The Nelson Thomlinson School

The Nelson Thomlinson School

Headteacher	Mrs Janet Downes
Specialism	Mathematics and Computing Specialist School, and a Training School
Location	High Street Wigton Cumbria CA7 9PX England
Local authority	Cumbria
DfE URN	112397
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1414
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Website	nts.cumbria.sch.uk

Coordinates: 54°49′18″N 3°09′21″W / 54.82172°N 3.15576°W / 54.82172; -3.15576

The Nelson Thomlinson School is a Comprehensive Secondary School located in the market town of Wigton, Cumbria, England. The school's motto is the Latin phrase Fide et Operis, "By faith and works". The position of Headmistress has been occupied by Janet Downes since September 2008.

Students

As with many older British Secondary schools, The Nelson Thomlinson School has a prefect system drawn from the Sixth Form. However, instead of one Head Prefect or a Head Boy & Girl pair, there are five Head Prefects who each take charge on a particular day of the week. Former pupils of the school include TV presenter Melvyn Bragg and BBC newsreader Anna Ford.

Achievements

The school enters students in the GCSE and A-Level examinations. Around 70% of pupils achieve 5 or more A*-Cs each year in GCSE examinations^{[citation needed]}, and in terms of A-Level results, the school has been rated in the country's top 40 comprehensive school since 1997^{[citation needed]}. In a 2006 Ofsted inspection the school was judged to be an Outstanding school^[1].

Young Enterprise

The school's Young Enterprise teams have also performed especially well in the Young Enterprise competition over the past few years.

In 2003/04, the company "Panacea" won the Young Enterprise Carlisle Area Board prize for the first time in the school's history. Their awards included Carlisle Area Board Champions 2004, Best Trade Stand at the Easter Trade Fair, Best Company Report, Best Presentation, and First Place at the Exhibition Evening. A Panacea company member, Adam Scott, also won the Individual Achiever of the Year award. The team's gross revenue was £1610.58, which was the highest gained by all known competitors that year.

Panacea then progressed to the Cumbria County Finals in Kendal, but did not progress to the next round.

In the 2006/2007 academic year, the Young Enterprise team "Eläin" won three awards in the North Cumbria round: "Best Company Report", "Best Trade Stand", and "Best Overall Company" as well as second place for "Best Company Presentation". In the county round, the team won "Best Company Presentation", the "ICSA Good Governance Award", and won third place for "Best Trade Stand". The team came third for "Best Overall Company" in Cumbria. Eläin focused primarily on personalised goods for families and pets and was the largest team the school has yet entered into the competition, with eighteen members.

In the 2007/2008 academic year, NTS entered "Bagcycle" as the Young Enterprise entry. The team won first place at the December trade fair, and second place at the Cumbria Area award ceremony.

The Young Enterprise team for the 2008-2009 school year is Veg-Eco, the team performed well at the regional finals, progressing to county finals in April 2009.

History

The Thomlinson Girls School (formed from Westmoreland House owned by Isaac Pattinson and named after the cotton manufacturer John Thomlinson, and now known as the Thomlinson Junior School on The Goose Market) and The Nelson School for Boys (formed from Floshfirld House), which were both grammar schools and had opened in 1899, merged in 1953 to form the Nelson Thomlinson Grammar School. This school merged with Wigton Secondary School (a secondary modern school) in 1969 to form the Nelson Thomlinson Comprehensive School.

The Professional Development Room/Department

Arising from a successful bid for Mathematics and Computing College Status, the school has included a room specifically designed for lesson observation. It might look like an ordinary classroom; the only apparently unusual feature is a large mirror set into one of the walls. What appears to be a mirror, however, is actually a piece of one-way glass, Behind the glass is an observation booth, from which a teacher, or group of teachers, can observe the lesson and quietly discuss what is happening.

Alumni

• Melvyn Bragg - British broadcaster.^[2]
• Anna Ford - British newsreader.^[2]

External links

• The Nelson Thomlinson School website

References

1. ^ Ofsted Report, November 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} "Why do some schools produce clusters of celebrities?". BBC News. 6 May 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13112311. Retrieved 6 May 2011.