St_Michael's_School,_Llanelli

St Michael's School, Llanelli

St Michael's School, Llanelli

Private day and boarding school in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales

St. Michael's School (Welsh: Ysgol Mihangel Sant) is a private day and boarding school for pupils aged from 3 to 18 years old in Llanelli, Wales.

Quick Facts St Michael's School Ysgol Mihangel Sant, Address ...

The school is divided into four sections, comprising the Pre-Preparatory School, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form.[1] The current head teacher is Benson Ferrari.[2]

History

The school was founded in 1923 by brothers Bill and Percy Rees and has been situated in the east Llanelli village of Bryn since 1928. Upon retirement of the Rees' brothers, former head boy Mr Vaughan-Evans was appointed Headmaster in 1962.[3] It was hoped by founding Headmaster Bill Rees that his son Percival A.E. Rees would become Headmaster upon his father's retirement, however he was ordained to the priesthood instead and went to serve as a vicar in India, before returning to the UK in 1969.[4]

The school's main building, St. David's House, dates back to the 19th century and was originally a large house belonging to a local industrialist. The school's Pre-Preparatory School is housed in a converted former public house, The Royal Oak, which was purchased by the school in 2012[5]

Ownership

The school was acquired in 2019 by Chinese company Bright Scholar, as part of a £150m purchase of colleges in the UK. Bright Scholar is also the largest operator of international and bilingual schools in China.[6] The deal for St Michael's, along with Bosworth Independent College, specifically cost the company a sum of £38m.[7]

Results

The school offers GCSE and A-Level qualifications, with 60.9% of all A-Level entries graded A* or A in 2018,[8] winning the Sunday Times 2018 Welsh Independent Secondary School of the Year award.[9]

Incidents

In 2012 the school appeared in national headlines after accusations arose that education officers at Cognita UK, a rival education company, had posed as parents at St Michael's in order to obtain commercial information. Cognita at the time operated nearby Ffynone House School in Swansea but denied all of the allegations.[10]

Notable former pupils

Notable former pupils of St Michaels' include:

St Michael's alumna and singer Cerys Matthews has acknowledged in interviews that her career benefited from attending St. Michael's, because "through the public school system, you've had so many leg ups",[17] and avoids playing music by privately educated acts on her 6 Music show. She is subsequently an advocate for state educated acts in the music industry.[17]

References

  1. [1]
    "The Schools". St. Michael's. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  2. [2]
    "Introducing Benson Ferrari". The Bay Magazine Swansea. 12 November 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  3. [3]
    "Our History & Ethos". St Michael's School. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  4. [4]
    "Percival Anthony Everard Rees". The Church Times. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  5. [5]
    "Pub regular bidding to save local". 2 June 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  6. [6]
    Education Editor, Rosemary Bennett (10 July 2019). "Chinese buy up more of England's private schools". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 December 2019. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. [7]
    Bakshi, Akanksha (20 June 2019). "Bright Scholar acquires St. Michael's School and Bosworth Independent College in the UK for £38M". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  8. [8]
    "Academic Results". St. Michael's. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  9. [9]
    Parent Power, Alastair McCall, Editor (25 November 2018). "Best secondary schools in Wales". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 January 2019. {{cite news}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. [10]
    "Sending Spies To Rival School Is 'Nothing Unusual'". HuffPost UK. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  11. [11]
    "Robert Buckland QC MP". 23 Essex Street. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  12. [12]
    Sherwin, Adam (14 September 2018). "Cerys Matthews: 'I don't play public school pop stars on my BBC 6 Music show'". inews.co.uk.
  13. [13]
    "About Kirsty". Kirsty Williams AM. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  14. [14]
    Langdon, Julia (22 March 2018). "Lord Richard obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  15. [15]
    Jones, His Honour (John) Geoffrey. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U22389. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1. Retrieved 19 September 2022. St Michael's Sch., Llanelli; St David's Coll., Lampeter; University Coll., London. LLB London 1955; LLM London 1985 {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  16. [16]
    "Today's Senedd roundup: Minister rules out ditching private schools in Wales". Nation.Cymru. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  17. [17]
    "Cerys Matthews won't play public school pop stars on BBC 6 Music show". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
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