Welcome to the De La Salle Old Boys website that is a forum for ex-pupils of De La Salle Grammar School, Liverpool, offering opportunities for Old Boys of the school to stay connected, make new connections, reminisce and engage with each other through memories, anecdotes and media.
History
In March 1679, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle met the teacher Adrian Nyel in a chance encounter at the Convent of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus. Nyel asked for La Salle’s help in opening free schools for the poor boys in Reims. A novitiate and normal school were established in Paris in 1694.[10] Then the brothers decided collectively to take what is called a “vow of association” that is still performed today.[11] This initial vow required the brothers to stay together and interact with their community, instead of living in separate monasteries or isolated convents such as in the priesthood.[12][13] La Salle spent his life teaching poor children in parish charity schools. The school flourished and widened in scope; in 1725, six years after La Salle’s death, the society was recognised by the pope, under the official title of “Brothers of the Christian Schools”.[14] La Salle was canonised as a saint on 15 May 1900. In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared him to be the “Special Patron of All Teachers of Youth in the Catholic Church”.[15]
The Grammar school in Carr Lane East, Liverpool was built in 1954 and had as up to 700 male pupils at a time. For 2 decades It was regarded as one of the best schools in the North West, achieving very high levels of GCE (now GCSE) passes and University entrants. The school is now an academy managed by the Dixons Academy Trust and is co-educational and non-denominational.