St. Anselm's Catholic School is a

co-educational 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 ...

(11–18)

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

comprehensive school, founded in 1964 by the Archdiocese of Southwark. It occupies a rural site on the fringes of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, bordered by orchards and farmland. The school currently has 1,080 students, of whom 150 are 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 ...

. In September 2004 St. Anselm's was designated as a specialist

Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics Mathemati ...

, and in May 2015 the school converted to academy status.

Toponymy

The school is named after the Philosopher & Archbishop of Canterbury,

St Anselm Anselm of Canterbury, OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also called ( it, Anselmo d'Aosta, link=no) after his birthplace and (french: Anselme du Bec, link=no) after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher and theologian of the ...

(1033–1109). The main building of the school, named after Sir Thomas More, is the highest point in Canterbury. Each building is named after a local saint, for instance Dunstan, Edmund and

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

, and a block is named after the famous Archbishop and martyr,

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

. More Block is the oldest part of the school, with later additions including Becket Block, and

Block.

Notable former pupils

Hugh Beard Rear Admiral Hugh Dominic Beard, (born 28 December 1967) is a senior Royal Navy officer. He served as Third Sea Lord from 2018 to 2020, and as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Capability & Force Design) from 2020 to 2022. Early life and ...

, Royal Navy officer

References

External links

St. Anselm's Catholic School
Schools in Canterbury Secondary schools in Kent Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark Educational institutions established in 1964 1964 establishments in England Academies in Kent {{Kent-school-stub