St. Ambrose College

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St. Ambrose College

St. Ambrose College Badge
Motto Vitam Impendere vero
Established 1946
Type Voluntary Aided, Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school with a selective intake
Students 800+
Location Hale Barns, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom
Authority Trafford
Website http://www.st-ambrose.co.uk

St. Ambrose College is a Voluntary Aided, Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school located in Hale Barns, Cheshire.

Contents

[edit] History

St. Ambrose College, was founded during the second world war, by a group of evacuee De La Salle Brothers. Arriving in Hale in 1940, from Les Vauxbelets College in Guernsey, the Brothers, and a small group of students soon found suitable accommodation and re-established their school.

Towards the end of June 1940, when the Channel Islands were about to be occupied by the German army, the parents of boys attending Les Vauxbelets College, were asked to decide whether they should allow their sons to be evacuated to Britain or keep them at home to risk famine and, possibly forced labour.

The College was in the charge of the French Province of the Brothers of De La Salle and they had promised that an appropriate number of the community would accompany the evacuees to care for them and to ensure that, as far as possible, their education did not suffer.

Having started with just the boys from Guernsey, in shared accommodation in Hale and keeping the Guernsey name, Les Vauxbelets College, the Brothers acquired a large house in Bowdon as college premises and permission was obtained for the college to accept local boys. The college adopted the name St. Ambrose College after the then Bishop of Shrewsbury.

During the war the College began to grow in popularity, especially as there was no Catholic school for boys in the South Manchester area.

At the end of the war, in the late summer of 1945, the De La Salle Brothers returned to Guernsey, and left a thriving school in the hands of the Irish Christian Brothers. The college moved to fresh premises, a large house with extensive grounds in Hale Barns. This house, Woodeaves, remains the UK headquarters of the Christian Brothers. and the Edmund Rice family. The college retains its original badge, motto and colours to this day.

[edit] Mathematics & Computing

In 2005, St. Ambrose College gained 'Specialist College Status' in Mathematics and Computing, allowing it to give precedence to the named subjects and bringing a capital grant of £150,000 as well as an annual allowance of £120,000. The money has been spent on computers, projectors and generally modernising the classrooms.

[edit] News

2006 - St. Ambrose College celebrates its 60th anniversary

13/7/2006 - "Pupils at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns look to be set for a new 'school building for the future' following an invitation from the DfES for the council to take part in the Building Schools for the Future - One School Pathfinder scheme. Trafford's Public Executive will consider a recommendation for the rebuilding of the college on its Hale Barns site".[1]

2007 - The new Intranet is launched, with links to subject pages and school news.

2007 - The Easylink software that is used to view files at home is currently not compatible with Internet Explorer 7, and more information can be found at the RM website.

23/03/07 - A meeting took place in the library with representatives from each year group, discussing ideas for the new school. Some ideas that came up and were confirmed as definite included:

Flash Drive that is used to register in morning, lockers, and for tablets.

Tablet PCs - These will be essentially 'dummy' PCs that only work with a flash drive. They are laptops (TBC) that will be used instead of traditional books.

Lecture Theatre - 2-tiered assembly hall, which will be used for lectures and science demonstrations. A sub-idea that is related to this is that the demonstrations could be filmed, to be watched at a later date on PCs at home, e.g. revision.

Other ideas were discussed, most dismissed, some of which were taken on board to be included in the Design Brief. Religion and Sport were also noted as being central to the college. The school may also be given a new name - St Ambrose Catholic College.

Sixth Form tie
Sixth Form tie

[edit] Trivia

    1. The school is built in the grounds of 'Woodeaves' - The UK headquarters of the Christian Brothers
    2. Graphic designer Peter Saville attended this school.
    3. The ingnia upon Sixth Form ties are bee hives as, legend has it a swarm of bees settled on St. Ambrose's face whilst he lay in his cradle, leaving behind a drop of honey. His father considered this a sign of his future eloquence and honeyed-tongue. For this reason, bees and beehives often appear in the saint's symbology.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Trafford Public Executive
  2. ^ Catholic Culture

[edit] Specific St. Ambrose Links

[edit] Other Christian Brothers' Schools

[edit] External links

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