Mount St Mary's College

For other uses, see Mount St. Mary's (disambiguation).

Mount St Mary's College

250px Entrance to Mount St. Mary's College
Motto	Sine Macula (Without Blemish) Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam (For The Greater Glory of God)
Established	1842 (1842)
Type	Independent day with boarding
Religion	Roman Catholic, Jesuit
Headmaster	Dr Nicholas Cuddihy
Founder	Fr Randal Lythgoe SJ
Location	College Road Spinkhill, Derbyshire S21 3YL England
DfE number	830/6014
DfE URN	113010 Tables
Staff	Approx. 180
Students	417
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Houses	Campion, Claver, Southwell
Colours	Red, Yellow, Green
Preparatory school	Barlborough Hall School
Former pupils	Old Mountaineers (OMs)
Registered Charity No.	1117998
Hours in school day	8:30 am – 4:30 pm 5:45 pm leave optional for after school activities
Website	msmcollege.com

Mount St Mary's College is an independent, coeducational, day and boarding school situated at Spinkhill, Derbyshire, near Sheffield, England. It was founded in 1842 as "The College of the Immaculate Conception at Spinkhill" by Fr Randal Lythgoe, the Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus (better known as the Jesuits), and is still under the trusteeship of the Society. Although most teaching staff are lay members, the school still retains its Catholic ethos and values.

Its affiliated preparatory school is Barlborough Hall School, just 2.2 miles down the road.

History

The Jesuit mission to England began in 1580 with the secret arrival of Robert Persons, Edmund Campion, and Ralph Emerson. After Campion’s arrest the following year, Persons slipped back to the European mainland where he spent most of the rest of his life preparing others for the Jesuit mission to England. One of the first things he did was to set up a school for English boys who had no hope of receiving a Catholic education in their own country. Many of its students went on to become priests, returning to England to work and in some cases were killed when discovered by the authorities. In England, there were several clandestine schools, one of them was at Stanley Grange in Derbyshire. When this school was discovered and dispersed by the authorities, it did not cease to exist, it was moved to Spinkhill. Spinkhill had been a centre of Jesuit activity from the 1600s.

The Jesuit English Province was organised territorially into a number of "colleges", the North Midlands area being designated the college of the Immaculate Conception. In 1842 it was decided to found a school here in the hamlet of Spinkhill, a property of the Pole family, and that school was designated "The College of the Immaculate Conception at Spinkhill" after the nearby parish church. The founder of the college was Fr. Randall Lythgoe, S.J., Provincial of the Society of Jesus in England.

The college buildings date, in part, from the 16th and 17th centuries, the Sodality Chapel being the earliest remaining building. The Jesuits had a college at Holbeck Woodhouse, near Welbeck, which was raided by the soldiers of Charles II and the furnishings brought to Spinkhill. Joseph Hansom, an architect and inventor of the Hansom Cab, built the first college buildings in 1840. In 1850 the Hopkins wing (girls) was constructed. The new college was begun in 1876 and completed in 1912. The school chapel, designed by Adrian Gilbert Scott, was completed in 1924 as a memorial to former pupils killed in World War I. In the atrium to the chapel can be seen more than 100 names of former pupils of the school killed in the Second Boer War, World War I, and World War II.

In 1939 Barlborough Hall, an Elizabethan manor some two miles from Spinkhill, was acquired to serve as a preparatory school to the Mount.

The school was a boys-only school until the 1970s, when girls were admitted as day students. Girls were allowed to board in 1984.

In September 2006, the constitution of the college and its preparatory school, Barlborough Hall, changed to that of a charitable trust called "Mount St Mary's" whose board of trustees form the present governing body. The Society of Jesus formally transferred property of the two schools, their capital, business and other assets to this trust. While legally separate from the Jesuits, the college still maintains its Jesuit traditions and ethos.

School years

Each of the school years are named after different stages of elementary skills:

File:Mount St Mary's College by Peter Barr Geograph 2713154.jpg

Chapel exterior

• Upper Elements (Year 7)
• Figures (Year 8)
• Rudiments (Year 9)
• Grammar (Year 10)
• Syntax (Year 11)
• Poetry (Lower Sixth—Year 12)
• Rhetoric (Upper Sixth—Year 13)

Each year is now individually monitored and supported by a "Head of Line".

For each year, there are three forms and each form applies to one of the schools houses.

• 7CLA (Year 7, House Claver)
• 7SOU (Year 7, House Southwell)
• 7CAM (Year 7, House Campion)
  • 8CLA
  • 8SOU
  • 8CAM
    • 9CLA
    • 9SOU
    • 9CAM
      • 10CLA
      • 10SOU
      • 10CAM
        • 11CLA
        • 11SOU
        • 11CAM

Sports and recreation

The school excels in sports, especially rugby, and some of its older students have joined the England Rugby teams along with Scotland, Ireland, Italy, and many other countries. The school has had exchanges in the past with Notre Dame St Sigisbert in Nancy, France, and with Joan 23 which is in Barcelona. In 2009, the school began an exchange with St. Michel in Saint-Étienne, France.

The school has an in-door shooting range and is involved with the Combined Cadet Forces (CCF), with all students in Years 10 and 11 taking part in either the Army or (from 1984 onwards) RAF section. The school CCF had its own army regiment until 1986, when it was merged into the Sherwood Foresters regiment.

Music and drama are also of very high calibre. The departments combine for major productions, as with Me and My Girl in November 2012.

The Mount's new art department includes design and technology, fashion, fine art, and photography, making this subject a popular choice with pupils.

Extra-curricular activities are a central part of the school's ethos of supporting a well-rounded education. Activities include: shooting, airfix club, choirs, sports groups, Duke of Edinburgh, Young Enterprise, debate, textiles, creative writing, fencing, Clay Model Animation Club, and many more.

The school also holds fund-raising events for the Chikuni Mission in Zambia: the connection is known as "Mwabuka", a Tonga word for "Good morning" or "You have arisen".

School facilities

Along with a Grade 1 Olympic Athletics track, there are nine rugby pitches, three cricket squares, an astro-turf, two sports halls, and a leisure centre with indoor swimming pool, cardio room, and two weights rooms. The latter is open to the public for use at specific times.

Sixth Formers now have a dedicated Sixth Form Centre for individual study and relaxing, bridging the gap between school and university. A new teaching and learning programme also supports and develops individual learning along with an enrichment programme of well-known outside speakers that encourages Sixth Formers to realise their ambitions.

There are boarding facilities with additional houses to accommodate the increase in boarders at the school and opportunities to try out various activities in the local area on the weekend.

The school also has various other facilities open to all pupils;

File:Mount St Mary's College fields by Peter Barr Geograph 2713142.jpg

Rugby fields

• ICT Suites
• Learning Resources Centre
• Swimming pool
• Indoor gym for team games
• Gyms for fitness training
• A floodlit, outdoor, all-weather playing surface
• School grounds and pitches
• Four school common rooms
• Tuck shop available to all years
• Music practice rooms
• Infirmary: 8 am – 7 pm weekdays, otherwise 24/7 "on call"

Notable mountaineers

See also: Category:People educated at Mount St Mary's College

Old boys (or alumni) are known as "Mountaineers".

• Sir Diarmaid Conroy, former President of Industrial Tribunals for England and Wales
• Sir Denis Henry, 1st Baronet, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
• Gerard Manley Hopkins, poet, taught at the school
• Hugh Lofting, author, creator of Doctor Dolittle (attended the College 1894–1904)
• Sir Martin Melvin, 1st Baronet
• Francis Petre, New Zealand architect
• Carlos Reygadas, film director
• Sir David Rose, former Governor-General of Guyana
• John Wheatley, Lord Wheatley

Boarding, study

Mount Saint Mary's College is a mixed boarding school that offers five boarding houses, Colliston (divided between male and female boarders), Chichester (boys, currently not in use), Arrowsmith (boys, currently not in use), Hopkins House (senior girls) and Loyola House (senior boys).

The school provides a two-hour study period for senior students (Grammar-Rhetoric) and a one-and-a-half-hour period for juniors/intermediates (elements-rudiments).

External links

• Mount St Mary's College
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website
• Independent Schools Inspectorate Inspection Reports
• Charity Overview (Registered Charity No.)