‘Presentation College is here to stay'
Start of a new era - headteacher frank loveder, left, with christopher nolan, the chairman of the governors, sign the new trustee agreement at presentation college.
- 00:00, 21 JUL 2003
- Updated 01:01, 8 JUN 2013
EARLIER this year Presentation College was staring closure in the face, with the holy order that ran it claiming the school was no longer viable.
But now a fresh chapter has opened for the Southcote school, with a new educational trust due to take over at the end of the month and a plan in place for its future.
It will be managed by a board of governors - five parents of current students, one person appointed by the Presentation Brothers who established and used to run the school, three additional members who can offer particular types of professional expertise and a final member from the Old Presentonians' Association.
Headteacher Frank Loveder said: "We are delighted that the past uncertainty has finally been dispelled and firm plans can now be put in place."
He also announced plans to extend minibus arrangements to attract potential students in more outlying areas including Henley, Wargrave, Crowthorne, Wokingham, Newbury and Hartley Wintney in Hampshire.
The independent Catholic school was saved in May this year after the Order said it would have to shut in August 2004 because it was failing financially and pupil numbers were falling.
But a successful campaign to save the school led the Brothers, the school's trustees for the past 71 years, to agree to the transfer of control.
The official handover took place on Monday last week and the trust will take over the actual running from July 31.
Christopher Nolan, the new chairman of governors, paid tribute to pupils, old boys, staff and parents for their efforts in "achieving the school's survival".
He said: "In 75 days we have gone from great shock to elation. And the signing ceremony ensures that the special jewel that is Pres [Presentation College] is now going to be allowed to move from strength to strength for future generations of all families seeking a high quality education.
"A whole new horizon has opened up, we can move forward confidently to a much brighter future - Presentation College is here to stay."
- Most Recent
Order denies selling school to pay victims
AN Irish religious order has denied it is selling one of its schools in England to help pay off victims of clerical child abuse here.
Students from the Presentation College in Reading, Berkshire fly to Ireland today to plead with the Presentation Brothers to reverse their shock decision to close the fee-paying school from next year.
Four students, accompanied by a parent, will travel to the order’s base in Cork city this afternoon to hand in a petition signed by hundreds of pupils, past pupils and parents backing their plea.
The order insist they have no choice but to take the drastic closure step for financial reasons, claiming enrolments have fallen, they are stg£200,000 in debt and the aging school buildings require refurbishment costing stg£8 million.
But the Presentation College Parents Association (PCPA) say the arguments do not add up and they suspect the school, which has lands with a potential value of stg£15 million, is being sacrificed to meet the order’s liabilities to the controversial clerical child abuse compensation fund here.
“The school is growing in strength and reputation. It had a 100% pass rate in A levels last year, it has made the top 500 list of independent schools in Britain for the first time and it would cost nowhere near what has been suggested to carry out repairs,” said PCPA spokesman, Kevin Packham.
Mr Packham, who has two sons among the 350 boys attending the college, said there were no other suitable schools in the area with waiting lists and fees proving prohibitive.
“There is not one good reason to close the school so we can’t help but look at reasons beyond the school and we are very much aware of the difficulties religious orders are facing in Ireland.”
The order denied the move was linked to its compensation liabilities.
“The order would not do that and it could not happen in law anyway,” said public relations consultant, Manus O’Callaghan.
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- Elvian School
The Elvian School was a private school in Reading, Berkshire , United Kingdom run by the Licensed Trade Charity as a co-educational, non-denominational Christian school. It was previously the Roman Catholic boys' school Presentation College, Reading , until it went into administration in 2004. In March 2010 it was announced that the school would close at the end of the academic year .
- 4 Curriculum
- 5.1 Old Presentonians
- 7 References
- 8 External links
The school opened in 1931 as Presentation College, Reading, an independent boys' day school run by the Presentation Brothers . In May 2003, the Presentation Brothers made the highly controversial decision to close the school the following summer. However, due to the "Save Pres" campaign by staff and students, the Presentation Brothers reversed the decision and the school was transferred to a trust. However, in mid-2004 the school went into administration and was taken over by the Licensed Trade Charity [1] and became the Elvian School . The final headteacher of the school was Paul Bevis.
On Sunday, 14 June 2009, one of the school's students, 15-year-old Nicholas Rice, died in an air collision incident over Sutton Courtenay , Oxfordshire. His Grob Tutor aeroplane collided with a civilian glider, during an Air Experience Flight . The pilot of the Grob Tutor, 62-year-old Michael Blee, was also killed, while the pilot of the glider, Henry Freeborn, parachuted to safety and survived. [2] [3]
In January 2010, staff and parents of pupils were sent letters stating that the future of Elvian School was unclear and that the feasibility of continuing to operate was being considered during a consultation period. On 3 March, a further letter and announcement by the school's director of education, Ian Mullins, stated that the consultation had unanimously agreed that the school could not run into the 2010/11 academic year . [4] The school closed in July 2010. [5]
In 2013 members of the West Reading Education Network WREN announced plans to open a Free School on the site of the former Elvian School, re-using some of the Elvian school buildings. [6] These plans were delayed whilst developers Taylor Wimpey agreed to purchase the site subject to obtaining planning permission for 182 homes. Planning permission was refused. Taylor Wimpey appealed the refusal, and their appeal was dismissed in December 2013 after a public enquiry. [7] Taylor Wimpey appealed to the High Court for a judicial review of the refusal, which was dismissed in June 2014. [8] The new school opened with the name "The Wren School" in 2015. [9]
The school offered a broad curriculum and included all the subjects of the National Curriculum .
Notable former pupils
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Old Presentonians
- Michael Bond OBE [10] – children's author
- Gerard Johnson – rock musician.
- Joseph Kelly – Catholic Newspaper editor and publisher. [11]
- Cormac Murphy-O'Connor – Roman Catholic cardinal.
- Damian Thompson – journalist and author.
- Mike Oldfield – rock musician.
- Lawrie Sanchez – football player and manager.
- Jonathan Bowden – Nationalist political philosopher.
- Licensed Victuallers' School
- ↑ Society of Licensed Victuallers, Registered Charity no. 230011 at the Charity Commission
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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- Use dmy dates from April 2019
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- Educational institutions established in 1931
- Defunct Catholic schools in the Diocese of Portsmouth
- Defunct schools in Reading, Berkshire
- 1931 establishments in England
- Educational institutions disestablished in 2010
- 2010 disestablishments in England
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