John Sinnott was inaugurated as the prefect of studies in 1937; he was the first former student of the college to hold that office. Sinnott is widely seen as having pioneered the college and wider Catholic education in Britain during his thirteen years as prefect of studies, over which time he developed a careers bureau, a college orchestra, academic interhouse competitions and violin playing. Acting on concerns of fire hazards due to crowded corridors and underfunded laboratories in a 1938 inspection, and on the appetite from inspectors for his plans to expand the provision of geography lessons, Sinnott made plans to expand the college with new facilities; however, he was frustrated by the outbreak of the World War II, when tight restrictions were placed on the use of steel and timber.
