| Saint Thomas Aquinas R.C. Secondary School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 112 Mitre Road Glasgow, Lanarkshire, G14, Scotland, UK |
|
| Information | |
| Type | State comprehensive |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
| Established | 1958 |
| Founder | Michael Andrew McLaughlin |
| Authority | Glasgow City Council |
| Headteacher | Andrew McSorley |
| Head of School | John Timmons |
| Chaplain | Joe Lappin |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| School roll | c. 936 pupils[1] |
| Website | http://www.st-thomasaquinas-sec.glasgow.sch.uk/ |
St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School is a Catholic secondary school in Jordanhill, Glasgow. The current head teacher is Andrew McSorley, who took over at the beginning of the 2006-2007 session having left his old head post in Edinburgh's Saint Thomas of Aquin's High school. The previous head teacher was Thomas Bradshaw who headed the school for 13 years.
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The original school was built in the 1950s, and at the end of the 2001/2002 school year the original building was demolished to make way for a new state-of-the-art facility. During the rebuilding works staff and pupils were temporarily based at Woodside School, close to the city's Anderston area. the new facility consists of the Abbey Building and the Mitre Building, and was built as part of Glasgow's PPP school building programme. The new building was completed in 2003 [2] and the school was officially opened on 3 December 2004 by the then Education convener of Glasgow City Council, Steven Purcell, a former pupil. The new school is one of the largest Roman Catholic schools in the city and has a capacity of over a thousand pupils.
At St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School a wide range of activities are available to students in the academic, vocational, sporting and artistic areas. Activities include participating at events at local colleges and universities for example S2 Science and Engineering Labs at the University of the West of Scotland and a Climate Change Debates at Strathclyde University.
The school works with Glasgow City Council and Careers Scotland on many programmes including the prestigious Culinary Excellence scheme which involved a group of students working with top chef Brian Maule and serving a meal at the exclusive Chardon D'Or restaurant.
The school has produced a number of shows over the past 6 years.
| Year | Show |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Little Shop of Horrors |
| 2007 (S) | Romeo And Juliet |
| 2007 | Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat |
| 2008 | Grease |
| 2010 | Hairspray |
Romeo & Juliet received national media attention as it brought to life issues relating to sectarianism.[3][4] The school shows have all been under the direction of Geoff Nolan, the principal teacher of Drama.
In 2006, the school's Performing Arts department held a charity concert. This was widely supported by the pupils and raised c.£200 for an orphanage in Columbia. The concert was repeated in 2007, raising £500 for the same orphanage. The director of the orphanage sent a letter of thanks to the school for their donation the previous year. The concert is now an annual event and takes place around October/November. Anne-Marie D'Arcy oversees the organisation and pulls together the acts, who are all pupils at the school. There was also a big leaving event in which a pupil named Dario Capaldi put on a beautiful performance of Ballet. In addition, the school has a school choir which sings at various school functions.
The Art department at St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School is very active with pupils regularly having work published or displayed.[5][6] A recent project involved pupils working with ceramicists on designs based on the abolition of slavery. The work is displayed in the Arches in Glasgow.
The school has won the Glasgow Schools Enterprise competition 3 times in the last 4 years. Mr Innes Of the Business Studies department is largely responsible for this success.
The school's debating team has had formidable success in the past few years. It won the "Glasgow Law Society Juniors Debating Competition" in 2005. The team failed to qualify for the 2006 Final and came third in the 2007 Final. Recently the team had success nationally. It took part in the "ESU Scotland Juniors Tournament" in 2007 and finished second out of a total of 113 teams. The speakers were Dominic Aitken and Paul Cruikshank. Paul Muldoon of the English department is responsible for the debating team. The team competed in the Victim Support Unit's public speaking competition on the 10th of November 2008.
In 2006, the school was announced as the Glasgow Sports School of the year 06-07. This was due to the commitment of the pupils who showed excellent sporting achievement, and the dedication of the head of the P.E department Mrs Mackie.
The school has a long history of success in orienteering. 10 of its pupils were chose to represent Scotland at the World Schools' Orienteering Championships.[7] Terry O'Brien is responsible for this.
Since 2008-2009, the school has awarded the Dux and Proxime Assiste to the pupils with great academic achievement. They also began to create separate boys' and girls' captains since 2006.
The parents of pupils at St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School are all automatically members of the Parent Forum. A smaller group of parents are also elected to serve on the Parent Council which meets regularly in the school. The Parent Council has parent members representing all years at the school as well as members from the local community, the Catholic Church, teaching staff and other staff at the school; the head teacher also attends meetings. The current Chair of the Parent Council, Ciaran Ewins can be contacted through the school office. The Parent Council aims to promote partnership between the school, its pupils, all parents and the Catholic Church.
