St Francis Roman Catholic Grammar School

For the school in Quetta, Pakistan, see St. Francis Grammar School.

St Francis RC Grammar School, also known as St Francis Xavier Grammar School,^[1] was a Catholic grammar school for boys, in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It opened on 17 September 1956^[2] and was subsumed into The English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College along with St Joseph's Convent School and four more local Catholic schools in 1973.^[3] It was run by the Xaverian Brothers.^[3]

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St Francis RC Grammar School
Hartlepool , County Durham England
Information
Motto	Cervus ad Fontes (Latin for The Hart to the Font)
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1956
Founder	Father Francis Dunne
Closed	1973
Gender	Boys
Houses	4 houses
Final Headmaster	Canon Bell
Diocese	Hexham and Newcastle

Head Teachers

Headteacher	Start year	End year
Brother Anselm BA[4][2]	1956	undated
Canon John "Dickie" Bell.[3]	undated	1973

Teachers and Brothers

Teacher	Subject(s)	Additional notes
Father John Bell[3]	Latin	Became a Canon and Headmaster of both St Francis and later The English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College.
Brother Aiden[4]	RK
Brother Ambrose[4]	Latin	history
Brother Brendan[2]	unknown
Brother Chrysostum[3]	unknown
Brother Cuthbert[4]	Maths and Football
Brother Robert [4]	French
Brother Osmund[3]	Geography
Brother Oswald[4]	unknown
Brother Plunkett[4]	history music '
Mrs Shirley Corcoran[3]	Biology	First full-time female teacher at the school.
Mr Wm. Lawford BSc[2]	physics
Mr Chris Lawton[4]	Chemistry and Geography
Mr Gilles Legal[3]	French & Russian
Mr Patrick (Paddy) Alley.	Maths and Rugby
Mr Ian Bewick	Art
Mr David Hudson	Chemistry
Father Fred Martin	English
Mr Jack McCabe[4]	P.E.
Father Frank McCabe	Latin
Mr Derek Mylroi[3]	Geography
Mr Patrick Naughton	English
Mr Vin Shanley[5]	History	Later became Headmaster at St Michael's Roman Catholic School in Billingham as well as publishing several books containing "hilarious stories".
Mr David Turley	Maths
Mrs Bell[4]	Dinner Lady

Houses

There were four houses within the school: Percy, Swalwell, Errington, and Thirkeld. In the same way as the later English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College would name its houses after the English Martyrs, the houses of St Francis Grammar School were named after the following:^{[citation needed]}

Percy

• Thomas Percy, the 7th Earl of Northumberland who was executed in York in 1572.

Swalwell

• John Swalwell, who can be found on the list of abbots of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey as Master of Wearmouth in 1526 and Master of Jarrow in 1531.

Errington

• Roman Catholic churchman, George Errington (martyr), executed at York in 1596.

Thirkeld

• Roman Catholic priest, Richard Thirkeld, also executed at York in 1583.

Sites

Woodlands

• Wooler Road, the main site.^[6]

Normanhurst

• Grange Road. Now a pub known as 'The White House'.^[7]

Notable alumni

• John Darwin.^[1]
• Jez Lowe.^[8]

Reunion Groups

• Over 150 members plus photos: http://www.schoolfriends.com.au/School.page/St_Francis_Xavier/10822/Details
• Over 100 members: http://www.friendsreunited.com/School.page/St_Francis_Grammar_School/411118/Details