Thomas Becket Catholic School

Infobox UK school
name = Thomas Becket Catholic School

---

|146px
latitude = 52.27007451383331
longitude = -0.8618903160095215
motto = "A Christian School for Excellence"
established =1975
street = Becket Way
city =Northampton
county = Northamptonshire
country =flagicon|England England
postcode = NN3 6HT
type =Voluntary aided comprehensive
religion = Roman Catholic
specialist = Sports, English
specialist_pl = Yes
head_label = Headteacher
head = Mr Paul Gardiner
chair_label = Chair
chair = Mrs Teresa Fitzgeraldcite web|url=http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?inspectionNumber=292316&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=%5C%5Cschool%5C%5C122%5C%5Cs5_122100_20070326.pdf|title=Thomas Becket Catholic School|date=2007-03-26|work=March 2007 Inspection Report|publisher=Ofsted|accessdate=2008-07-24
cite web|url=http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=122100&inspectionNumber=292316&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=%5C%5Cschool%5C%5C122%5C%5Cs5_122100_20070326.xml|title=Thomas Becket Catholic School|date=2007-03-26|work=March 2007 Inspection Report|publisher=Ofsted|accessdate=2008-07-24
cite web|url=http://www.thomasbecket.northants.sch.uk/homedir/documents/ofstead.doc|title=Thomas Becket Catholic School|work=March 2007 Ofsted Inspection Report|publisher=Thomas Becket Catholic School|accessdate=2008-07-24]
founder =
enrollment =1032cite web
url=http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?urn=122100&providerCategoryID=8192
title=School Profile
accessdate=2008-04-26
publisher=Ofsted]
gender = Co-educational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses =
colours =
publication = The Becket Way, Voice
LEA = Northamptonshire County Councilcite web|url=http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode/pdf/Tables%20of%20findings%20in%20the%20three%20local%20authorities%203.pdf|title=Tables of findings in the three local authorities 3|date=2008-04-09|publisher=Department for Children, Schools and Families|accessdate=2008-07-15]
ofsted = 122100
website = http://www.thomasbecket.northants.sch.uk/
website_name = www.thomasbecket.northants.sch.uk

Thomas Becket Catholic School is a secondary school located in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.

History

The school was founded in 1975 and was named after St Thomas Becket. It was known as Thomas Becket RC Upper School until 2004,cite web|url=http://www.axcis.co.uk/45427.html|title=Thomas Becket RC Upper School, Northampton, Northamptonshire|publisher=AXCIS Education Recruitment|accessdate=2008-07-23] when Northampton switched back to the two-tier system. [cite web|url=http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/Learning/Services/NTLP/brief_history.htm |title=Brief History |work=Information for schools |accessdate=2008-07-23 |publisher=Northampton County Council] In order to cope with the increased number of students, the time for lunch was split in the school, with Years 7 and 8 having their fourth period for lunch-time while the Years 9 to 11 and Sixth form has their lunch in the fifth period. It was abandoned in favour of a new system in Septermber 2008.

In 2004, students in Year 7 and 8 had to be located in temporary classrooms on the tennis courts because of the insufficient room in the main building. The school unsuccessfully applied to demolish and rebuild the school. The subsequent application to refurbish and extend the school, however, was accepted.cite web|url=http://smartstore.northamptonshire.gov.uk/articles/dodownload.asp?a=smartstore.northamptonshire.gov.uk.19.4.2005.13.21.41.doc&i=156989|title=Development Control Committee - Northamptonshire County Council|publisher=Northamptonshire County Council (HTML version on Google - [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:XDVjM3Wwp9UJ:smartstore.northamptonshire.gov.uk/articles/dodownload.asp%3Fa%3Dsmartstore.northamptonshire.gov.uk.19.4.2005.13.21.41.doc%26i%3D156989+%22Thomas+Becket+Catholic+School%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=79&gl=uk Development Control Committee - Northampton County Council] . Retrieved on 2008-07-23)]

Upon the completion of the refurbishment, the school revealed plans to include a bar in the proposed £2 million sports complex which would include half-a-dozen Astroturf pitches, a full sized pitch and state-of-the art floodlights, sparking controversy among local residents.cite web|url=http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Booze-sale-plan-for-school.4328516.jp|title=Booze sale plan for school site|date=2008-07-28|publisher=Chronicle & Echo|accessdate=2008-08-02]

As of 2008, Thomas Becket Catholic School is the only Catholic secondary school in the county.

Education

Most students usually take ten subjects for GCSE, alongside Entry Level Physical Education and PHSE. All pupils must take English (Language and Literature), Double Science, Mathematics, Information Technology, Religious Studies and three other subjects of their choice. A-Level students not taking Religious Studies for A-Level have to take a Level 1 course in it.

Thomas Becket is a Specialist Sports College, [ [http://www.skillsactive.com/resources/news/youth-sport-trust-welcomes-new-sports-colleges Youth Sport Trust welcomes new Sports Colleges — SkillsActive] ] cite web|url=http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/software/new_speacialist_schools.xls?version=1|title=New Specialist Schools|publisher=Department for Education and Skills|accessdate=2008-07-23] and also holds Specialist Science status according to Ofsted.

The school's KS3 SATs results were over local and national averages in 2007.cite web| url=http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/school_07.pl?No=9284703&Mode=Z&Type=SC&Phase=k&Year=07&Base=a&Num=928| title=Secondary School (Key Stage 3) Achievement and Attainment Tables 2007| accessdate=2008-04-26 | publisher=Department for Children, Schools and Families] Its GCSE performance trend rose above local and national averages to 52% in 2002 before falling to 42% in 2003.cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/04/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/928_4703.stm| title=BBC NEWS Education League tables| accessdate=2008-04-26| publisher=BBC] In 2008, the pass rate in A-Level results rose from 75% to 91%, with a rise from 34.8% to 41% in the proportion of students getting grades A-C,cite news|url=http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/education/Alevels-Thomas-Becket-Catholic-School.4395838.jp|title=A-levels: Thomas Becket Catholic School - Northampton Chronicle and Echo|date=2008-08-15|publisher=Chronicle & Echo|accessdate=2008-08-21] and the proportion of students getting grades A*-C at GCSE level rose to 48.35%, an increase of 11%, with a 5% increase to 34.62% in Maths and English.cite news|title=GCSE 2008|date=2008-08-22|work=Results Round-up|publisher=Chronicle & Echo|pages=3|accessdate=2008-08-22] The school's English faculty is thought to be one of the best in the county.

References

External links

* [http://www.thomasbecket.northants.sch.uk/ Official site]
* [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?inspectionNumber=292316&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=%5C%5Cschool%5C%5C122%5C%5Cs5_122100_20070326.pdf March 2007 Ofsted Report] ( [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:PeRISXZJPmIJ:www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/%3FinspectionNumber%3D292316%26providerCategoryID%3D8192%26fileName%3D%255C%255Cschool%255C%255C122%255C%255Cs5_122100_20070326.pdf+Ofsted+%22Thomas+Becket+Catholic+School%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk HTML version] on Google)