De La Salle Academy, Liverpool


The De La Salle Academy is a boys' voluntary aided secondary school with academy status under the trusteeship of the De La Salle Brothers. The school is named after St John Baptist De La Salle, patron saint of educational workers.

Admissions

De La Salle is a sixth form entry Catholic school, catering for boys from the age of 11 to 18. The school, currently at less than half capacity, is situated in the Croxteth area of Liverpool.

St. John Baptist

was the first son of wealthy parents living in France. He became a priest at the age of 27, and took on the responsibility of providing education for the poor, giving much of his own wealth in the process. John opened a free school for the poor, and he and his colleagues took the name Brothers of the Christian Schools, now generally known as the De La Salle Brothers.
He died in 1719, and 181 years later was canonised as a saint. In 1950 he was made the Patron Saint of all those who worked in education. At present, de la Salle schools can be found in a dozen other places in Britain, along with some 85 different countries around the world.

History

Grammar school

It was known as the De La Salle Grammar School until 1983 and was originally based on Breckfield Road South in Everton. The new school site is that of the former Central School, and was rebuilt in 1954. By the 1960s, it had around 700 boys.

Comprehensive

In 1983, the school became De La Salle RC Comprehensive School. It amalgamated with four other catholic schools in 1988. The school was founded by the De La Salle brothers, who engaged with the day-to-day running of the school.
In 2004, the school gained specialist school status and became the De La Salle Humanities College, specialising in English, Geography and History.

Academy

The school gained academy status in January 2011, to become The De La Salle Academy.

Coverage of parents' behaviour in Sweden

In July 2015, the school made news headlines around Europe when staff from the school escorted students of local primary schools to the Gothia Cup football youth tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden. Parents of the children in the team acted "in a very aggressive way" during a game, "hurling insults and profanities" at the youngsters of the opposing team.

Notable alumni