Cowley International College

Cowley International College, formerly Cowley Language College and originally Cowley School, is an 11-18 secondary school located on Cowley Hill, in Windle, St Helens, Merseyside.

Cowley International College
Address
Hard Lane

St. Helens
,
Merseyside
,
WA10 6LB

England
Coordinates53.464646°N 2.756110°W / 53.464646; -2.756110
Information
TypeCommunity comprehensive school; formerly a grammar school
MottoNon sibi sed omnibus
Established1716
FounderSarah Cowley
Local authoritySt. Helens
Department for Education URN104829 Tables
OfstedReports
ChairJohn Clegg[1]
HeadteacherMr Cameron Sheeran[1]
GenderMixed
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1590[1]
Former pupilsOld Cowleans
Websitehttp://www.cowley.st-helens.sch.uk

Admissions

It is an oversubscribed school. It is situated north of Windlehurst and Denton's Green in the north-west of the town, between the A570 and A580 (to the north). The Pilkington glassworks are about a half-mile to the east.

History

Grammar school

A former part of the school was on Cowley Hill Lane. There were two grammar schools, the Cowley Girls' Secondary Grammar School (also known as the Cowley Girls' School) with around 650 girls, and Cowley Boys' Secondary Grammar School (also known as Cowley School) with around 550 boys. In 1965, the St Helens Education Committee council introduced proposals for comprehensive education.

The changing rooms at the boys' school, and the gym at the girls' school were used as locations for the film Chariots of Fire (1981).

Comprehensive

The comprehensive plans took effect in September 1970 with each school becoming a 13-18 single sex comprehensive school - the Cowley Boys' School and Cowley Girls' School which soon became 11-18 schools in 1974 with around 700 at each school. For a short time from 1976–78, these schools were the Cowley High School for Boys and the Cowley High School for Girls. By 1978 it had become the Cowley High School with around 1,400 boys and girls.

In 2001, it gained Language College specialist status and changed its name. In the summer of 2010 the school changed its name once again to Cowley International College.

New building

The school has recently been subject to a £20 million redevelopment, with a new building for the 11-16 site opened in October 2009 by Ed Balls, Head of Education. The previous site is currently being redeveloped into a state-of-the-art Sixth Form which opened to students in September 2010.

Academic results

The school achieves GCSE results slightly under the England average. At A-level it achieves the third highest in St Helens LEA, after Carmel College (a high-achieving sixth form college) and Rainford High Technology College.

Notable former pupils

Cowley School (Grammar, High and College)

Notable masters
  • Leonard Brockington (1888-1966), Classics and English Master at the School, later the first head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
  • Isaac Shapiro (1904-2004), lecturer in English at Birmingham University[4][5]
  • Watcyn Thomas (1906–77), a Welsh rugby union player
  • Roland Mathias (1915-2007), poet[6]
  • Viv Harrison (1921-1989), teacher and rugby player
  • Derek Norcross (1930-2006), later headmaster of St Paul's Church of England School (East Sussex), Deputy Lieutenant of East Sussex[7]
  • Ray French (born 1939), BBC rugby league commentator, also taught at the school
gollark: Yay, level 14!
gollark: Now to just build a stupid amount of snow cannons and minmax this to death.
gollark: Also, all my weapons are greyed out in the battle view thingy, can I fix them somehow?
gollark: Do the walls actually *do* anything?
gollark: Ah, you just need to click on weird spots of them.

References
  1. "Cowley Language College - Inspection Report". Ofsted. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2008.
  2. "Air Force Ace". Merseyside at War 1914 - 1918. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  3. International Women In Science, A Biographical Dictionary to 1950, by Catharine Haynes (2001)
  4. "Papers of University staff: S-Z". birmingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  5. "OBITUARY: Isaac Shapiro". thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  6. "Obituary: Roland Mathias". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  7. "Obituary: Derek Norcross". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
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