St Mary's Independent School, Southampton

St Mary's Independent School, Southampton
St Mary's College blazer badge
Address
57 Midanbury Lane Bitterne Park Southampton , Hampshire , SO18 4DJ England
Coordinates	50.9197°N 1.3681°W / 50.9197; -1.3681
Information
Type	Independent day
Motto	Semper Paratus (Always Prepared)
Established	1922
Local authority	Southampton
Department for Education URN	116567 Tables
Executive Head	Mrs Charlemagne
Gender	Co-educational
Age	3 to 16
Enrolment	283
Colour(s)	Original : Dark brown, gold     2017 : Dark blue, gold
Former pupils	Old Simmarians
Website	http://www.stmarysindependentschool.co.uk

St Mary's Independent School, formerly named St Mary's College, is an independent day school for boys and girls in Southampton, Hampshire, England.

The school was founded in 1922 by the French order of the Brothers of Christian Instruction as a Roman Catholic independent school for boys. In 1992 the junior department started taking girls and in 2000 the senior department was opened to girls, approximately 25% of the pupils are now girls. The schools mission is to 'seek to foster the growth of the whole person within a Mennaisian community'. Former pupils are known as Old Simmarians.

The school underwent a name change in 2017, changing its name from St Mary's College to St Mary's Independent school. This name now applies to their junior department (previously Charlton House School) as well as their Nursery (previously Charlton Nursery)

In 2013 Ofsted judged the school as 'Good'. In 2018 another inspection judged it to 'Require Improvement'. In 2019 it was reinspected and judged 'Inadequate'.

In 2020 the school went into administration following financial difficulties which had been "significantly impacted" due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Notable former headmaster

Rev Brother Maurice (Pierre Allory)
Born on 29 October 1984 in St. Malo, Brittany, France he entered the Order in 1990.
A few years later he was sent to teach North American Blackfoot Indian tribes in the states of Washington and Montana. Four years later he was chosen for a more difficult assignment: to take charge of a school at Kokrines on the Yukon River in Alaska. There were just 15 boys and girls who initially had no inkling of the English language and the temperatures were sometimes between minus 50 and 60 centigrade. After spending a year there he was sent to Holy Cross Mission where he stayed for two years. In 1912 he was chosen to teach students who were training for the Brotherhood at St Mary’s House – later to become St Mary’s College.
In 1914 he was called up to serve in the French Medical Corps. His bravery in bringing back the wounded from between the lines earned him the Croix de Guerre with palm and two stars as well as the Médaille Militaire. He was twice wounded and also mentioned three times in despatches for gallantry. For his bravery on the battlefield on Verdun in 1916 he was awarded the Legion of Honour Military Medal. In October 1918 he was detached from his regiment and seconded as an interpreter to the First American Army.
Demobilised in 1919, he returned to St Mary’s House to resume teaching; in 1922 the group relocated to Highlands College, Jersey, in the Channel Islands. In 1925, as there was a need for more English-speaking personnel at St Mary’s College, which had opened three years before, Brother Maurice crossed the Channel once more to spend the next forty years of his life as teacher and headmaster in England. He was twice headmaster of St Mary’s (1928-31, 37-43) and later head of its prep-school, Charlton (1951-60). He retired from teaching at St Mary’s in 1964 when he was 80 years of age and went to live in one of the Brothers’ communities at Cancale, Brittany, where he continued to give a few lessons of English in the school of navigation there. It was only in 1973 at the advanced age of 89 that he definitely left the classroom; he was well into his 90’s when he went into complete retirement in Josselin. On his 90th birthday, celebrated in France at Josselin and Ploërmel, he received a special blessing sent to him by the Pope John-Paul II and congratulations from the British Ambassador in Paris and from Cardinal Hume in Westminster.
There is no doubt that St Mary’s College owes a lot to Brother Maurice: His period of office as headmaster included the years of the Second World War (the school was never evacuated) with all the problems they brought with them. It was during that period that the rapid expansion of the school took place; the number of pupils passing from 200 at the start of the War to 400 at the end.

Notable former pupils

• Ian Baird, former professional football player and manager
• Nathan Bostock, Chief Executive Officer, Santander UK
• Roy "The Boy" Brindley, poker player, TV commentator, author
• John Burton-Race – Michelin starred celebrity chef
• Robert Chote, Chairman of the Office of Budget Responsibility
• Barry Clarke, President, Save The Children
• Toby Clarke, Theatre director
• Richard Deverell, Director of Kew Gardens
• Prof. Anthony R. Dickinson, Professor of Neuropharmacology, UCL
• Mark Eitzel, Musician and composer
• Kevin (Danny) Finn, lead singer with The New Seekers and the group Prima Donna which represented the UK in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest
• Damian Gardener, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
• Patrick Garland, Theatre and film director – probably the only old Simmarian to have won a Golden Globe!
• Philip Hoare, Award-winning author, TV programme maker, journalist, Professor of Creative Writing Southampton University.
• Nick Holmes, former Southampton footballer, FA Cup winning team
• Robert Humby, Hampshire County Councillor
• Jonathan Lowe MBE – Lt. Col., Sandhurst
• Richard May, a speedway rider who rode for Reading Racers and Poole Pirates between 1969 and 1977
• David McLean, Mayor of Winchester
• Paul McNamara, Senior Producer ITV Sports
• Mark Osterfield, Executive Director, Tate St Ives
• Andrew Pate, ITV presenter
• Bro. Francis Patterson, OBE, Chairman of Trustees, St. Mary’s Independent School
• Prof. Paul Rodhouse, British Antarctic Survey Team
• Andrew Surman, former Southampton and current Norwich City footballer
• John Sydenham, former Southampton footballer
• Lawrence Till, Theatre and TV director and producer
• John Titcombe – Technical director, Salisbury Playhouse
• Patrick Trant – Trant Construction Co.
• Prof. Nick Watkins – Professor in Centre for Analysis of Time Series at the London School of Economics
• Sir Gerry Whent, CEO of Vodafone
• Prof. Matthew Whitby, Biochemistry Department, University of Oxford
• Prof. Roger Williams, CBE, Specialist Doctor at King’s College Hospital in the treatment of pathological conditions of the liver and Director of the Institute of Hepatology

External links

• History of Bitterne Grove, with photos
• School Website - with archive images
• St Mary's College at Good Schools Guide