St Laurence 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 ...

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 '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and

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 ...

located in

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, ...

, Wiltshire, England. It became an

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

in August 2011. Besides Bradford on Avon, the school takes pupils from Atworth, Monkton Farleigh, Winsley, Limpley Stoke, South Wraxall, Bradford Leigh, Trowbridge and Melksham. It is situated in the northwest of the town, off the road towards Little Ashley.

History

The school was founded in 1980 as a result of the merger of Fitzmaurice Grammar School and Trinity

Secondary Modern school A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

, opening on the Trinity site. It is named after the historically-important Saxon

St Laurence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon St Laurence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, is one of very few surviving Anglo-Saxon churches in England that does not show later medieval alteration or rebuilding. The church is dedicated to St Laurence and documentary sources suggest i ...

. Under the

Specialist schools programme The specialist schools programme (SSP), first launched as the Technology Colleges programme and also known as the specialist schools initiative, specialist schools policy and specialist schools scheme, was a government programme in the United ...

of 1997–2010 the school had

Arts College An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England i ...

status, resulting in extra investment in drama, music and dance facilities. The school's teaching departments are spread across numerous buildings on the school site. The site also has a large sports hall and several sports courts, pitches and playing fields. A lecture theatre was built in 2007 and was joined by a state-of-the-art independent learning centre in 2011. In October 2005, a helium balloon launched at a school fete on 24 September 2005 was found in Karesuando, Sweden. Karesuando is from the school, and information about the school and a prize was sent to the finder.

Wiltshire Music Centre

The

Wiltshire Music Centre Wiltshire Music Centre is a 300-seat concert hall in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England which has been described as having "the finest acoustic outside London". The Centre puts on over 150 concerts a year including critically acclaimed artists s ...

opened in 1998. Private and curriculum-based music lessons are held in the classrooms and teaching rooms in this building; and school collective worships, exam presentations, and other special events are held in its main auditorium. The Music Centre also contains a recording studio.

Roman villa remains

Aerial photograph Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing air ...

s and minor

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s in 1976 indicated the presence of the remains of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

underneath the school's sports fields. A more major excavation in 2003 uncovered

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

floor

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s and walls once belonging to this villa, along with a stone structure believed to have once been part of an

early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptism ...

Academic performance

In 2016, 79% of the school's

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

pupils achieved grades 5 A* to C including English and Mathematics. Currently there are 1358 pupils attending the school, across

key stage A key stage is a stage of the state education system in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar setting the educational knowledge expected of students at various ages. The term is also used in some other ...

s 3–5.

References

External links

*
EduBase

School history
– Wiltshire Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Laurence School Academies in Wiltshire Educational institutions established in 1980 Roman villas in Wiltshire 1980 establishments in England Secondary schools in Wiltshire Bradford-on-Avon Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Salisbury