Senior School

(Independent Schools Inspectorate Report, November 2006)

While experiencing something first hand is probably the best way of getting to know it, I commend this, our new website, as an initial introduction to our community.

St. Columba’s College is unique as the only Brothers of the Sacred Heart School in the country. Originally opened in 1939, the New England Congregation of the Brothers took over the running of the school in 1955. The College has progressively grown over the years to its current roll of 850. We offer a broad, progressive education to boys from 4-18, including a Sixth Form of over 160 and no fewer than 20 subjects offered at A Level. Students are drawn from a wide area across north London, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Our ethos and values are rooted within the Catholic educational tradition but our community encompasses students of other traditions and backgrounds.

The leadership of the College has in recent years passed over to lay management but the influence and spirit of the Brothers remain. The College has retained a strong international dimension, in particular, through links with the wider family of Brothers’ schools across North America and with our two sister schools in Zambia. These links are nurtured within both our curriculum and community.

This principle of partnership or collaboration is central to our work, not least the partnership with you as parents whom we also see as part of the school community. This relationship is nurtured from the start and is supported by the school’s pastoral system. Our House structure means that boys are known individually enabling the appropriate support and challenge to be provided.

Our mission states that we are “committed to promoting and realising gospel values in an environment of academic endeavour and personal discipline”. Academic standards are consistently high throughout the College, but it is the ‘value added’ rather than the league table position from which we derive the greater pride. We aim for every student to achieve his own best standard. However, as a concession to the curious, our public examination results do appear elsewhere on the site.

At St. Columba’s we believe in a holistic approach to education. Every young person learns from their total school experience whether through sport, music, drama and especially through service. In addition to these experiences being available within the curriculum, we offer an extensive Extra and Extended Curriculum with a range of opportunities from the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Combined Cadet Force to debate and Young Enterprise. Each of these activities develop self-knowledge, teamwork, leadership and resilience – qualities demanded by Higher Education and the work place of the future.

Anyone wishing to learn more about St. Columba’s College can either email us or if contemplating sending boys to the School can register an interest.

 

Or better still, arrange to come for a visit.

 

David Buxton, MA

Headmaster