St Cuthbert's High School

Admissions

St Cuthbert's is a seven-form entry school. The school admits students of all faiths, but Roman Catholic children take priority.

History

St Cuthbert's Grammar School was opened at 62-64 Westmorland Road, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 16 August 1881, largely due to the efforts of Bishop James Chadwick and his successor Bishop John Bewick building upon the foundations of the Catholic Collegiate School established in 1870 in Eldon Square. Shortly afterward the School moved to larger premises in Bath Lane in the centre of the city. The aim for the school was to act as a feeder for Ushaw College and to equip Catholic boys of the city with a standard of education previously only available to their non-Catholic counterparts.

In 1922 the School transferred to the present site on Gretna Road. Part of the school (1922 Block – now demolished) was built directly over the Vallum (rear ditch) of Hadrian's Wall. During WWII, boys were evacuated to Cockermouth in what is now Cumbria. In 2011 the School again became single site on the completion of the Building Schools for the Future work, the former Lower School buildings on Fox & Hounds Lane having been demolished.

It was a direct grant grammar school until September 1977, then began to take a comprehensive intake.

The school converted to academy status in March 2012.

Principals

Since 1881 there have been seven clergymen as head:

• Canon Wickwar
• Fr. Magill
• Monsignor Horace Kinder Mann
• Monsignor Jeffrey
• Monsignor Canon Cunningham
• Canon M. Cassidy,
• Fr. M. Walsh and three lay headteachers:
• Mr E. Lovell
• Mr J. G Murphy
• Mrs C. Davison The incumbent is Daniel P. Murray.

Academic statistics

St Cuthbert's was 662nd in the Financial Times Top 1000 Schools 2008 – 17th of 34 schools in the North East to make the list.https://www.ft.com/content/d5ed9bd0-eb42-11dc-9493-0000779fd2ac

Notable alumni

• Kenneth Allott, poet
• Dominic Bruce, Second World War escapee, the 'medium-sized man' of Colditz Castle
• Declan Donnelly, Dec of Ant & Dec, television presenter
• Nigel Essenhigh, First Sea Lord from 2001 to 2002 of the Royal Navy
• Terry Farrell, architect
• James Garbutt, actor (When the Boat Comes In)
• Paul Kennedy, historian and writer
• Hugh Lindsay, bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
• Cecil McGivern, BBC executive, and Controller of BBC One
• Michael Ndiweni, footballer
• John Nichol, Royal Air Force navigator
• Gordon Sumner (Sting), bass player & singer in The Police and solo artist
• Neil Tennant, singer in the band Pet Shop Boys
• Tom Tuohy, put out the Windscale fire in 1957

References

References

1. "Headmaster's Welcome". St Cuthbert's Catholic High School.
2. "St Cuthbert's High School". Gov.UK.
3. (12 September 2017). "St Cuthbert's Catholic High Schoo: The schools adjudicator's admission objection decision about St Cuthbert's Catholic High School".
4. Hart, C.. (1941). "The Early Story of St. Cuthbert's Grammar School Newcastle-On-Tyne". Burns, Oates & Washbourne.
5. (30 July 1958). "ST. CUTHBERT'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE (ADMISSIONS)".
6. "St Cuthbert's High School". Gov.UK.
7. "Tyneside school finds cricket bat signed by legends such as Don Bradman". The Chronicle.
8. "St Cuthbert's High School - GOV.UK".
9. Hunt, Philip A.. (1988). "Biographical Register 1880-1974 Corpus Christi College (University of Oxford)". The College.
10. (5 May 2006). "School of scandal". The Guardian.
11. Slessor, Catherine. (2025-09-29). "Remembering Terry Farrell: 'Britain's most charismatic exponent of Postmodernism'".
12. (18 March 1976). "How the boat came in for Mr. Garbutt". [[Evening Chronicle]].
13. Crace, John. (5 February 2008). "Interview: Paul Kennedy". The Guardian.
14. (27 February 2013). "Tributes paid to former Bishop of Newcastle". Chronicle Live.
15. Mhara, Henry. (18 June 2023). "Ndiweni earns contract extension at Newcastle United". The Standard.
16. (28 Oct 2003). "I held the record for being caned". The Telegraph.
17. Lowry, David. (6 May 2008). "Obituary: Tom Tuohy". The Guardian.