Rydal Penrhos

Rydal Penrhos

Motto	Veritas Scientia Fides (Truth, Knowledge, Faith)
Established	1885 1999 (mergers)
Type	Independent day and boarding
Religion	Methodist
Headmaster	Roger McDuff
Chaplain	Rev'd Nick Sissons
Founder	Thomas Osborn
Location	Pwllycrochan Avenue Colwyn Bay Conwy LL29 7BT Wales
DfE number	662/6019
DfE URN	401972 Tables
Students	185~ (Prep) 410~ (Senior)
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	3–18
Houses	Morgan Osborn Payne Wesley
Colours	Black, Amber
Website	www.rydalpenrhos.com

Rydal Penrhos is an independent co-educational boarding school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. It is the only Methodist school in the independent sector in Wales.^[1] It is located on multiple sites around the town with a site in the neighbouring village of Rhos-on-Sea where it keeps its watersports equipment for easy access to the beach.

Rydal Penrhos has a strong tradition in sports and the arts. The school's 1st teams in both hockey and rugby have, in recent years, been a strong selling point for the school, which thrives on their successes. The 1st XI hockey team, along with the U16 team, have been exceptionally successful in the Welsh Nationals, claiming several titles in the past five years. In 2007, the U16 boys team won the North Wales Final at hockey, only to go on and lose in the final at Nationals.

History

The school started life as five separate institutions:

• Rydal was founded (as Rydal Mount School) by Thomas Osborn in 1885 as a boys’ boarding school. It was named after the house, at the junction of Lansdowne Road and Pwllycrochan Avenue in Colwyn Bay, which Osborn had acquired from Reverend Frederick Payne. This is still the main school site. From the 1980s it was a co-educational school. Its former motto was "Prodesse quam conspici" ("Do good without display").
• Penrhos College was a Methodist girls-only boarding school founded in 1880 as a result of the generosity of Reverend Frederick Payne, a wealthy benefactor and Wesleyan minister who lived in Colwyn Bay. It was prominently situated above the promenade towards Rhos-on-Sea. Its former motto was "Semper ad lucem" ("Always towards the light").
• In the early 20th century both Rydal and Penrhos created preparatory or junior departments, which in due course each moved to its own premises.
• Rydal Preparatory School occupied Walshaw House, Oak Drive, Colwyn Bay when Rydal School was evacuated to Oakwood Park during the Second World War (see below). In 1946 when Rydal came back from Oakwood Park, the Preparatory School took its place there. It remained there until 1953, when it moved to its present site at Pwllycrochan. This had been the property of Lady Erskine, owner of the Pwllycrochan estate, and was developed as the Pwllycrochan Hotel before being bought by Rydal.
• Penrhos Junior School occupied a substantial house in Oak Drive, Colwyn Bay.
• Lyndon School was a private preparatory school in Colwyn Bay.

In 1887, Payne had founded St John's Methodist Church on Pwllycrochan Avenue, which was used regularly by both Rydal and Penrhos. In 2010, the stewardship of St John's was passed to Rydal Penrhos, which needed more space for school worship and special events.

Architecture

A degree of uniformity of design in central Colwyn Bay owes much to a single architect, Sidney Colwyn Foulkes, whose concept has been followed by other architects. His father designed St John's Methodist Church, and he was responsible for many of the school's buildings, as well as others in the vicinity, and further afield in North Wales. This led to the area that includes the school being designated as Colwyn Bay's first conservation area.

Evacuation of Rydal School

During the second World War the main campus of Rydal was occupied by the Ministry of Pensions. The school was evacuated to Oakwood Park, a small country estate 2 miles west of the town of Conwy. The school returned to Colwyn Bay in 1946.

Evacuation of Penrhos College

During World War II, the Penrhos College site was taken over by the government for Ministry of Food use. The Duke of Devonshire, anticipating that schoolgirls would make better tenants than soldiers, offered Chatsworth House for the use of the school. The contents of the house were packed away in eleven days and 300 girls and their teachers moved in for a six-year stay. The whole of the house was used, including the state rooms, which were turned into dormitories. Condensation from the breath of the sleeping girls caused fungus to grow behind some of the pictures. The house was not very comfortable for so many people, with a shortage of hot water, but there were compensations, such as skating on the Canal Pond. The girls grew vegetables in the garden as a contribution to the war effort.

Amalgamation

Rydal Preparatory School merged with Penrhos Junior School in 1995 to become Rydal Penrhos Preparatory School, which, in 2003, underwent a further merger with Lyndon School, which retained its name until 2010. The former Penrhos Junior and Lyndon campuses were disposed of and staff and students were relocated to the larger existing Rydal Preparatory School campus.

In 1999 Rydal School and Penrhos College agreed to merge as Rydal Penrhos School. Initially they were run as three separate divisions: "preparatory", "girls" and "co-educational", reflecting the three formerly separate incarnations. The Penrhos College campus was eventually closed down and sold for re-development, and its pupils moved to the main Rydal campus, the divisions being amalgamated into a single entity. The merger and integration was not without controversy, not least over the sale of the former Penrhos site and the restructuring of the staff.

Introduction of the I.B.

In 2004, the school began to offer the International Baccalaureate programme of study in its Sixth form years, as a parallel alternative to the A-level programme that was already being offered. This led to an increase in the number of pupils attending the school from overseas countries such as Ukraine, Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, Russia and the Czech Republic.

First-class cricket

The school's cricket pitch was used as the venue for a first-class match between Wales and the touring South Africans in 1929.^[2] The three-day match, played on 10–12 June 1929, resulted in a 10-run victory for the South Africans and saw Bob Catterall of South Africa (117) and William Bates of Wales (102) record centuries.^[3] Denbighshire later played a single Minor Counties Championship match against Northumberland at the ground in 1934.^[4]

Notable alumni

• Wilf Wooller – First-class cricketer for Glamorgan CCC and Welsh international rugby union player
• Sir Geoffrey Elton – esteemed historian was a student at Rydal School and later taught there
• Lewis Elton - physicist, educational researcher and brother of Sir Geoffrey, was a student at Rydal School
• Sir Michael Thompson – Former Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham University
• William Roache MBE – Long-running Coronation Street actor attended Rydal School
• Linus Roache – Actor best known for role in American series Law & Order attended Rydal School
• Duncan Kenworthy OBE – Film producer, best known for producing films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually attended Rydal School
• Bleddyn Williams – Wales rugby union captain, capped 22 times and also captained the British Lions in 1950
• Paula Yates – Television presenter who attended Penrhos College
• Anne Reid MBE – Actress who attended Penrhos College
• Janet Hargreaves – Actress best known for her role as a Doctor Who villain attended Penrhos College
• Angela Knight – Conservative MP attended Penrhos College
• Dafydd Wigley – Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Caernarfon from 1974 to 2001, Assembly Member for Caernarfon from 1999 to 2003, Leader of Plaid Cymru from 1991 to 2000
• Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch CBE – Former banker and current UK government minister
• Andy Fenby – Professional rugby player for London Irish
• Michael Arditti – Novelist, literary critic and playwright attended Rydal School
• Ann Sophie - German representative on Eurovision Song Contest 2015

References

External links

• Official website
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website