, established = , closed = , type = , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Head teacher , head = Mark Powell , address = Penlline Road and Glan-y-Nant Terrace , city = Whitchurch , county =

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, country = Wales , postcode = CF14 2XJ , local_authority =

, urn = 401880 , staff = 248 , enrolment = 2,400 approx , gender =

Coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

, lower_age = 11 , upper_age = 18 , colours = Grey Jumpers/Blazers and White Shirts. Blue and Yellow Ties (Lower school) & Maroon and Yellow Ties (Upper school) , publication = , free_label_1 = Predecessor schools , free_1 = , free_label_2 = Former pupils , free_2 = Old Whitchonians , free_label_3 = Estyn , free_3
Reports
, website = Whitchurch High School ( cy, Ysgol Uwchradd yr Eglwys Newydd) is a large, co-educational, comprehensive secondary school in the suburb of Whitchurch in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Organisation and structure

The school is currently the largest in Wales (according to the school's last

Estyn Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb ''estyn'' meaning "to reach (out), stretch or extend". Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality ...

report) with 2,400 pupils. In accordance with the three-tier system, it is divided between two sites, known as Upper and

Lower Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

. The Lower School site houses Years 7 to 9, with the Upper School providing facilities for years 10 and 11. The Upper School site also includes the Sixth Form Centre (Years 12 & 13). The school's Leadership Team is composed of the headteacher, two deputy headteachers and five assistant headteachers. The current headteacher is Mark Powell, who took over from Huw Jones-Williams in September 2018. The school's uniform consists of a yellow and grey blazer, with a blue tie for Lower School and a maroon tie for Upper School.

Funding

In 2015–16 the school budget per pupil was £4,411, amongst the lowest for secondary schools in Cardiff. For the 2017–18 Academic Year this was further reduced, and local media reproduced a letter which had been sent out to parents by the Chair of Governors regarding the financial difficulties the school was experiencing.

History

The first documented school in Whitchurch was on Old Church Road, opposite the now defunct St Mary's Church, adjacent to the Fox and Hounds Public House.Edgar Chappell, "Old Whitchurch" (Priory Press, 1945) Known as 'the Fox school-room', it was started in the nineteenth century, and was joined by a few small privately run establishments to cater for the village's more affluent residents. The first half of the twentieth century saw the rapid growth of Whitchurch as a suburb of Cardiff, and with this growth came the need for more extensive educational provision. Under the terms of the Elementary Education Acts, Glamorgan County Council established the Whitchurch Elementary School on Glan-y-Nant Road (which later became Eglwys Newydd Primary), and then later in the 1930s a Secondary School on Glan-y-Nant Terrace as well as a Grammar School on Penlline Road. The current Whitchurch High School came into being in 1968, following the government circular of 1965, which replaced the existing

tripartite system The Tripartite System was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 to 2009 in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementation of the Education Act 1944 and th ...

with comprehensive education. The new comprehensive school was created through a merger of the now well-established Whitchurch

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, and Whitchurch County Secondary School, which had become a secondary modern school under the Butler Acts. The former Grammar School building became the Upper School, while the Secondary Modern became the Lower School. Like its predecessors, the school was co-educational and catered for a broad catchment area centred on the suburbs of Whitchurch, Rhiwbina and Tongwynlais in the northern part of Cardiff. The comprehensive school was initially run by Cardiff County Borough until the local government reform of 1974, which included Whitchurch in the new county of

South Glamorgan , Government= South Glamorgan County Council , Status= Non-metropolitan county (1974–1996) Preserved county (1996–) , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= , HQ= ...

. In 1996, the school reverted to Cardiff County Council, which became a unitary authority. Since merging both sites have seen extensive expansion, although both retain the original buildings as well as extensive playing fields. In September 2011, the school has been granted foundation status by the Welsh Assembly, following controversy over the local authority's proposals to reduce the school's intake. The school's badge is a white church tower on a blue background with the surround 'Album Monasterium', the Latin name for Whitchurch. In the 2010s, four former pupils reached the highest levels of their chosen sports; Sam Warburton captained

and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

in Rugby Union, Gareth Bale played football for Real Madrid, Elliot Kear captained

in Rugby League and

Geraint Thomas Geraint Howell Thomas, (; born 25 May 1986) is a Welsh professional racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam , Wales and Great Britain. He is one of the few riders in the modern era to achieve significant elite success as both a tra ...

won two Olympic gold medals for cycling and won the

2018 Tour de France The 2018 Tour de France was the 105th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 7 July in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, in western France, and concluding on 29 July with the ...

. All three had been coached by Steve Williams, a teacher at the school.

Curriculum

The school's Sixth Form school offers AS/A2 levels, a few stages of the

Welsh Baccalaureate The Welsh Baccalaureate ( cy, Bagloriaeth Cymru), or Welsh Bacc, is an educational qualification delivered in secondary schools and colleges across Wales. The Welsh Government says that it gives broader experiences than traditional learning pr ...

, and some

vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious c ...

courses. Up until 2012, it was one of the few secondary schools in Wales to offer the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...

Facilities

The school has a tradition in sport, music, drama and politics, with facilities such as: * A large, floodlit astroturf pitch on the lower school site, used mainly for hockey and football (1997) * A sports recreational hall, located on the lower school site, opened by Prince Andrew, Duke of York (2004) * A sports recreational hall with a fitness suite, changing rooms and classrooms located on the upper school site (2006) * Ten floodlit, five-a-side football pitches with clubhouse and parking located on the lower school site, run by the private company Powerleague and available for community use outside of school hours (2007) * Extensive playing fields on both the upper and lower school sites which are used for home matches by the schools rugby and football teams * Traditional school gym with climbing equipment, ropes, gymnastic apparatus and crash mats on the lower school site * The Dutch Barn, formerly a derelict gym on the lower school site, now converted into a hall used for school assemblies and the annual concerts * A purpose built music block on the lower school site (2009) * A dedicated drama studio * A large vertical climbing wall and horizontal bouldering wall on the upper school site (2011) * 15 m swimming pool on the lower school site

Extracurricular activities

Whitchurch has a strong sports department and has produced many athletes who have represented Wales or Great Britain in recent years. The school was named Sports State School of the Year by 7th Annual Aviva Daily Telegraph "School Sports Matters" National Awards in November 2011 in recognition of its sporting achievements. The Japanese School in Wales (ウェールズ補習授業校 ''Wēruzu Hoshū Jugyō Kō''), a weekend Japanese educational programme, is held at Whitchurch High School.欧州の補習授業校一覧（平成25年4月15日現在）

. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Retrieved on 10 May 2014. "Whitchurch Upper High School, Penlline Rd., Whitchurch, Cardiff CF4 2XJ, U.K."

Notable former pupils of Whitchurch High School

* Gareth Bale (b. July 1989), footballer for

, Real Madrid and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

* Kiran Carlson (b. May 1998), cricketer for Glamorgan * Matt Elias (b. April 1979), 400 m and 400 m hurdles runner who represented

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

* Lloyd Jones (b. August 1988), ice dancer who represented France at the 2014 Winter Olympics * Elliot Kear (b. November 1988),

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

player and

international * Owen Lane (b. 20 December 1997), rugby player for Cardiff Blues *

Tom Maynard Thomas Lloyd Maynard (25 March 1989 – 18 June 2012) was a Welsh professional cricketer who played for Glamorgan and Surrey, and was selected for the England Lions tour to Bangladesh. On the night of his death, he was stopped by police in Wimb ...

(b. March 1989, d. June 2012), cricketer for Glamorgan and Surrey * Stephen Morris (b. September 1988), athlete who represented

at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2016 Paralympic Games The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

* Ben Slade (b. April 1976), television presenter and educator *

(b. May 1986), cyclist, gold medallist at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and 2012 Olympic Games and winner of the

. * Sarah Thomas (b. November 1992), badminton player who represented Wales at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

* Sam Warburton (b. October 1988), rugby union player and captain of

and the

Whitchurch Grammar School

* Andrew Davies (b. September 1936), TV scriptwriter *

Elizabeth Horrocks Elizabeth Horrocks (born 3 May 1946) is an author and winner of the BBC quiz series '' Mastermind''. Biography Horrocks attended Whitchurch Grammar School in Cardiff, a school also attended by fellow writer Andrew Davies. She then graduated fro ...

(b. May 1946), author and winner of BBC Mastermind in 1974 * Howard Jones (b. February 1955), musician * Maggie Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (b. May 1955), politician and life peer * Prof Rhys Jones (b. February 1941, d. September 2001), archaeologist *Warrant Officer Lyndsay Morgan, Chief of the Air Staff's Warrant Officer (2006–2009) *

Rhodri Morgan Hywel Rhodri Morgan (29 September 1939 – 17 May 2017) was a Welsh Labour politician who was the First Minister of Wales and the Leader of Welsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also the Assembly Member for Cardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and ...

(September 1939 – May 2017),

First Minister for Wales , insignia = First Minister of Wales logo.png , insigniasize = 120px , insigniacaption = Logo , flag = Flag of Wales.svg , flagsize = 120px , flagborder = yes , flagcaption = Flag of Wales , image = File:Mark Drakeford (cropped).jpg , ...

(2001–09); Labour MP for Cardiff West (1987–2001) *

Dale Owen Ivan Dale Owen (2 August 1924 – 12 November 1997) was a Welsh architect in the modernist architectural style. The Glamorgan Archives and ''The Independent'' newspaper both described him as a 'leading figure in Welsh architecture'. He was ...

(2 August 1924 – 12 November 1997), architect * Judge Sir Malcolm Pill (b. March 1938), jurist * Prof Dylan Wiliam, emeritus professor at the Institute of Education, University of London

References

External links

* *

Inspectio
Reports

Seeking foundation status in August 2009

Possible re-organisation in July 2007
{{authority control 1968 establishments in Wales 1937 establishments in Wales Secondary schools in Cardiff International Baccalaureate schools in Wales Educational institutions established in 1970 Whitchurch, Cardiff