St Wilfrid's Catholic School is a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

secondary school in

Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

, West Sussex, England for pupils aged 11 to 18. It caters for 936 pupils in years 7 to 13, including 181 in its

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 ...

History

St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic (Aided) modern school opened in 1953 on its current campus in

New Town to provide Catholic secondary education for the children of the town. At first, based in an old manor house, additional buildings were developed over the next ten years to accommodate increasing numbers. In 1967, the school became comprehensive. Further increases in numbers on roll led to changes in 1970 which saw the school change to become an upper school providing education for pupils aged 13 to 18, with younger pupils attending one of the two newly opened

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

s in the town: Holy Cross Intermediate School and Notre Dame Intermediate School. This arrangement continued until 1996, when falling rolls led to a return to the school becoming a full secondary accepting pupils aged 11+. From 2007, preparations went underway for a complete re-build of the school on its existing campus which opened in 2008.

Campus

The campus for the school was originally based around the school building, named "Oakwood" which lies alongside Goffs Park. The residence was purchased by the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

in 1952 to provide a Catholic secondary school in the new town. It was accompanied by 21 ac (8.5 ha) of land that makes up the modern campus. The school moved into its new home in May 2009. It still maintains the same address as before, but, besides that, the building is different. The new school premises provide facilities set within a building. The facilities include a Sports England standard sports hall and external pitches, a drama studio; multi-use activity space for drama, dance and physical education; a range of laboratories and workshops; a music suite and art gallery; together with a Learning Resource Centre and ICT facilities throughout the school. The new facilities also enable the school to offer its local community an Enterprise and Learning Centre and a chapel in which school and parish can gather in worship.

Students

The school is comprehensive, providing education for around 900 pupils aged between 11 and 18 of all abilities. It sets its own admissions criteria in line with other voluntary aided schools. It provides education for pupils from Crawley, and the nearby towns of

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

and

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

and their surrounding villages. The A Level results this year (2010) were reported as the highest results in the school's history with Year 13 students attaining a 99% pass rate, which is above the national average, with 15% achieving A*-A grade, 40% achieving an A*-B grade and 70% achieving A*-C.

Notable alumni

* Robert Smith of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

* Paul Stewart, Kevin Jeremiah and Ciaran Jeremiah, all of

The Feeling The Feeling are an English rock/ pop band from Horsham, Sussex. Following a limited release of their first single " Fill My Little World" in late 2005, the band entered the UK Singles Chart at #7 with their first full release " Sewn" in Fe ...

* Jeremy Cunningham of The Levellers * Timothy Innes, actor known for his role in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' The Last Kingdom''

References

External links

School website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Wilfrid's Catholic School, Crawley Buildings and structures in Crawley Educational institutions established in 1953 Secondary Schools in Crawley Secondary schools in West Sussex Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton 1953 establishments in England Voluntary aided schools in England