Holy Trinity School, Crawley

The Holy Trinity Church of England Secondary School
Established 17 December 1969
Type Voluntary aided school
Religion Church of England
Headteacher Reverend Millwood
Location Buckswood Drive
Crawley
West Sussex
RH11 8JE
England
51°06′21″N 0°12′35″W / 51.1057°N 0.2098°W / 51.1057; -0.2098Coordinates: 51°06′21″N 0°12′35″W / 51.1057°N 0.2098°W / 51.1057; -0.2098
Local authority West Sussex
DfE URN 126098 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 1300
Ages 11–18
Houses Canterbury, Durham, Winchester, York – Four prominent dioceses in the Church of England
Website www.holytrinity.w-sussex.sch.uk

The Holy Trinity Church of England Secondary School is a voluntary-aided comprehensive school in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The school has a roll of around 1300 students.[1]

In December 2015, Paul Kennedy left as head teacher. In April 2015, Reverend Millwood was chosen as the new head.

Holy Trinity offers a range of GCSE, BTEC and A-Level courses. These are both vocational and part of the English Baccalaureate. Subjects range from English, to languages to Art. Holy Trinity also offers a WorkSkills course, which is designed as a GCSE subject to prepare students for future employment. There is a sixth form centre if students wish to continue their studies at an advanced level.

The school has quite an original building with new additions added on. These include a drama studio, Sports Hall and the 'Chichester Refectory' (the school's canteen) offering a healthy and varied lunch.

Throughout recent years, Holy Trinity has been awarded 'good' by Ofsted.

In 2014, P. Sumner left as deputy head teacher after serving over 24 years at the school. In September 2014, R. Bradley was announced and became the school's new deputy head teacher.

Voluntary aided status

The government provides the school with grant aid to cover 90% of the costs for external building maintenance and improvements. The governors are responsible for 10% of total costs. Each family represented in the school is invited to commit an annual donation.

Although donations at the school are not compulsory, the school does greatly benefit from the donations given. 'The Young Building' is just one of the buildings that donations benefitted.

The school is run by the Church of England and has been since its opening back in 1969; some of the original buildings still exist and the well-known Beith Court is situated in the middle of the school.

History

The Holy Trinity School is believed to have been the first purpose-built Church of England comprehensive school in the country. It provides a secondary education based on Christian belief.

Although the school started to take in pupils in September 1967, it was not opened officially until 17 December 1969, when The Queen came to open the school as it was based on the Church of England.


Ties at the school now are based on which house that particular student is in. 'Durham' wear red stripes, 'York' green stripes, 'Canterbury' blue stripes and 'Winchester' yellow stripes. Prefects at the school alternatively wear purple ties, to ensure they are easily identifiable by younger students who made need help. Initially, school ties were dark blue with a small logo of the school outline, this was changed a decade or so ago.

The iconic school blazer has remained the same since the school opened, along with the logo.

School places

Admission to the school is by application only and the pupils come from an area within a ten-mile radius of Crawley. They take children from some independent schools as well local state primary schools. The Governors give first priority to those who regularly attend a place of Christian worship but they also try to offer as many other places as possible to those who particularly want the school because of its Christian foundation, ethos and values.

Sport

The school has won the nationwide basketball U15 National Schools Conference.

Records

Holy Trinity has appeared in the Guinness Book of Records for holding the longest continuous basketball rally.[2] Holy Trinity smashed the record of 60 hours and 3 seconds (set by Japan) and pushed the record to just over 72 hours. The record was set over 13–16 July 2007.

However the school no longer holds the record. It was raised to 81 hours in 2008 in Tenerife.

School productions

The drama and music departments work with pupils to create productions every November, alternating between musicals and straight plays. Some productions are:

Model United Nations and Debating Society

Until 2011 the school held an annual Model United Nations Conference around the beginning of July. The conference brought pupils from schools around the area together to debate and resolve problems together.

The Holy Trinity School also had a permanent Debating Society, meeting once a week to debate on key subjects concerning the school and the world. As well as hosting their own Model UN at the school, the Debating Society takes part in Model UN meetings at other schools. The Society (and the school in general) takes part in the National MACE Speaking competition each year; the competition is run by the English-Speaking Union. For three consecutive years the school has progressed beyond the first round of the competition.

Notes

  1. ↑ Holy Trinity School: An Introduction Archived 31 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "News – Crawley & Horley Observer". CrawleyObserver.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
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