Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College

Infobox UK school
name = Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College


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type = Voluntary aided secondary modern
religion = Roman Catholic
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head = John Cornally
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specialist = Maths and computingcite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/06/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/358_5403.stm|title=League Tables - Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College|work=BBC.co.uk|date=2007-01-11]
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street = Urban Road
city = Altrincham
county = Cheshire
country = ENG
postcode = WA15 8HT
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ofsted = 106376
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enrollment = 754 [cite web |url=http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/school_06.pl?Mode=Z&No=3585403&Type=P&Num=p003&Phase=k&Year=06&Base=a |title=Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College |publisher=Department for Children, School and Families |accessdate=2007-09-28]
gender = Co-educational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 16
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website = http://bth.trafford.sch.uk/new/index.php
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Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College is a secondary school based in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. The school specialises in maths and computing, and is named after Blessed Thomas Holford, a 16th-century priest from Cheshire. [cite web |url=http://www.bth.trafford.sch.uk/patron1.htm |title=The Life of Our Patron, Blessed Thomas Holford |publisher=Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College |accessdate=2007-09-28] The college has a strong Catholic identity, [cite web |url=http://bth.trafford.sch.uk/new/headteachers_message.php |title=Headteacher's Message |first=J |last=Cornally |publisher=Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College |accessdate=2007-09-28] and all pupils are required to wear uniform. [cite web |url=http://bth.trafford.sch.uk/new/uniform.php |title=Uniform |publisher=Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College |accessdate=2007-09-28]

Curriculum

As a maths and computing specialist school, the college puts special emphasis on maths and computing, and follows the Key Stage process. At Key Stage 3, the pupils take the following subjects:
*English
*Maths
*Science
*Religious Education
*Technology
*ICT
*French/German/Manderin/Italion/Sweedish
*History
*Geography
*Art
*Music
*Physical Education
*Citizenship
*PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education)

For GCSE, the pupils take core subjects, and can choose from a variety of additional subjects, including history, geography, art, child care, physical education, food technology, business studies, resistant materials, electronics, music, dance, textiles, French, German, Japanese, Spanish. BTEC courses for art and sport are also available. In 2006, the school was below national average for Key Stage 4.

Religious identity

The college has a strong Catholic identity, and admissions to the school are based on a willingness on behalf of the applicants to be educated with a Catholic ethos. There is a strict order of priority for admissions to the college, favouring those who have had baptised Catholic, and have been at local Catholic junior schools. The school includes non-compulsory religious education in the syllabus as one of its core values, and has a weekly mass on Thursday mornings.cite web |url=http://bth.trafford.sch.uk/new/Prospectus/Prospectus%20Final.pdf |title=School prospectus |date=September 2007 |publisher=Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College |accessdate=2007-09-28]

Football Academy

The school has a UEFA-standard FieldTurf artificial grass football pitch which was opened in April 2007 by Bobby Charlton. [cite web |url=http://bth.trafford.sch.uk/new/sports_pitch.php |title=Sports Pitch |publisher=Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College |accessdate=2007-09-28] The pitch, which cost £1 million to install, was used by the England national football team for training prior to an away game against Russia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, as it uses the same surface as the Russian pitch. [cite news |first=Steven |last=Morrison |title=England make Russia plans |url=http://msnsport.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_2752673,00.html |publisher=Sky Sports |date=2007-09-24 |accessdate=2007-09-28]

References