Xaverian College

History

1862–1976

The Xaverian Brothers, or Congregation of St Francis Xavier (CFX), are a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Theodore James Ryken in Bruges, Belgium, in 1839 and named after St Francis Xavier. The order is dedicated to Roman Catholic education in the United Kingdom, the United States and many other countries.

Firwood was home to the Brothers until 1993 when the last of them left. Another former house which has now become part of the college, Ward Hall, was used as a camp for American servicemen in the Second World War.

Mancunian Films, a motion picture production company, used the exterior of the college in several of their films, including It's a Grand Life, starring Frank Randle and Diana Dors. The film company sold their Dickenson Road Studios to the BBC in 1954, making Dickenson Road Studios the first regional BBC TV studio. When the BBC left in 1974 to move to Oxford Road, Xaverian inherited their lighting rigs, now used in the drama studio. From 1946 to 1977, the school was a direct grant grammar school.

1977–present

The college was a Roman Catholic grammar school for boys until 1977, when it became a mixed sixth-form college. Direct grant grammar school status ended and Xaverian became a Sixth Form College for young men and women aged 16 to 19 within the Manchester Local Education Authority. In 1993, the college principal Mrs Quinn led an expansion in student numbers, refurbished and modernised many of the buildings and updated the curriculum with vocationally based courses and the introduction of information technology across many subjects. Her greatest success, however, was to maintain the distinctive Xaverian mission and ethos in a period of much change and uncertainty.

Capital from the Xaverian Brothers and grants from the Further Education Funding Council for England (FEFC) allowed a new multi-resource building, The Ryken, to be constructed in 2002. By 2005, the FEFC had become the Learning and Skills Council and recognised the college's progress by part funding a state-of-the-art new building, which was named Mayfield.

In 2007, Mary Hunter was made principal.

Campus

The college consists of nine buildings on two sides of Lower Park Road: Ward Hall, Birtles, Marylands, Firwood, Xavier, Sunbury, Ryken, Mayfield, and Teresa Quinn built from 1840 onwards. Additions and renovations have been an ongoing feature of the campus's development, with Birtles a key example of this process. The Ryken and Mayfield buildings, added at the start of the 21st century, along with Teresa Quinn, opened in 2020, house information technology equipment. The Ryken building was named after one of the founders of the Xaverian order, Theodore James Ryken. The college buildings are around the perimeter of a central grassed area where sporting and social activities take place.

Notable alumni

Sixth form college

• Caroline Aherne (1963–2016), actress and writer
• Peter Ash (b. 1985), actor
• Andrea Ashworth (b. 1969), writer and academic
• Afshan Azad (b. 1988), actress, best known for playing Padma Patil in the Harry Potter films
• Mani (1962-2025), musician, notably the bassist for The Stone Roses and Primal Scream
• Chris Ofili (b. 1968), painter and recipient of the Turner Prize
• Nedum Onuoha (b. 1986), former professional footballer and television pundit
• Lucy Powell (b. 1974), Leader of the House of Commons and Labour MP for Manchester Central
• Wunmi Mosaku (b. 1986), actress

Grammar school

• Chris Buckley (1886–1973), footballer
• Anthony Burgess (1917–1993), author, poet, composer; A Clockwork Orange
• Denis Carter, Baron Carter (1932–2006), agriculturalist and politician
• James Cunningham (1910–1974), Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, 1958–74
• Augustine Hailwood (1875–1939), Conservative MP for Manchester Ardwick, 1916–1922
• Martin Hannett (1948–1991), record producer, musician, and co-founder of Factory Records
• Peter Hebblethwaite (1930–1994), Jesuit priest, writer, and journalist
• Bernard Hill (1944–2024), actor
• Major Henry Kelly (VC) (1887–1960), recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Bernard Longley (b. 1955), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham from 2009
• Gary Mounfield, (b. 1962) musician, member of The Stone Roses
• Tim Willocks (b. 1957), doctor and novelist

References

References

1. "How to Apply".
2. (2002-04-12). "Xaverian College inspection report". Ofsted.
3. Staff. (22 March 1978). "Direct Grant Schools". [[Hansard.
4. Shimmon, Katie. (22 July 2003). "College Days". The Guardian.
5. (2005). "Andrea Ashworth". Pan MacMillan.
6. (13 February 2006). "Student off to Hogwarts - again". Manchester Evening News.
7. (6 December 2012). "Goodbye to Nedum Onuoha - a true professional". Manchester Evening News.
8. (9 January 2013). "Lucy Powell (Lab)". Manchester Evening News.
9. Burgess joined the Xaverian College on 15 September 1928, and stayed to complete his School Certificate examinations. His first published poems appeared in the school magazine, ''The Manchester Xaverian'', under his birthname of John Burgess Wilson.
10. Wilkinson, Damon. (4 April 2020). "Greater Manchester's lost schools - and the stars who went to them". Manchester Evening News.