All Saints Catholic School, West Wickham

Infobox UK school
name = All Saints Catholic School


size =
latitude = 51.36421
longitude = -0.00612
dms = dms
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established =
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closed = 2007
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type =
religion = Roman Catholic
president =
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street = Layhams Road
city = West Wickham
county = Kent
country = England
postcode = BR4 9HN
LEA = Bromley
ofsted = 101677
staff =
enrollment =
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses =
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All Saints Catholic School was a Catholic secondary school located on Layhams Road, West Wickham, London Borough of Bromley. Formerly known as 'St. John Rigby Catholic College', its name was changed in 2004 as a rebranding because of falling pupil numbers and substantial debts following the departure of former headmistress Colleen McCabe.

McCabe was convicted in 2003 of stealing around £500,000 from her school over a period from 1994 to 1999, which she spent lavishly both on herself and on gifts for her friends. The story was the subject of the 2006 BBC docudrama, "The Thieving Headmistress" [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=thieving_headmistress] .

It has been reported that money required for the education of the children was diverted away from being spent on books, cleaning and fuel, resulting in the children being without books in a dirty unheated school. Only when the Labour Party abolished the grant-maintained school and returned it to local education authority control was the fraud detected. McCabe was sent to prison by Judge Christopher Elwen after a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3011219.stm] [http://www.indcatholicnews.com/hedte.html] [http://www.4ni.co.uk/nationalnews.asp?id=19585]

The story of the events at St. John Rigby College should be compared with those at Langley Park School for Boys during the time. Mr. R.V.P. Sheffield, the headmaster of this boys' school, had been very keen on expecting high moral standards from his pupils and was later subject to investigation for "financial irregularities".

After a consultation period, in April 2006 Bromley Council approved the proposal to close the school with effect from August 2007.

References

* [http://www.bromley.gov.uk/education/schools/all_saints_catholic_school_closure.htm School closure] - Bromley Council
* [http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/display.var.661292.0.headteachers_legacy_jeopardising_school.php Headteacher's legacy jeopardising school] - News Shopper
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3068271.stm Head 'spent £7,000 on shoes'] - BBC News

External links

* [http://www.allsaints.bromley.sch.uk/ Official site]