St Michael's School, Llanelli

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

St Michael's School
Ysgol Mihangel Sant
Address
Bryn

Llanelli
,
Carmarthenshire
,
SA14 9TU

Wales
Coordinates51°41′06″N 4°06′31″W
Information
Other nameSt Mikes
TypeIndependent day and boarding
MottoDisce ut vivas
(Learn, that you may live)
Established1923
FounderPercy Rees
Local authorityCarmarthenshire
HeadmasterMr Benson Ferrari
GenderMixed
Age3 to 18
Enrolment450
Campus size13.73 acres
HousesMerlin, Caradog
Colour(s)Red & Green  
AccreditationISA, BSA & BAISIS
Websitehttp://www.stmikes.co.uk

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 first established in 1923 and has been situated in the east Llanelli village of Bryn since 1928. The school was originally established by the Rees brothers, with Percy Rees as the founding Headmaster. Upon retirement of the Rees' brothers, former head boy Mr Vaughan-Evans was appointed Headmaster in 1962.

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[3]

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.[4] The deal for St Michael's, along with Bosworth Independent College, specifically cost the company a sum of £38m.[5]

Results

The school offers GCSE and A-Level qualifications, with 60.9% of all A-Level entries graded A* or A in 2018,[6] winning the Sunday Times 2018 Welsh Independent Secondary School of the Year award.[7]

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.[8]

In 2016 the school was twice the victim of hoax calls warning of a bomb on the school estate.[9] The school twice evacuated its premises, and a heavy police presence was required to confirm the communications were both in fact a hoax. The threat was linked to a number of other hoaxes around that time including threats to schools in Kent and Newcastle.[9]

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",[15] 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.[15]

References
  1. "The Schools". St. Michael's. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  2. Swansea, The Bay Magazine (12 November 2017). "Introducing Benson Ferrari". The Bay Magazine Swansea. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  3. "Pub regular bidding to save local". 2 June 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. "Academic Results". St. Michael's. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  7. Parent Power, Alastair McCall, Editor (25 November 2018). "Best secondary schools in Wales". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  8. "Sending Spies To Rival School Is 'Nothing Unusual'". HuffPost UK. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  9. Houghton, Tom (25 May 2016). "Second Welsh school in a week evacuated after malicious hoax". walesonline. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  10. "Robert Buckland QC MP". 23 Essex Street. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  11. Sherwin, Adam (14 September 2018). "Cerys Matthews: 'I don't play public school pop stars on my BBC 6 Music show'". inews.co.uk.
  12. "About Kirsty". Kirsty Williams AM. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  13. Langdon, Julia (22 March 2018). "Lord Richard obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  14. "Today's Senedd roundup: Minister rules out ditching private schools in Wales". Nation.Cymru. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  15. "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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