Kettlethorpe High School Community Learning Centre

Kettlethorpe High School (KHS) is a mixed

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

with

specialist status Specialist schools in the United Kingdom (sometimes branded as specialist colleges in England and Northern Ireland) are schools with an emphasis or focus in a specific specialised subject area, which is called a specialism, or alternatively in t ...

for maths and computing in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. It provides for children ages 11–16, with a comprehensive admissions policy, and in January 2022 had an enrolment of 1,619 pupils.

Qur'an controversy

In February 2023, the school suspended four Year 10 pupils for causing minor damage to the pages of a personal copy of the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

by dropping it accidentally. While there were rumours of deliberate damage, a school investigation finding there was no "malicious intent". The

Free Speech Union The Free Speech Union (FSU) is a British organisation which advocates freedom of speech. The group was established on 24 February 2020 by British columnist Toby Young. The organisation views itself as countering cancel culture by opposing hostil ...

wrote a letter demanding that

West Yorkshire Police West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth largest territorial police force in England and Wales by number of officers. History West Yor ...

expunge the hate incident record against the four boys. The mother of one autistic boy said that he had stopped eating due to death threats, and Home Secretary

Suella Braverman Sue-Ellen Cassiana "Suella" Braverman (; ''née'' Fernandes, born 3 April 1980) is a British barrister and politician who has served as Home Secretary since 25 October 2022. She previously held the position from 6 September to 19 October 2022 ...

expressed concern at the police involvement in the matter.

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...

alleged that the school took severe disciplinary action because of religious pressure.

Notable people

Philippa Thomas Philippa Thomas (born 22 November 1965) is a television newsreader and journalist, both domestic and foreign, at the BBC and a chief news presenter at BBC World News, presenting evening bulletins on BBC News Channel and BBC World News. She is ...

, British television journalist, is an ex-pupil of the school. * Stuart Lancaster, England International Rugby Coach, was a PE teacher at the school. *

Claire Cooper Claire Elizabeth Cooper (born 26 October 1980) is a British actress, best known for portraying Jacqui McQueen in Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', a character she played from 2006 to 2013. Cooper co-owns clothing rental boutique The Closet ...

, actress, starred in

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

. * Chris Chester, ex-rugby league player for Halifax,

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

and coach of

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

and

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

. *

Amy Garcia Amy Garcia (born 24 May 1981) is an English journalist and broadcaster. She is currently the main anchor of the BBC Yorkshire regional magazine programme ''Look North''. Early life Garcia was born in Wakefield; her mother is English and her fa ...

BBC Look North ''BBC Look North'' is a name used by the BBC for its regional news programmes in three regions in the North of England: *'' BBC Look North'' for the BBC North East and Cumbria region *'' BBC Look North'' for the BBC Yorkshire region *'' BBC Look ...

newsreader.

References

External links

* Schools in Wakefield Secondary schools in the City of Wakefield Community schools in the City of Wakefield {{Yorkshire-school-stub Specialist maths and computing colleges in England