St Joseph's Catholic Academy (formerly St Joseph's RC Comprehensive School) 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 t ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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 academy status, located in

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south ...

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear – Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the nor ...

, England. The school currently caters for students aged 11 to 18 and also a number of vocational courses. It is one of a number of secondary schools in the local authority area that has a sixth form. The school is on the B1306, near the A185 junction, in the south of Hebburn, one mile north of the terminus of the A194(M). It is on the district boundary with Gateshead. Further down Mill Lane until 1992 was the

Monkton Coke Works Monkton Coke Works was a coking plant near Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, England. History The works were constructed in 1936, as the government's response to the Jarrow Hunger March Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyn ...

History

The school opened as St. Joseph's Grammar Technical School in 1959, being officially opened on 9 June 1960 by James Cunningham, the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. It was a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

with a technical focus (similar to a

technical school In the United States, a technical school is a type of two-year college that covers specialized fields such as business, finance, hospitality, tourism, construction, engineering, visual arts, information technology and community work. Associa ...

) for catholic children in the north of

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, and the

County Borough of South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 201 ...

. Further grammar technical schools were to be opened in Gateshead, Lanchester, Stockton and Whitley Bay. St Joseph's became a comprehensive in 1974 when it merged with the neighbouring St James' RC Secondary Modern School, which was on the same site. The school gained specialist

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 59 ...

status in 1996. The school converted to academy status in July 2013 and was renamed St Joseph's Catholic Academy. The Bede Block (PE department) of the school was opened by former England footballer Peter Beardsley MBE.

Academic performance

The school performs well above the local authority average and currently holds the best GCSE and AS/A level scores in South Tyneside, with 84% of its students reaching grades A*-C at GCSE and an average AS/A level point score of 645.9. The academic achievement, vocational and pastoral targets of the school was recognised by the

DfES The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. Th ...

in the award of "Leading Edge" status in September 2003. An

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

report credited the students for "exemplary behaviour in lessons and throughout the school". At GCSE in 2010, the school came second in the local authority area, above the England average and second to another faith school, Whitburn Church of England Academy in Whitburn.

Notable former pupils

* Josef Craig, Team GB S8 Swimmer, gold medalist in the 400m freestyle S7 at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

Emma Lewell-Buck Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (born 8 November 1978) is a Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields since winning a by-election in 2013. She is South Shields’s first female MP. Early life From a family ...

, Labour MP since 2013 for

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

* Rob Orton, DJ remixer and music producer *

Craig Russell (footballer) Craig Stewart Russell (born 4 February 1974) is an English former footballer. He played 305 league games in a 13-year career in English and Scottish football. He began his career at Sunderland, firing the "Black Cats" into the Premier League ...

, Sunderland AFC *

Perrie Edwards Perrie Louise Edwards (born 10 July 1993) is an English singer. She rose to prominence in the 2010s as a member of the British girl group Little Mix, one of the world's best-selling girl groups. With Little Mix, she released six studio albums ...

, singer in

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

St. Joseph's RC Grammar Technical School

* David Almond, children's writer * Phil Brown, football manager *

Eddie Edgar Eddie Edgar (born 31 October 1956) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who played in the Football League First Division, Football League Fourth Division, and the National Soccer League. Career Edgar was born in Jarrow and play ...

, goalkeeper for

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in the late 1970s *

Peter Flannery Peter Flannery (born 12 October 1951) is an English playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Jarrow, County Durham and educated at the University of Manchester. He is best known for his work while a resident playwright at the Royal Shake ...

, writer, who wrote ''

Our Friends in the North ''Our Friends in the North'' is a British television drama serial produced by the BBC. It was originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC2 in early 1996. Written by Peter Flannery, it tells the story of four friends from Newcastle upon Tyne ...

'' in 1982 * Brendan Foster CBE, 10,000 and 5,000 metre runner, 1974

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been i ...

, and Chancellor from 2005-2009 of

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

* George Irving, actor who played

Anton Meyer Anton Meyer is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor George Irving. He appeared in the series from its first episode, broadcast on 12 January 1999, until series four, episode 46, broadcast on 20 Augu ...

in ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...

'' * Aidan McCaffery,

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

References

External links

*
EduBase

Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan schools

News reports
Skiing accident in February 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Academy Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside Educational institutions established in 1959 1959 establishments in England Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside