On 22 October 1960, the
foundation stone of the college was laid by Dom Basil Griffin OSB (died 1963). He was a monk at
Douai Abbey in
Woolhampton, Berkshire, and twin brother of
Cardinal Griffin, who the college was named after. The college was built to educate the children of the four Catholic
parishes in
Cannock Chase. Those parishes were St Mary and St Thomas More in Cannock, Our Lady of Lourdes in
Hednesford, St Joseph and Etheldreda in
Rugeley and St Joseph in
Burntwood. The school has a
house system that names each of the six school houses after past
cardinals of the Catholic church in England. The houses are
Allen,
Newman,
Manning,
Vaughan,
Wiseman and
Hinsley. The college has played the sport of
Handball since 1980s. In 1982, they won the national under-15s final and in the early 1980s came fourth in the under-14 championship of a Europe-wide Handball tournament in
Teramo. In 2010 an observatory with two domes and what has been called the "largest collection of telescopes in the Midlands" was built on the school grounds. It was opened by Brother
Guy Consolmagno SJ, the official Vatican Astronomer. In 2013,
Ofsted inspected the school and rated it in overall effectiveness as 'Good' and behaviour and safety of pupils as 'Outstanding'. The overall effectiveness was an improvement from its previous inspection, which was rated as 'Satisfactory'. Previously a
voluntary aided school administered by
Staffordshire County Council, in September 2023 Cardinal Griffin Catholic College converted to
academy status. The school is now sponsored by The Painsley Catholic Academy Trust, but continues to be under the jurisdiction of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham. ==References==