- Christ's School
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Christ's School is a Church of England secondary school in Richmond, London. It has the distinction of being the only Church of England secondary school in Richmond upon Thames. Around 600 pupils, between the ages of 11 and 16, attend the school and they are each members of four houses named after people who contributed to the school or church: Anne [after the queen], Bentley [after the business man who helped establish the school], Edward [after Edward the confessor] and Magdalene [after Mary Magdalene].The Headteacher is Richard Burke, who is credited with the transformation of Christ's over the past few years. Christ's is located very near Richmond Park, one of London's largest parks.
History
The school's origins date back to 1658 when John Bentley, a local business man and justice of the peace, offered to build a school at his own expense. However, the school was not formally established until May 25, 1713, when a number of well-intentioned citizens of Richmond, headed by Queen Anne, agreed to subscribe towards "The setting up of a Charity School in the Parish of Richmond, for teaching poor children to read, and instructing them in the knowledge and practice of Christian religion as professed and taught in the Church of England."
The original school building was located at the corner of George Street and Brewer's Lane and was attached to the local parish church of St Mary Magdalene. It was informally known as a Bluecoat school as the pupils were then provided with blue gowns – a tradition carried on with the current uniform of blue blazers.
In 1854, the school moved to a bigger building at the junction of Eton Street and Paradise road. A century later this was considered too small and ill equipped by the standards of the 1944 Education Act, so the school moved to new buildings in 1960 and was then known as St. Mary Magdalene Church of England School.
The school had links with St Edward the Confessor RC school which had opened in 1954. The two schools ran a joint sixth form during the late 1960s but this proved to be a short lived experiment. In 1976, St Edward the Confessor RC School merged with the St Mary Magdalane School to form Christs School under the Headship of Mr Ball. This was one of the first Eucumenical (RC and C of E) maintained church schools in England.
In 1997, by mutual agreement, the Roman Catholic Church withdrew from the management arrangement and Christ's School returned to being a Church of England maintained Secondary School.
The school was re-launched in September 2000 on the old East side building (the original St Mary's site), which was considerably refurbished and expanded with art and textile rooms technical block housing science laboratories, design and technology workshops and food tech room, as well as a full size sports hall. The West side building (the original St Edward's site) was sold off and is now a gated housing development and a Primary School.
Notable students include Grammy Award winner Singer/Rapper Estelle (musician), three Premiership football players (Jason Roberts, Nathan Ellington and Jody Morris) and Professor John Alcolado (Professor of Diabetes & Medical Education and Consultant Physician, Queen Mary University of London).
References
Categories:- Education in Richmond upon Thames
- Educational institutions established in the 1710s
- Comprehensive schools in London
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