Thomas Wolsey School
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| Thomas Wolsey School | |
| Established | 1930 |
| Headteacher | Mrs Nancy McArdle |
| Location | Old Norwich Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 6LU England |
| LEA | Suffolk |
| Ofsted number | 124907 |
| Students | 93 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 3 to 19 |
| Website | http://www.thomaswolsey.com |
| Coordinates: | |
Thomas Wolsey School is a special school, on Norwich Road, Ipswich, United Kingdom. It started out in 1930 as Whitton Open Air School, a school catering for children with conditions such as Tuberculosis, and what were then called "delicate" children. Most of the lessons at that time were taught outside (hence "open air"). Children were served breakfast and dinner at school, as well as being required to have an hour's rest period after lunch, which practice lasted until the early 1980s. The school changed its name in the 1950s to Whitton Special School (Whitton being the area of the town the school was built in.)
Nothing but the most basic education was offered by the school, from the 1930s through to the 1980s with pupils not taking exams, as it was expected that most of them would not be going into the workforce upon leaving. However, when Bryan Liggins became headmaster, he introduced a school uniform, examinations, school houses with a housepoint system, prefects, and did away with the practice of after dinner rests. Pupils were also required to refer to teachers as "Sir" or "Miss" (regardless of the marital status of the teacher being addressed.) He also caused the school to adopt the name of Thomas Wolsey, a move popular with the pupils at the time, as having the word "Special" in the school name was seen as having negative connotations. Liggins tenure at the school ended in disgrace when he was convicted of stealing money from a fund the school had set up to build a swimming pool, however on balance he did the school more good than harm.
As of 2006, there is a debate going on about removing the school from its current site, which would be redeveloped for affordable housing, and rebuilding it in the grounds of Thurlstone High School with which Thomas Wolsey has had close ties for many years.
