Ratcliffe College is a coeducational Catholic private boarding and day school near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately 7 miles (11 km) from Leicester, England. The college, situated in 200 acres of parkland on the Fosse Way about 6 miles (10 km) north of Leicester, was founded on the instructions of Blessed Father Antonio Rosmini-Serbati in 1847 as a seminary. The college became coeducational under the presidency of Father Tony Baxter in the late 1970s. As of the 2023–2024 academic year, there were 920 students on roll at Ratcliffe, from ages 3 to 18.
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History
Ratcliffe College was founded in 1844 on the instructions of Blessed Father Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, founder of the Institute of Charity, as a noviciate for his newly founded (1828) Congregation. Three years later, in 1847, the noviciate was moved and the building was used as a boarding school for middle-class Roman Catholic boys. The first two pupils arrived in June 1847.
The school is operated by Rosmini's Institute of Charity. Until 1996, the school's senior leader used the title "Father President", a position held by a priest of the Institute. In 1996, Tim Kilbride became the first lay headmaster and in due course the non-executive title of Father President was restored to the senior Rosminian priest working in the college. Peter Farrar succeeded Kilbride in 2000, followed by Gareth Lloyd in 2009 and Jonathan Reddin in January 2017.
Ratcliffe College became coeducational in the late 1970s during the presidency of Father Tony Baxter. As of the 2023–2024 academic year, the school had 920 pupils aged between 3 and 18. The college also maintains a partnership with the Leicester City Football Club Academy Programme, with academy players studying and boarding at the school during Years 10 and 11.
Buildings and architecture
The original school buildings were designed by the Victorian Gothic Revivalist Augustus Welby Pugin. Pugin, who is associated with Catholic architecture throughout the Midlands and north of England, is also noted for his collaboration with Charles Barry in the reconstruction of the Palace of Westminster. The Square was designed by Charles Francis Hansom, brother of Joseph Hansom, the designer of the Hansom cab. Various building works over the years have contributed to Pugin and Hansom's work, and modern buildings include a "new" Gothic refectory, constructed in 1912–1913, and a Byzantine-style school chapel in the early 1960s.
Site
Ratcliffe College is situated near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately 7 miles (11 km) north of Leicester, England. The campus occupies around 200 acres (0.81 km2) of parkland along the Roman Fosse Way.
Management
Former Presidents and Headmasters
Father Peter Hutton IC 1851 – 1880
Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI)
Ratcliffe College is regularly inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). This is the body approved by the Department of Education for the purpose of inspecting schools belonging to the Independent Schools Council (ISC) Associations and reporting on compliance with independent school regulations.
The school received an excellent report in all areas during the latest ISI Inspection, 2022 – Focused Compliance and Educational Quality Inspection. The Educational Quality Inspection reports on the quality of the College’s work. It focuses on two key outcomes:
1. The achievement of the students, including their academic development.
2. The personal development of the students.
The College was judged “Excellent” for both outcomes, the highest grade possible.
Cricket ground
The college cricket ground is used by the college cricket team. The first recorded use of the ground came in 1948, when Ratcliffe College played King Edward's School, Birmingham. The ground has also played host to a single List-A match, when the Leicestershire Cricket Board played Denmark in the 1st round of the 2003 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy which was played in 2002.
Notable former pupils
Former pupils of Ratcliffe are known as Old Ratcliffians. They include:
Terence Alexander, film and television actor, singer
John Arnold, bishop
Fin Back, professional footballer
Ian Bannen, Scottish actor and Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actor (1965)
Shaun Brogan, SAS officer decorated for Dhofar campaign
Sir Peter Caruana, former Chief Minister of Gibraltar
Douglas Chamberlain, cardiologist who transformed clinical care
Kit Cunningham, disgraced British priest
Louis Deacon, England and Tigers rugby player
Willie Doyle, Irish Jesuit Priest (killed in action during World War I)
Sir Patrick Robin Fearn, diplomat, British ambassador to Cuba and Spain
Gerald Garcia, classical guitarist and composer
James Gillick, portrait and figurative artist
François Grosjean, psycholinguist and researcher on bilingualism
Michael Louis Hearn, Irish Nationalist MP for Dublin South
Peter Hildreth, British hurdling athlete