first school in Liverpool to gain specialist school status in that category.

Origins and History

The college was founded in 1842 in association with Stonyhurst College, Lancashire by the Society of Jesus who were a Roman Catholic religious order.

1842–1843: Soho Street

rector from 1842 to 1844. The college had two pupils.

1843–1845: St. Anne Street

A year later, now with a dozen pupils. Father Francis Lythgoe moved the college to St. Anne Street where it stayed until 1845.

1846–1877: Salisbury Street

In 1844 Father Johnson took over from Father Francis Lythgoe and moved his 24 pupils to the newley-opened Presbytery on Salisbury Street. Father Collyns took over the college in 1853.

With more than 50 pupils the rector Father Collyns decided that a new premises was needed. By 1856 the college had its own building built alongside the Presbytery and in 1877 a new college was built on 6 Salisbury Street.

Second College Building

SFX's newest Salisbury Street building was designed by Henry Clutton who was one of the foremost Catholic architects of the day. He used the designs of Father Vaughan as the bases of his designs. The new college was completed in the summer of 1877 and cost £30,000.

Move to Woolton

In 1961 the college was transferred as a grammar school to its present twenty-six acre site at High Lee, Woolton. For many years a Lower School site for Years 7, 8 and 9 was located on Queens Drive in Childwall, in recent years the Lower School was re-sited with the Upper School at High Lee. In 1990 SFX opted out of local authority control, becoming a grant-maintained school. The college was granted Technology College status from April 1996. In September 1999 it became a Foundation School. In 1992 the college became co-educational in the sixth form and in September 2000 the De La Mennais 6th Form Centre was opened.

School choir

The choir was formed in 1994 and has performed in front of Pope John Paul II. They have toured Europe and the United States, and gained a place in the Guinness Book of Records for singing at every cathedral in England and Wales.

The school sang on the reworked version of The Farm's 1990 hit "Alltogethernow", remixed by BBC Radio 1's DJ Spoony. The single, which reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart, was the official song for the England football team at the UEFA Euro 2004 competition. It was performed by the choir on Top of the Pops in 2004.

Head Teachers

Headteacher	Start year	End year
Mr L.D.N Ripon	2005	Present
Brother Francis Patterson	1979	2005
Brother Robert Power	1974	1979
Father Doyle	1962	1974
Father Edward James Warner	1953	1961
Father Neylan	1939	1953
Father Brinkworth	1937	1938
Father Woodlock	1919	1937
Father J. Unknown	1902	1919
Father Thomas Poter	1870	1902
Father Collyns	1853	1870
Father West	1851	1853
Father Johnson	1844	1853
Father Francis Lythgoe	1842	1844

Notable alumni

• Sir Peter Baxendell CBE, former Shell executive
• James Clement Baxter, Liberal politician and former Chairman of Everton
• Charles Brabin, American film director
• Tom Cannon, Professor of Strategic Development at the University of Liverpool
• Sir Bernard Caulfield, former High Court judge on the Queen's Bench
• Elvis Costello - prolific singer-songwriter
• Gabriel George Coury - VC winner.
• Chris Crookall - actor
• Lucien Davis, artist
• Dixie Dean - professional footballer
• Prof Walter Bryan Emery CBE, Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London from 1951–70
• Most Rev Archbishop Paul Gallagher
• John Gregson, actor
• Rt Rev Augustine Harris, RC Bishop of Middlesbrough from 1978–92, Prison Chaplain to HM Prison Liverpool from 1952–65
• George Hartland, Conservative MP for Norwich from 1931-5
• Michael Houlihan, Director General of National Museum Wales since 2003, and Chairman of the MDA since 2003
• Paul Aloysius Kenna, recipient of the VC in the Sudan Campaign
• Sammy Lee (footballer) - ex professional footballer and Assistant Manager of Liverpool Football Club
• Sir George Lynskey, High Court judge on the (former) King's Bench
• Rt Rev Vincent Malone
• Jimmy McGovern - BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter
• Thomas Moran CBE, food scientist, Director of Research at the Ministry of Food from 1940-6
• Mike Newell - professional footballer
• Laurence O'Keeffe CMG CVO, Ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1988–91, and to Senegal from 1982-5
• Anthony Parry, County Fire Officer of Greater Manchester from 1985–90
• Edward J. Phelan - Director-General of the International Labour Organization
• Paul Raymond, publisher of pornographic magazines such as Men Only, and who virtually started the British pornographic industry and its strip clubs
• Peter Serafinowicz - professional comic actor, writer, voice artist and composer
• Jimmy Tarbuck- Comedian and OBE winner
• Neil Ward, Chief Operating Officer of HM Courts Service from 2006-7
• Tony Warner - professional footballer
• Akinwale Arobieke
• James Webb CB, Commissioner of the Inland Revenue from 1968–78

See also

• St Francis Xavier
• Brothers of Christian Instruction
• Secondary school
• Foundation school

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Heery, Pat (2002). The History of St. Francis Xavier's College Liverpool 1842 - 2001. Pat Heery. ISBN 9780953578214.

External links

• Official website
• St. Francis Xavier's College Ofsted Reports
• EduBase