St Thomas More Catholic School is a mixed

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 ...

located in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. The school is located on Tyne Crescent in the

Brickhill Brickhill is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and Ward (politics), electoral ward within northern Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The boundaries of Brickhill are approximately Kimbolton Road to the east, Bedford Park, Bedford, Bedfor ...

area of north Bedford. The school has no specific catchment area due to it being a Catholic school (although it accepts pupils of all backgrounds), but attracts students from all over Bedford and the surrounding villages. The school is named after the Catholic martyr

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry V ...

History

Following the 1967

Plowden Report The Plowden Report is the unofficial name for the 1967 report of the Central Advisory Council For Education (England) into primary education in England. The report, entitled ''Children and their Primary Schools'', reviewed primary education in ...

, Bedfordshire LEA decided to implement the

three-tier education Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educa ...

system of lower, middle and upper schools in the county. This created a need for a new

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority ...

(ages 13 to 18) in Bedford. During 1977 and 1978, as the new school buildings in Brickhill were not ready for occupation, St Thomas More Upper School started out in the Westbourne Centre next to Westbourne School in Queens Park. Science classes were taken at Westfield School in Queens Park. The pupils were driven there by school bus. St Thomas More Catholic School was formally opened in 1979 by

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

ess

Shirley Williams Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby (''née'' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in ...

(then

Secretary of State for Education and Science The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

). The dedication

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was conducted by

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Charles Alexander Grant (then

Bishop of Northampton The Bishop of Northampton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton in the Province of Westminster, England. The see is in the town of Northampton where the bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Sa ...

). When St Bedes Middle school closed in 2006, academic years 7 and 8 were transferred to St Thomas More School, along with some of the teaching staff. In July 2008 the school was awarded specialist status as a

Humanities College Humanities Colleges are a type of specialist school introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanitie ...

, with English acting as the lead department. In 2007 English results placed the school in the top two per cent nationally. In 2009 the school was recognised as consistently achieving the highest levels of improvement by pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 of any state school in

. In July 2011, the school become one of the first in the country to be granted teaching school status – a designation entitling it to lead the training and professional development of staff. In 2012 The Federation of Bedford Catholic Schools' Governing Body launched a consultation on whether to convert its four schools into a federated academy trust. The school converted to academy status as part of the St Francis of Assisi Academies Trust in April 2013. In February 2020 the trust became part of Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Academies Trust (OLICAT). From September 2014 the school began admitting pupils from year 7 (age 11), therefore converting from an upper school to a full secondary school.

Head teachers

Anthony Doyle was the first headmaster from 1977 until his death in 1982. John McManus was the second Headmaster and Steve Watts became the third headmaster following McManus's retirement in 1994. Alan Lee became Headmaster in 2002. After Alan Lee left, and became the head of the Catholic Federation, Joe Richardson took over as headmaster, and left in 2014, leaving Alison Wilshaw to become headteacher. Alison left the school in 2019 and the role of Head Teacher was taken by Martin Bonner.

The school today

St Thomas More Catholic School currently serves children aged 11–18 from all over the

Borough of Bedford Bedford, or the Borough of Bedford, is a Districts of England, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Bedford Borough Council, ...

. It is part of Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Academies Trust (OLICAT), under the guidance of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton The Diocese of Northampton () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in England and Wales and suffragan of Westminster. Its see is in Northampton. The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury is the mother church ...

. The other Catholic schools within Bedford are

St Joseph According to the Gospel, canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jews, Jewish man of Nazareth who was Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary, married to Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus ...

's and St Gregory's Primary School and St John Rigby Primary School.

Notable former pupils

* Bright Arrey-Mbi, footballer *

Tom Grennan Thomas Grennan (born 8 June 1995) is an English singer and songwriter from Bedford. Grennan found fame as the guest vocalist on Chase & Status's "All Goes Wrong" in 2016. His debut album, ''Lighting Matches'', was released in July 2018. The a ...

, musician

References

External links

St Thomas More Catholic School
official website
Diocese of NorthamptonLocation of School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas More Catholic School, Bedford Secondary schools in the Borough of Bedford Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Northampton Educational institutions established in 1979 1979 establishments in England Academies in the Borough of Bedford Schools in Bedford