St Bede's Catholic School and Sixth Form 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 ...

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 ...

with academy status, located in Lanchester,

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. It has a main block, a language block, a technology/music block, the sixth form block, two fields, tennis/basketball court and an astroturf. On 1 June 2012, the school converted from secondary to academy, giving it independence from the local authority. The school is currently owned and operated by Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, and has been fully integrated since mid-2020. The school opened its new sixth-form centre in November 2007 following a £5 million refurbishment, which included construction work on the new building and rebuilding science laboratories. Sir

Tom Cowie Sir Thomas Cowie (9 September 1922 – 18 January 2012) was an English businessman who was the honorary Life President of the Arriva Group, formerly known as Cowie Group plc. Career Cowie Group Cowie's father, Thomas Stephenson Knowles Cowi ...

, who lived in Lanchester, donated £500,000 to the project, which was named in his honour. St Bede's is frequently cited as the top-performing school in County Durham.

Notable former pupils

Peter Dunphy Peter Gerard Dunphy (born 1 June 1966), is a British staffing business CEO, who serves as Chief Commoner of the City of London Corporation for 2024/25. Early life and education Born in 1966 at Consett, Dunphy was brought up in Lanchester, Coun ...

, film producer, politician and Chief Commoner of the City of London *

Anne McElvoy Anne McElvoy (born 25 June 1965) is a British journalist, contributing to ''The Economist'', London ''Evening Standard'', and the BBC. Early life McElvoy attended St Bede's RC Comprehensive School in Lanchester, County Durham, and read German ...

, journalist *

Glenn McCrory Glenn McCrory (born 23 September 1964) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1993. He held the IBF cruiserweight title from 1989 to 1990, and at regional level held the British and Commonwealth cruiserweight title be ...

, boxer

References

External links

School website
Secondary schools in County Durham Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle Academies in County Durham Lanchester, County Durham {{CountyDurham-school-stub