The School's Opening Ceremony

Blessed George Napier Catholic Secondary School was blessed and officially opened by the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev. Francis Grimshaw, on Tuesday the 5th of June 1962. The school would serve North Oxfordshire, South Warwickshire and South Northants. At the time it was the only school of its kind in the whole County. At the opening ceremony the Archbishop said that he was sure the new school would provide the right sort of spiritual and academic education for the children in the area. The chairman of the Oxfordshire Education Committee, Alderman C J Peers, was also present and referred to the opening of the school as "a great day for Oxfordshire." He said it marked the completion of a great endeavour. This meant Oxfordshire's secondary education had now been completely re-organised, and all the children of secondary school age were now being educated at schools that suited the requirements of the 1994 Act. "Few other schools could boast of such facilities". Alderman Peers said and praised the diocese for building "such a delightful school" -embodying all the latest ideas in secondary education. The Mayor and Mayoress of Banbury were at the Opening and the Mayor said he felt the policy has been justified while thanking the Oxfordshire Education Committee for dealing benevolently with Banbury. Canon A. G. Wall was also there and welcomed the visitors.

Our School cost around £100,000 to construct. We had 170 pupils to begin with. Here seen below are images of the Main Block and Practical Block

The Schools Foundations and its Relationship to Blessed George Napier

Fun Fact-Inside the double doors leading from the "Gold doors" you can find the date of the laying of the Foundation stone plaque of our school which was laid by Canon Wall (His Portrait can be found in the hall). Canon Wall was moved before the school was built so it was Monsignor Corrigan (Fr. Corrigan at that time) who was Parish Priest of St. John's when the school was opened. Our school's relationship with Blessed George Napier came to be as he was an Oxfordshire Martyr and so it was throught to be appropriate to place the school under his protection. It is said to be Monsignor Corrigan's decision as he had a great devotion to English Martyrs.

History of the school buildings

In the beginning the school only had 2 blocks, the main block and the practical block. In addition to the classrooms, the main two storey block contains a modern kitchen, laboratory, library, changing rooms and showers, offices, assembly hall with a stage and a gymnasium. There was also a wood and metal workshop, a horticultural wing and domestic science room. The playing fields were not available till 1963, a year after it opened. The reason we have big windows is because the the structure has been specifically designed to obtain maximum light into the classrooms and there is storage space in each classroom. The buildings were blessed and formally opened by the Archbishop of Birmingham (Dr. Francis J. Grimshaw) on June 5th.

This is a picture of the main block building

Not soon after its opening the school quickly became very popular in the area and due to its high demand the school had too many pupils attending. As a solution to this the Headmaster decided to join a campus plan. As of 1962-3, only half of the buildings were built which was Phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 of the building programme was completed for the year 1964-5. The new classrooms included a Geography room and a Needlework room (Textiles). The two-storey extension cost around £72,000 and it caters for an additional 150 pupils, with a total of 450 pupils. Mr G. Grimshaw said "We have been pushing for these new extensions for the past four years. It is hoped that the work will be completed by the middle of next year, but it is really needed for this September"- April 18th 1968. "6 years ago, the school was only two-form entry but this has increased to double that by 1969. The new buildings will allow us to go to five-form entry in the future and with the other projects which are proposed we hope to finally have a six-form entry comprehensive unit" Said Mr. Grimshaw. The campus plan also meant the school started offering courses to G.C.E O level (The old GCSE's) without sacrificing its identity as a Catholic School. The School Chaplain back then was Father R. Harding. The School also functioned as an integral part of the Parish St.John's Banbury.

This is a picture of a Newspaper Article on the rapid expansion of the School

The School continued to expand over the years and and with Phase 2 completed, a relatively small school was now a considerable size for a school providing comprehensive education. Sadly our first Headmaster, George Grimshaw, passed away only a year after his post as Headmaster.

This is a picture of Headmaster George Grimshaw

The Chapel

Construction of the Chapel began around the beginning of the year 1968. It was blessed and inaugurated around October the 1st in the year 1968 by Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, Rt. Rev. Anthony Emery. The building is one of the most unusual in the town. Pupils and Staff also played a part to make altar curtains, linen and the altar table. The tabernacle altar was designed by Mr. Friend and made by Mr. D. Bell. A. The Chapel cost roughly £8,000 to build and when looked from above its design is clearly in the shape of an arrow described as "flying straight to God." It has a copper roof and a rear wall made of stained glass. Its design, by Charles Friend, was suggested by Father Harding, who left Banbury to go abroad the year before the Chapel's completion. The Chapel has the ability to seat around 85 pupils. It has wooden benches and a confessional at the back. It had plain glass windows. The Stations of the Cross came from St. John's Priory's- the first foundation of the Sisters of St. Paul in this country. The sisters held posts of Headship of St. John's School and St. Joseph's and worked in the parishes. When the Priory closed the Sisters gave the Stations of the Cross and the Angelus bell to the School. Sr Theresa, the Parish Sister is a member of that community and now lives in Coach House. In addition they gave a number of statues which you can find around the school today. The Chapel windows are designed by the same artist who made the plaques of the seven sacraments that were in the Chapel of Soli House. The idea was to make a link between the Retreat Centre in Stratford (which was attended by pupils in Year 10 and Year 12) and the School. The same artist also did the Plaque of Blessed George Napier found at the entrance of the School.

Below are some pictures of the Chapel

Here is a view of the Chapel in its present day and age:

Further Developments

A further block was added in 1975. In January 1981 the entrance was, as it is now from Addison Road and so it was facing the kitchen and a couple of classrooms back then. The story goes that the builders misread the development plans and put the entrance in the wrong place! The room on the left was the library and at the back of the hall, where the offices are now, were two classrooms that were used for languages. What is now the Drama Studio was a courtyard area with a woodwork room. The Learning Resource Centre used to be a Gymnasium. The I.T rooms by the Science department was an open area called Concourse. As the school grew it was used as a temporary classroom just marked off by the lockers. The present day D.T room was a large room that looked out onto the field before the History corridors were built. The Science room at the top of the corridor was the old Music room with practice rooms off. Before the Corrigan was erected and established there were a couple of green wooden huts used as classrooms. They were called Prinkash rooms as the huts came from Prinkash Abbey in Gloucestershire.

The Corrigan

Construction of the Corrigan Building was inspired by Monsignor Corrigan. The building was Blessed and Opened by Maurice Couve de Murville, 7th Archbishop of Birmingham on the 23rd September 1992.

Pictures of the Corrigan today:

Here is a view from the playground of the Corrigan in its present day and age: