Spinkhill, was acquired to serve as a preparatory school to Mount St Mary's College. On 16 July 1939, the then headmaster, Fr Ralph Baines successfully petitioned the College of Arms to give the college its own coat of arms. This is still used by the college today. During Baines' Headmastership from 1939 to 1945, he was also accepted into the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, thus establishing the college as a Public School. In 1979, girls were admitted as day students. From 1984, girls began boarding in the school. In September 2006, Mount St Mary's became its own charitable trust. The Society of Jesus transferred the two schools to the Mount St Mary's Trust. While legally separate from the Jesuits, the college still works with them to maintain the Jesuit mission and identity of the college. Coat of arms School years Each of the school years are named after different stages of elementary skills, taken from the Jesuit text, Ratio Studiorum: Upper Elements (Year 7) Figures (Year 8) Rudiments (Year 9) Grammar (Year 10) Syntax (Year 11) Poetry (Lower Sixth—Year 12) Rhetoric (Upper Sixth—Year 13) The school is split into three houses, Loyola named after Ignatius of Loyola, Xavier named after Francis Xavier, and Campion named after Edmund Campion. For each year, there are three forms and each form applies to one of the schools houses. Facilities and sport The college takes part in sports, notably rugby, and some of its older students have joined the England Rugby teams along with Scotland, Ireland, Italy, and many other countries. The school also receives rugby honours, winning the NatWest Schools Cup in 1994, after being runners up in 1992. The college repeated this honour, winning the U18 National School's Vase in 2022. The college also won the National Schools Sevens four times from 1988 to 1995. There is a sporting rivalry against fellow Catholic Public Schools, Stonyhurst College and Ampleforth College. Mount St Mary's Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is over 100 years old. Pupils in Year 10 upwards can join either the Army or (since 1984) the RAF section. According to the Independent Schools Inspectorate, "The school's RAF cadet force became the first nationwide to achieve their 'blue wings' gliding license," and "pupils achieve high success rates in the Duke of Edinburgh award at all levels." The college has music and drama departments that work together for productions. The college's art department includes