St Bede's and St Joseph's Catholic College is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. It is located over two sites in the

City of Bradford Bradford (), also known as the City of Bradford, is a metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a larger area which includes the towns and villages of Keighley, Shipley, Wes ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. The school was formed in September 2014 as a result of a merger between St Bede's Grammar School and

St Joseph's Catholic College St. Joseph's Catholic College (formerly St Joseph's Comprehensive School) is a secondary school in Swindon, England. The school opened in 1958 and was the town's first Catholic school, offering education to students aged 11 to 16. Today it rem ...

. It is currently the largest Catholic school in the UK.

Description

The school is based over both of the former school sites with the new mixed gender Year 7 being based at the former St Joseph's site. Students who were attending either of the old schools prior to the merger remained in single sex education at the site they previously attended. The school is coeducational as of September 2018. As of September 2018, the lower school (Years 7-9) is based at the old St Joseph's site and the upper school (Years 10-13) is based at the old St Bede's site. The school has a coeducational sixth form, St Benedict's Sixth Form. All sixth form students are currently based at the old St Bede's site. The old St Joseph's site has been renamed Ignis () and the old St Bede's site has been renamed Ardor (). At the start of September 2018, a house system was introduced, with 5 houses. The houses (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul) are each named after the 4 apostles who wrote the gospels, along with St Paul. With the house system are house days held at the end of each term. The house with the most house points wins the house cup. As of April 2019, Matthew and Paul and John have won the house cup (Matthew at House Day 1 and Paul at House Day 2 and St John won on transition day). Previously a

voluntary aided school A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

administered by

Bradford City Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Bradford has had an elected council since 1847, which has been reformed on several occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metr ...

, in September 2023 St Bede's and St Joseph's Catholic College converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the Blessed Christopher Wharton Catholic Academy Trust, but continues to be under the jurisdiction of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds The Diocese of Leeds () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church centred on Leeds Cathedral in the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It was founded on 20 December 1878, with the splitting of the Diocese of Beverley, which had ...

. The school is named after Saint Bede and

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bede's and Saint Joseph's Catholic College Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Leeds Secondary schools in the City of Bradford Academies in the City of Bradford Schools in Bradford Educational institutions established in 2014 2014 establishments in England