Salesian College (Farnborough)

Infobox UK school
name = Salesian College


size = 120px
motto = "Virtus Sola Nobilitas" (Latin: "Virtue is the sole nobility")
established = 1901
type = Independent, Roman Catholic (Salesian)
head_label = Headmaster
head = Mr Patrick Wilson, BA (Hons.), MA, Cert. Ed.
city = Farnborough
county = Hampshire
country = England
colours = Blue and Yellow
free_label1 = Patron Saint
free_text1 = St John Bosco
website = http://www.salesian.hants.sch.uk/
website_name = Salesian College, Farnborough

Salesian College Farnborough, Hampshire is a Roman Catholic, independent grammar school in the Salesian tradition. It admits boys from the age of 11 to 18, and girls in the Sixth Form.

The College was founded in 1901 as a small preparatory school for boys, but soon expanded to provide boarding secondary education owing to its increasing popularity. In 1966 it became an independent grammar school, and in 1970 the preparatory school was discontinued. In 1979 it stopped admitting and providing for boarders. For the 2007-2008 academic year, the College announced that it would admit girls into the Sixth Form for the first time. At present the College consists of just over 500 boys of all ages, and a handful of girls in the Sixth Form.

History

In 1901, Bishop Cahill of the Diocese of Portsmouth invited the Salesians of Battersea to take over the orphanage, a former tin factory, in Queen's Road, Farnborough. This marked the beginning of the Salesians' work in education in the local area and as a parish. ["Many Lives through Many Eyes..." A Hundred Years of the Salesians in Farnborough", 2001, p.8 ] By 1902 a reporter in Sheldrakes Military Gazette noted that the thirty 'poor Catholic waifs and those sons of sore stricken Roman Catholic parents' ["Sheldrakes Military Gazette as cited in "Many Lives through Many Eyes..." A Hundred Years of the Salesians in Farnborough", 2001, p.8 ] had a home 'comfortable in every respect', [ ibid ] and were learning trades to prepare them for life's struggles.

Under its current Headmaster, Mr Patrick Wilson, the College has witnessed substantial structural growth, most recently with additions to the Sean Devereux Sixth Form Centre providing facilities for girls, and with new classrooms built. Upon the announcement that girls were to be admitted for the first time in the Sixth Form, the Headmaster was quoted as saying, “At this time more and more boys’ schools are finding that the advantages of single sex schooling up to the age of 16 are best followed by a mixed sixth form environment as a preparation for higher education."

The College maintains informal links with local convent schools Farnborough Hill and Alton Convent.

CPT's annual Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Every Easter CPT goes on the CPT Pilgrimage to Lourdes. In the past, refugees from poland and romania have joined the boy from Salesian College.

Alumni and alumnae

Among the College's alumni is Sean Devereux, Salesian missionary and aid-worker, assassinated in Kismayu, Somalia in 1993 while working for UNICEF. Mr Peter Bird painted a stained-glass window to commemorate Sean's life and work.

Each year Old Boys form a group of pilgrims for the HCPT Pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Farnborough Old Salesians Association

The Farnborough Old Salesians Association (OSA) is a society for former pupils who wish to contact other Old Boys. It has its foundations in the 1920s, with its first formal meeting held in 1927. ["Many Lives through Many Eyes..." A Hundred Years of the Salesians in Farnborough", 2001, p.113 ] The Association has organised whole-year reunions, for example of those boys who left in 1949, and in 1982. ["http://www.oldsalesiansfarnborough.org/aboutus.asp "] The Association aims to provide all of its Old Boys, many of whom live in various locations around the world, information on other Old Boys, on events at the College, and on the OSA's activities. It keeps a database to assist pupils in locating and contacting friends, most often when organising a reunion.

For those Old Boys who live locally, the OSA organises activities throughout the year, such as a Remembrance Mass in November, OSA soccer matches and the soccer tour, OSA golf days and the golf tour, the Annual Reunion and AGM (two weeks after Easter), a presence at the College's Garden Fete, as well as funding OSA Prizes at Prizegiving. The OSA regularly assists the Salesian family in various local undertaking and around the world by activity or financial aid. The OSA maintains links with the wider Salesian family by means of the [http://www.donbosco.co.uk/pp/| Salesian Past Pupils UK] and [http://www.sdb.org/exallievi/index.aspx?lingua=2| Ex Allievi di Don Bosco] . ["Many Lives through Many Eyes..." A Hundred Years of the Salesians in Farnborough", 2001, p.114 ]

In the 1970s the OSA donated a marble tablet in commemoration of the Old Boys who gave their lives in the Second World War. The tablet shows the OSA (at that time the Salesian Old Boys Association Farnborough) badge and the motto "SALESIAN OLD BOYS | LET NOT THE GLORY FADE AWAY | KEEP BRIGHT THE FLAME OF MEMORY | AND HONOUR THEM 1939-1945."

The new President of the OSA is Greg Sudell (a pupil from 1988-1995), who succeeds John Clenshaw (a pupil from 1937-1944). ["http://www.oldsalesiansfarnborough.org/newsarticle.asp?ID=15 "]

Headmasters

col-begin style="font-size:100%;"

:1906-1910 Fr Edward Muldoon:1910-1913 Fr John Noonan:1913-1918 Fr John McTeague:1918-1919 Fr John Devine:1919-1922 Fr Harold Parker:1922-1927 Fr John O'Connor:1927-1929 Fr Edward Muldoon:1929-1930 Fr William Smith:1930-1931 Fr Thomas Fielding:1931-1935 Fr Peter Parker:1935-1936 Fr William Smith:1936-1937 Fr Francis Thoburn:1937-1938 Fr Aloysius Sutherland

:1938-1943 Fr Chris Barragry:1943-1945 Fr Aloysius Sutherland:1945-1947 Fr Frederick Stubbings:1947-1950 Fr John Doyle:1950-1953 Fr Cornelius Murphy:1953-1965 Fr James Foley:1965-1970 Fr Michael Doyle:1970-1972 Fr Thomas Carroll:1972-1973 Fr John Vanston:1973-1983 Fr Michael Blackburn:1983-1997 Br Michael Delmer:1997- present Mr Patrick Wilson

ee also

*Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians
*Bishopric of the Forces
*Cathedral Church of St. Michael and St. George
*Dominic Savio
*Farnborough, Hampshire
*HCPT
*John Bosco
*List of schools in the South East of England
*List of UK Independent Schools
*Our Lady of Lourdes
*Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary
*Roman Catholic Church
*Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales
*Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth
*Salesians of Don Bosco

References

ources

"Many Lives through Many Eyes..." A Hundred Years of the Salesians in Farnborough, compiled by Rev. Francis Sutherland, SDB

External links

* [http://www.isc.co.uk/school_73132.htm Salessian College, Farnborough, Hampshire, ISC]
* [http://www.oldsalesiansfarnborough.org/home.asp Old Salesians Farnborough]
* [http://www.salesian.hants.sch.uk Salesian College, Farnborough, Official Website]
* [http://www.salesianlibrary.co.uk Salesian College, Library Website]