Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School

Herbert, Cardinal Vaughan

After the 1903 death of the third Archbishop of Westminster, Herbert, Cardinal Vaughan, an appeal was made to raise funds to found a boys' school to be named as a memorial to him; some £20,000 was subscribed. The school was founded in 1914; the founders included Viscount Fitzalan, the Duke of Norfolk and the Marquis of Ripon. The Vaughan School opened its doors in the Victorian building now known as Addison Hall, as a private school, to twenty-nine boys on 21 September 1914, appointing Canon Driscoll as the first headmaster.

In the 1920s, the school expanded and it was decided to seek recognition by the Board of Education for the grant as an independent day school. The first Higher Certificates with Distinction were achieved in 1926, the first classical scholarship (at Christ's College, Cambridge), and the first ordination of Vaughan boys to the priesthood. A piece of land, some 6 acres (2.4 ha) in North Wembley, was purchased for playing fields. In 1937, this plot was exchanged for the present site at Twickenham, adjacent to the international Rugby Football Union ground.

Enrollment had grown to 220 by 1928, and neared 300 by 1938. The school was evacuated to Beaumont College, Windsor, during the course of the Second World War. It moved back in the summer of 1945. Thirty-nine old boys who were killed in the War are named in the School's Roll of Honour, including the first Victoria Cross of the war in the Royal Air Force, Flying Officer Donald Edward Garland.

School fees were abolished after the war, as the Vaughan School transitioned from a public school to a state-funded grammar school under the 1944 Education Act. However, there were concerns about the low standards of new admissions, whose primary education had suffered during the evacuation; in 1948, Cardinal Griffin referred to this as a "time of crisis" for the school, though it was alleviated through a series of programmes to inspire the students' interest.

In the early and mid-1950s, the curriculum shifted from the Classics to include Advanced A-Level subjects. A new building was opened in 1964 to accommodate the growing enrollment. In the 1970s, the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and board of governors considered various reorganization proposals in the amalgamation of schools. The school began to take pupils of all abilities in 1977 and became an all-ability school. Girls were first admitted to the sixth form in 1977. The school became a voluntary-aided public school and drew pupils chiefly, but not exclusively, from Inner London.

The school saw expansions in 2000, 2005 and 2014. The school was granted specialist status for mathematics, computing and science.

While nominally a state comprehensive, it has resisted attempts by local governmental and religious authority figures to widen the accessibility criteria for potential pupils. In 2009, the school was referred to the admissions watchdog amid claims that its admissions policy was 'elitist' and 'penalised the less devout'. Consequently, the school was forced to modify its admissions criteria.[1]

Academic dress uniform

Pupils in Years 7–11 dress in the black Vaughan suit with the Vaughan Lower School Tie, a tie that bears the school colours. In sixth form, pupils are required to wear the grey Vaughan suit and sixth form tie, bearing an extra white stripe, and/or any sporting ties. Girls who join the school at this time are required to wear the Vaughan maroon blazer and grey skirt. The Head Boy and Head Girl will wear a specially commissioned Blue and Maroon Robe. At various times of the year, including the Vaughan Speech Night, teachers are required to wear full academic dress.

The school is divided into four main buildings, Addison Hall (a.k.a. the Old Building), the New Building, the "Centenary Building" and the Pellegrini Building. The later two are adjoined on the main grounds on the west side of Addison Road, with Addison Hall on the east side of the road.

Structural work was conducted on Addison Hall when dry rot was discovered in the late 1940s. At this same time, the outer wall of the main hall was found to be in danger of collapse and steel supports were sunk into the wall to make it safe.

The school chapel was opened on 19 January 1915, decorated by Thomas Seadon with life-size paintings of Thomas More and John Fisher Oater, the patron saints of the school.

The New Building was officially opened in June 1964. A third floor was later added, housing music facilities with a recording studio, a music technology suite, nine practice rooms, a song school for choral singing, two full-sized classrooms and a large rehearsal hall.

The school's design technology and information technology facilities make up the majority of the Pellegrini Building. The Centenary Building is an extension completed in 2014, with eight classrooms and two art suites.

The school has a sports pavilion and playing fields in Twickenham opposite Twickenham Stadium, the UK's main rugby stadium. The pavilion was rebuilt and opened in January 1995.

The school fields seven Football teams and an equal number of rugby union teams. It has no cricket team. The school's athletes participate in regional and national competitions. Girls in the sixth form play netball.

Pupils founded a music society in 1935. Pupils may, at their families' cost, study musical instruments, including the piano, the organ (of which the school has three), strings, brass, woodwind and percussion. There are also several choirs and orchestras: the Schola Cantorum, the Sixth Form Choir, the School Choir, the School Orchestra, the Concert Band, the Junior String Ensemble, the Senior Strings and the Chamber Orchestra, all of which give regular concerts . The school's Big Band has taken part in national competitions and has toured in France, Spain, Netherlands and the US. It has performed alongside Salena Jones and Jason Yarde and had commissions from Bob Mintzer, Frank Griffith, Jeff Jarvis and Richard Harris .

Schola Cantorum

The Schola Cantorum at the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius, Rome

The Schola Cantorum is the School's liturgical choir, founded in 1980 and made up of boys aged 11 to 18. The Schola sings at school Masses, and has frequent external engagements. It has performed at many of London's major venues, twice represented Great Britain at the Loreto Festival in Italy, toured internationally, and performed before the Pope. It has performed professionally with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Choir and the Chorus of the Royal Opera, and been featured on film soundtracks including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Life of Pi and Paddington. The choir has also appeared on BBC Radio 4's Sunday Worship, Vatican Radio, and the religious choral programme Songs of Praise on BBC television .

The Schola has recorded a number of CDs, including hymn collection Praise to the holiest, Christmas carol collection Sing in Exultation, and Lauda Sion by Mendelssohn and works by Dupré and others .

The Schola Cantorum is currently led by Scott Price, who serves as conductor and director of music at the school.[2]

• Arts and entertainment
  • Roger Delgado (1918–1973), actor
  • Richard Greene (1918–1985), actor
  • Dominic Holland, comedian
  • Derek Marlowe, English playwright, novelist, screenwriter and painter
  • Joseph O'Conor, Anglo-Irish actor and playwright
  • Helen Oyeyemi (b. 1984), novelist
  • Jan Pieńkowski, author and illustrator of children's books
  • Richard Daniel Roman (b. 1965), songwriter and record producer
  • Oritsé Williams, member of boy band JLS
  • Dan Stopczynski (b. 1957), aka DJ Dan, shotgun on Good Morning Marlow, MarlowFM[3]
• Athletes
  • Martin Cross (b. 1957), rower, gold medalist at the 1984 Summer Olympics
  • Maurice Edelston (1918–1976), footballer and sports commentator
  • Kevin Gallen (b. 1975), footballer
  • Garry Herbert, rowing cox, gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
  • Bernard Joy (1911–1984), footballer
  • Eddie Newton (b. 1971), footballer
  • Udo Onwere (b. 1971), footballer
  • Paul Parker (b. 1964), footballer
• Military figures
  • Paddy Finucane (1920–1942), RAF pilot during the Second World War
  • Donald Edward Garland (1918–1940), RAF pilot during the Second World War
• Politicians
  • Jack Dromey, British Labour Party politician and trade unionist[4]
• Scholars
  • P. J. Honey, Vietnamese-language scholar and historian
  • Mark Langham, Cambridge University Catholic Chaplain
  • Gerard Lyons, British economist
  • Robert Bolgar, classical scholar, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge[5]
  • A. F. Shore, British Egyptologist and museum curator
  • Dan van der Vat, journalist, writer and military historian

Between 1939-1945, thirty-nine Old Vaughanians gave their lives in the successful struggle against Fascism. "We offer these records with pride."

Peter Bona [f.], Charles Brasseur [d.], Peter Byrne [i.], Geoffrey Chilton [b.], Reginal Coath [r.], John Collins [e.], Terence Culnane [a.], George Dale [a.], Joseph Daniel [e.], Michael D'Arcy [g.], Sydney Darwood [a.], Robert De Sandoval [b.], Thadde D'Hondt [a.], Rowland Ennor [h.], Desmond Garland [a.], Donald Garland [a.], Joseph Gordon [c.], Vincent Halliday-Sutherland [a.], Francis Head [l.], Paddy Finucane [a.], Arthur Hirons [a.], Louis Howard [a.], Harold Jordan [p.], John Kelly [k.], William Lundon [a.], Phillip McErlain [q.], David Monteith [n.], Michael Morton[a.], John Osborne [a.], Henri Phillipe [a.], Stanley Rowe [b.], Anthony Russell [e.], David Sewell [j.], William Sherratt [o.], Andrew Strange [i.], Kenneth Swadling [a.], Frank Vance [a.], Cecil Wall [c.], John Young [a.], Bernard ODonoghue [m.]

[a.] Royal Air Force, [b.] Royal Navy, [c.] Fleet Air Arm, [d.] Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, [e.] Royal Artillery, [f.] Royal Army Service Corps, [g.] Royal Fusiliers, [h.] Royal Naval Reserve, [i.] Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, [j.] Inns of Court Regiment, [k.] Royal Ulster Rifles, [l.] Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, [m.] 3rd Madras Regiment, [n.] Indian Army., [o.] Royal West Kents, [p.] Royal Armoured Corps, [q.] 1st London Irish Rifles, [r.] 5th Beds & Herts

• "Welcome to the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, one of the highest achieving state comprehensives in the country. | Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School". Cvms.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
• "Home |". Schola Cantorum. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
• "Home | Vaughan Parents' Action Group". Savethevaughan.com. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
• Media related to Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School at Wikimedia Commons