St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School, Grays

St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School in Grays, Essex is a voluntary aided primary school linked to the local Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Grays.

Mission Statement

At St Thomas’ we are learning to follow Jesus, showing respect and consideration for ourselves and others. We all have the opportunity to learn and work to the best of our ability in a safe and loving environment.

History

St Thomas’ School was formed as the parish Church of St Thomas of Canterbury was being designed and built. In 1885, before the Church building was completed, a temporary school was opened in Argent Street to allow the 60 children enrolled at the school to begin their lessons. Each child paid 2"d". a week

On September 3rd 1886 St Thomas’ School moved to its more permanent location, housed under the main building of the newly-built Church. At this time the school consisted of two rooms under the Church: a large room, which is used today as the parish hall, and a small room, which became the Catholic Social Club. The playground for the early school is today used as the Church car park.

St Thomas’ Church has been in its current location on Ward Avenue since 1969.

The School Today

The school achieved a Grade 2 (Good) rating in the Ofsted inspection carried out on 28 February 2007, at which time there were 624 of a possible 630 pupils on roll

Recent Achievements

They have sports teams in Football, Rugby, Cricket, Netball, Basketball and others. The boys have won and retained the Thurrock football school's cup the last two years with two different teams (2006 and 2007). The girls Football team won The Thurrock Schools cup last season and were runners up in the league. In the 2007/8 season the girls are unbeaten in the league, but somehow still only finished as runners up!! They were unfortunate to lose in the cup semi final after a penalty shoot out. They have though won both of the Thurrock schools six a side tournaments this year. The school also had previously retained the Swimming cup for 7 years before finally dropping it this year.

References

*Gleave, John. "St Thomas of Canterbury Grays" (Farnworth, England, By the Author, 1987)