St Cuthbert's High School

St Cuthbert's Catholic High School (formerly St Cuthbert's Catholic Grammar School) is a boys-only Roman Catholic secondary school with academy status located on Gretna Road in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

St Cuthbert's Catholic High School
Location
Gretna Road Newcastle upon Tyne , NE15 7PX England
Coordinates	54°58′44″N 1°40′31″W
Information
Type	academy
Motto	Quies In Caelo
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
Established	1881
Founder	Bishop James Chadwick
Local authority	Newcastle upon Tyne
Department for Education URN	137900 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Principal	Daniel P. Murray[1]
Staff	c.75
Gender	Boys[2]
Age	11 to 18[2]
Enrolment	1207[2]
Colours	Maroon, Gold and Pale Blue
Diocese	Hexham and Newcastle
Website	http://www.st-cuthbertshigh.newcastle.sch.uk

Admissions

St Cuthbert's is a seven-form entry school. The school admits students of all faiths, but Roman Catholic children take priority.^[3]

History

St Cuthbert's Grammar School was opened at 62-64 Westmorland Road, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 16 August 1881, largely due to the efforts of Bishop James Chadwick and his successor Bishop John Bewick building upon the foundations of the Catholic Collegiate School established in 1870 in Eldon Square^[4]. Shortly afterward the School moved to larger premises in Bath Lane in the centre of the city. The aim for the school was to act as a feeder for Ushaw College and to equip Catholic boys of the city with a standard of education previously only available to their non-Catholic counterparts^[4].

In 1922 the School transferred to the present site on Gretna Road. Part of the school (1922 Block – now demolished) was built directly over the Vallum (rear ditch) of Hadrian's Wall. During WWII, boys were evacuated to Cockermouth in what is now Cumbria. In 2011 the School again became single site on the completion of the Building Schools for the Future work, the former Lower School buildings on Fox & Hounds Lane having been demolished.

It was a direct grant grammar school until September 1977,^[5] then began to take a comprehensive intake.

The school converted to academy status in March 2012.^[2][6]

Principals

Since 1881 there have been seven clergymen as head:

• Canon Wickwar
• Fr. Magill
• Monsignor Horace Kinder Mann
• Monsignor Jeffrey
• Monsignor Canon Cunningham
• Canon M. Cassidy,
• Fr. M. Walsh

and three lay headteachers:

• Mr E. Lovell
• Mr J. G Murphy
• Mrs C. Davison^[7]

The incumbent is Daniel P. Murray.^[8]

Academic statistics

St Cuthbert's was 662nd in the Financial Times Top 1000 Schools 2008 – 17th of 34 schools in the North East to make the list.

Notable alumni

• Kenneth Allott, poet^{[citation needed]}
• Dominic Bruce, Second World War escapee, the 'medium-sized man' of Colditz Castle^[9]
• Declan Donnelly, Dec of Ant & Dec, television presenter^[10]
• Nigel Essenhigh, First Sea Lord from 2001 to 2002 of the Royal Navy
• Terry Farrell, architect^{[citation needed]}
• Paul Kennedy, historian and writer^[11]
• Hugh Lindsay, bishop of Hexham and Newcastle^[12]
• Cecil McGivern, BBC executive, and Controller of BBC One^{[citation needed]}
• Michael Ndiweni, footballer^[13]
• John Nichol, Royal Air Force navigator^{[citation needed]}
• Gordon Sumner (Sting), bass player & singer in The Police and solo artist^[14]
• Neil Tennant, singer in the band Pet Shop Boys^[10]
• Tom Tuohy, put out the Windscale fire in 1957^[15]