- Ratcliffe College was founded as a seminary in 1845 and two years later was converted into a boys’ boarding school. Having accepted girls in the 1970s, today Ratcliffe is coeducational.
- The school’s motto Legis Plenitudo Charitas is taken from Paul’s Letter to the Romans and translates as “love is the fulfilment of the law”. As such, moral integrity, honesty and intellectual curiosity are the core values encouraged in its 900+ pupils.
- Jonathan Reddin, the headmaster, explains the school’s approach thus: “We see education as a partnership between students, staff and parents. We encourage big ideas.” The school is proud of its £2.5m English language centre, which is its first carbon-zero building.
- Scholarships for those entering year 7 and 12 are available with sport, art, music and drama specialties, worth up to a 20 per cent fee remission. Bursaries worth up to 100 per cent of fees are also available, though the school notes that “students and their families must be in sympathy with the Catholic ethos of the college”.
- Alumni include Tim Knox, the art historian and director of the Royal Collection.
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