Ripley St. Thomas Church of England High School

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Ripley St. Flomas Church of England High School
Established	c.1864
Type	Church of England High School
Headteacher	Mrs. Liz Nicholls
Location	Ashton Road Lancaster England
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11 to 18
Houses	Blackburn, Chester, Durham, York
Website	ripley.lancsngfl.ac.uk

Ripley St. Thomas Church of England High School is in the city of Lancaster in the north-west of England.

Ripley is a mixed Church of England High School and has around 1400 pupils between 11 and 18 years old.

1 History
2 Information
3 External links
4 References

[edit] History

The school started life as Ripley Hospital, founded by Julia, wife of Thomas Ripley, a merchant who traded out of Lancaster and Liverpool. Thomas Ripley was born in Lancaster in 1790, and had been an apprentice to a grocer and linen draper. Since his mercantile career began later than 1807, there is no evidence to link Thomas Ripley with the slave trade. Indeed, much of his wealth stems from the fact that he was one of the first English merchants to embark on trade with China, and much of his subsequent trade was with the East Indies. As a devout Christian, he was keen to establish a Charity Hospital, modelled on the Blue Coat School in Liverpool. Having no children, on his death in 1852, he left a considerable sum of money in trust to establish the Ripley Hospital, to cater for fatherless children, especially those whose fathers had been lost at sea.

On the 3rd November 1864, it was designated to educate an equal number of boys and girls - 300 in total - providing they lived within either 15 miles of Lancaster Priory or 7 miles of Liverpool Cathedral.

The main school building, originally costing £30,000, included a first-class gym, woodwork and metalwork rooms, a domestic school for girls, and heated swimming-pool, four courts for playing fives and enough full-sized football pitches to allow 150 boys to play at the same time. A farm of some 40 acres kept the school supplied with home produced meat, milk and poultry, and a vast kitchen garden gave a constant supply of fresh vegetables. This school was well in advance of its time.

The work of the Hospital continued until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when the building was requisitioned by the army. The pupils then moved out to Capernwray Hall (seen here to the left). They expected to return at the end of the War, but the government requisitioned Ripley for another three years for use as an emergency Teachers' Training College. By then, it was realised that the need for an endowed orphanage was much reduced. State pensions allowed more one-parent families to stay together, and the fashion had moved away from institutional units.

After the trainee teachers left, the building became a National School, then a boys' secondary modern school until 1966 when Ripley Boys' and St. Thomas Girls' Schools amalgamated to become Ripley St. Thomas Church of England School.

In September, 1996, Ripley was designated a Language College. Whilst not changing in any way its status as a Voluntary Aided Church School, this does enable the school to develop its language facilities and so become a 'Centre of Excellence' for modern languages, including French, German, Spanish and Japanese.

Today, 1600 boys and girls are educated at the school, many of whom continue to the age of 18 years and go on to complete university degree courses.

Recent additions include two new science laboratories, an English/Geography block, History/Business Studies block, new sports hall with full size basketball courts and a fitness suite, and up-graded foreign languages and technology facilities. The school site is spacious and contains some exceptional features, including good sports facilities, the school farm, plant centre, walled garden and fine mature trees. Ripley is a very popular school with a long tradition of high academic and sporting achievement. It is often featured in the national press as one of the best State Schools in the country. Its results in external tests and examinations at Key Stage 3, GCSE and Advanced Level, and its value-added performance, places the school within the top 10% of secondary schools nationally.

[edit] Information

The current Headteacher is Mrs. Liz Nicholls

The previous Headteacher was Mr. J.Lailey

In January 2008, an Ofsted report rated the school overall as "Outstanding". The highest of 4 achievable Ofsted grades^[1]

The school's uniform for years 7-11 consists of black trousers for boys and grey skirt or black trousers for girls, black shoes, white shirt/blouse and navy blue blazer (with school logo). The tie is diagonally striped black and red. Special ties are awarded for outstanding contributions to sport or music. For sixth form (year 12 and 13)boys wear their own choice of shirt and tie, tailored trousers and black shoes. Girls have a more liberal choice of dress.