Thirsk School and Sixth Form College is a

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) ...

located in Sowerby, a village adjoining Thirsk,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. Thirsk School has nearly 1,200 pupils, including about 200 in the

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

. The headteacher is Emma Lambden who took over in 2018 from the former head, Stuart Mason, when he left to take up a senior post in Norfolk.

School performance

In 2012 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 ...

inspection rated Thirsk School as Grade 2 (good) for all areas and overall effectiveness. As of 2021, the school's most recent inspection was in 2017, with a judgement of Good. In 2019, the proportion of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate was 67%, considerably above the average for North Yorkshire and for England. The proportion achieving Grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs was 38%, considerably below the average for North Yorkshire and for England. The

Attainment 8 The Progress 8 benchmark is an accountability measure used by the government of the United Kingdom to measure the effectiveness of secondary schools in England. It bands pupils into groups based on their scores in English and mathematics during t ...

score was in line with the average for North Yorkshire and for England. The average

A Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

grade in 2019 was C, compared to an average of C+ in North Yorkshire and in England. The A Level progress score was below average.

Extracurricular activities

School extracurricular activities include music, sport and drama. The school has its own newspaper, ''The Falcon''. Under the previous name of ''T.S. Times'', the school paper was named the best secondary school newspaper in the country, in a competition run by ''

First News ''First News'' is a UK newspaper for young readers. It is published in a full colour tabloid format every Friday, and aims to present current events and politics in a child-friendly format, alongside news on entertainment, sport and computer g ...

''.

Notable former pupils

* Ben Coad (born 1994), English cricketer *

Alfie McCalmont Alfie McCalmont (born 25 March 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Carlisle United and the Northern Ireland national team. Career Born in Thirsk, he attended Thirsk School and Sixth Form College and came thr ...

(born 2000), Northern Irish footballer * John Rankin Waddell (born 1966), fashion photographer

References

External links

Thirsk School web site
Secondary schools in North Yorkshire Community schools in North Yorkshire Thirsk {{Yorkshire-school-stub