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St Thomas More High School for Boys
Motto	God's Servant First
Established	1960
Type	voluntary-aided bilateral school
Religion	Roman Catholic
Headteacher	Mr P Travis
Specialism	Maths and Computing
Location	Kenilworth Gardens Westcliff-on-Sea Essex SS0 0BW England
LEA	Southend-on-Sea
Ofsted number	115363
Students	1022
Gender	Boys (mixed sixth form)
Ages	11 to 18
Website	www.st-thomasmore.southend.sch.uk
Coordinates: 51°33′15″N 0°40′15″E / 51.5541°N 0.6707°E / 51.5541; 0.6707

St Thomas More High School for Boys is a voluntary-aided Roman Catholic Mathematics and Computing College located in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England.^[1] It caters for boys between the ages of 11 and 18 but has a mixed sixth form.^[2]

Around 1000 Students were on the roll in September 2007 (including 160 sixth-form students). The majority of pupils come from local Roman Catholic schools but the school does accept pupils from other Christian denominations. The school is located in the Diocese of Brentwood and the serving bishop is Rt. Revd. Thomas McMahon. The school's patron saint is St Thomas More, which is mainly celebrated, annually, on St Thomas More Day.

The school is bounded on two sides by playing fields, belonging to two neighbouring schools, while private housing and a dual carriageway border the other two sides.

History

The school opened as a two-form entry school in 1960 with around 100-200 pupils and has progressively expanded. In September 1973 it was extended to become a four-form entry school and its status was changed to a bilateral school offering 30 selective and 115 non-selective places. Various building projects have taken place including a modern sixth-form block, which was completed in 1996.

The school became grant-maintained on 1 September 1993, and the first sixth-form intake was admitted in September 1996. It was converted to voluntary-aided status in September 1999.

There was an extensive refurbishment project, completed in autumn 2001, which provided the school with a new reception area, extra classrooms, a brand new art department and an advanced music room with individual practice facilities. A new technology block was built in 2003, complete with state-of-the-art facilities.

A former teacher admitted in court to falsifying a reference presented to an employment agency in February 2002, having previously lost his job after stealing from the school.^[3] The man who was "gifted" but troubled, according to the summary of the General Teaching Council hearing in the Times Educational Supplement, was suspended for 12 months from December 2003.^[4]

Following protests by residents, in June 2003 the Council denied the School permission to install six 13-metre-high floodlights on the hockey pitch.^[5] These were subsequently installed in 2007.

St Thomas More became a specialist Mathematics and Computing College in September 2004^[6]

Academic achievements

Pupils enter the school aged 11 with above average standards and their attainment both at age 14 and 16 is above the national average.^[7] In the November 2005 Ofsted inspection^[8] the school was rated 'Good' (Point 2 on a four point scale) and an 'Outstanding' rating was given for 16-19 year olds in the 'How good is the overall personal development and well-being of the learners?' category.^[6] The school regularly competes in the annual UKMT Regional Maths Challenge.^[9]

Sport

In November 2006 three pupils were selected for advanced basketball training by England Basketball.^[10]

Honours

Frank Keenan, a former headteacher of the School, was awarded the OBE in the January 2006 New Year Honours List.^[11]

Hansard

The School was mentioned in the House of Commons by David Amess:

• On 9 September 2003, "Mr. Frank Keenan, headmaster of St. Thomas More high school for boys, who would have been at the meeting with the Minister and represents secondary heads in Southend. He says: "several schools in Southend are forced to declare deficit budgets in this current year (including my own), and we are having to meet L.E.A. [Local Education Authority] officers to draw up four-year recovery plans. In my school, we are in the absurd position of having a £3 million new extension project due to open in September, but we will not have the money to clean it or maintain it!""^[12]

• On 15 September 2004, "I was pleased to see the two Catholic schools—St. Bernard's, which is wonderfully led by Miss Vicky Squirrell, and St. Thomas More, wonderfully led by Frank Keenan—do so well."^[13]

Virtual Learning Environment

In May 2006, a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) website was launched, specifically for St Thomas More pupils. The site allows students to download school documents, view homework assignments and even send homework via email to their subject teachers.

Parental information

Every week the school is open, pupils take a newsletter home, Contact, containing details of school life, such as religious matters, charities, sporting activities, school trips and dates of meetings.

References

External links

• Official site