Rydal Penrhos

Rydal Penrhos School
Address
Pwllycrochan Avenue Colwyn Bay , Conwy , LL29 7BT Wales
Information
Type	Privateday school
Motto	Veritas Scientia Fides (Truth, Knowledge, Faith)
Religious affiliation(s)	Methodist
Established	1880 (Penrhos) and 1885 (Rydal Mount) 1999 (mergers)
Founder	Frederick Payne (Penrhos) Thomas Osborn (Rydal Mount)
Department for EducationURN	401972Tables
Chair	Deborah McKinnel
Principal	Tom Hutchinson
Chaplain	Reverend Rob Beamish
Gender	Co-educational
Age	2 to 18
Enrolment	325
Houses	Morgan Osborn Payne Wesley
Colour(s)	Black, amber & cyan
Website	www.rydalpenrhos

Rydal Penrhos Schoolis aprivateday school inColwyn Bay,North Wales. It is the onlyMethodistschool in the independent sector in Wales.It is located on multiple sites around the town with a site in the neighbouring village ofRhos-on-Seawhere it keeps its watersports equipment for easy access to the beach.

History

The school started life as five separate institutions:

• Penrhos Collegewas a Methodist girls-only boarding school founded in 1880 as a result of the generosity of Reverend Frederick Payne (1814–1895), a wealthy benefactor andWesleyan Methodistminister who lived in Colwyn Bay. It was prominently situated above the promenade towardsRhos-on-Sea.Its motto wasSemper ad lucem( "Always towards the light" ).
• Rydal Schoolwas 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 Payne. This is still the main school site. From 1977it was a co-educational school. Its former motto wasProdesse quam conspici( "Do good without display" ).
• 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 Schoolwas a private preparatory school in Colwyn Bay.

In 1887, Payne 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.

In 2020 it was announced that the school would no longer offer a boarding option from 2021 and would operate as a day school only.

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 Food. 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 the Second World War, the Penrhos College site was taken over by the government forMinistry of Fooduse. TheDuke of Devonshire,anticipating that schoolgirls would make better tenants than soldiers, offeredChatsworth Housefor 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 redevelopment, 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 International Baccalaureate

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. The school stopped teaching the International Baccalaureate programme when it ceased to offer boarding, and currently offers A-levels and Cambridge Technical courses to its sixth-form students.

First-class cricket

Rydal School

The pavilion at New Field, Rydal Penrhos
Ground information
Location	Colwyn Bay,Wales
Coordinates	53°17′47″N3°44′24″W
Team information
Wales (1929) Denbighshire (1934)
As of 10 August 2009 Source:CricketArchive

The school's cricket pitch was used as the venue for afirst-classmatch betweenWalesand the touringSouth Africansin 1929.The three-day match, played on 10–12 June 1929, resulted in a 10-run victory for the South Africans and sawBob Catterallof South Africa (117) andWilliam Batesof Wales (102) record centuries.Denbighshirelater played a singleMinor Counties Championshipmatch againstNorthumberlandat the ground in 1934.

Notable alumni

See also:Category:People educated at Rydal Penrhos

• Leslie Goonewardene– Sri Lankan statesman and independence activist. He founded the country's first political party, theLanka Sama Samaja Partyand played a key role in bothIndianandSri Lankan independence.
• Edith Rigby(b. 1872) – suffragette and arsonist
• Wilf Wooller– First-classcricketerforGlamorgan CCCandWelsh internationalrugby unionplayer
• Geoffrey Elton–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; father ofBen Elton
• William Roache– Long-runningCoronation Streetactor attended Rydal School
• Linus Roache– Actor best known for role inAmericanseriesLaw & Orderattended Rydal School
• Duncan Kenworthy– Film producer, best known for producing films such asFour Weddings and a FuneralandLove Actually,attended Rydal School
• Bleddyn Williams–Walesrugby unioncaptain, capped 22 times and also captained theBritish Lionsin 1950
• Paula Yates– Television presenter who attended Penrhos College
• Anne Reid– Actress who attended Penrhos College
• Janet Hargreaves– Actress best known for her role as aDoctor Whovillain, attended Penrhos College
• Angela Knight–ConservativeMPattended Penrhos College
• Dafydd Wigley–Plaid CymruMember 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– Former banker and UK Labour government minister
• Andy Fenby– Professional rugby player for London Irish
• Michael Arditti– Novelist, literary critic and playwright attended Rydal School
• Ann Sophie– German singer and songwriter
• The Vivienne– Welsh drag queen and winner ofRuPaul's Drag Race UK
• Gareth Davies(born 1988) –Welsh Conservativepolitician
• Sue Butterworth– bookseller and activist; attended Penrhos College

External links

• Official website
• Profileon theIndependent Schools Councilwebsite