Headmaster's Welcome

I am very pleased to welcome you to the website of The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. It is a privilege not only to be part of this wonderful community, both from a professional and personal viewpoint, but also to preserve and develop its rich legacy. 

The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School is an academy in the Saint John Southworth Catholic Academy Trust; it has a strong Catholic ethos, a pan-London comprehensive intake, a strong regard for good behaviour, self-discipline and self-improvement among its pupils, whatever their background or ability, and a tradition of outstanding academic outcomes.

At the heart of the School lies our Catholic ethos, which underpins everything we do and provides an invaluable unity of purpose.  Quite simply, our principal role is to participate in the apostolic mission of the Church and support the pupils in understanding and exemplifying their faith through our commitment to Catholic Social Teaching. This is best expressed in the words of Cardinal Manning: we seek ‘the formation of the whole person: intellect, heart, will, character and soul.’  Our purpose is to make this ideal a reality.

To do this we identify and retain the best of the old and integrate this with the best of the new, so that the foundations on which our pupils’ development is built are strong and lasting, be it spiritual, social, moral, academic or sporting. 

In all this, I believe, we are successful, as the many achievements on this website show and I am very proud of the pupils’ and staff’s dedication to making this a truly unique and happy school.