St. Thomas the Apostle College is a Roman Catholic secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 for boys in Nunhead

Nunhead

Nunhead is a place in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England. It is an inner-city suburb located southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the Nunhead Cemetery. Nunhead has traditionally been a working-class area and, with the adjacent neighbourhoods, is currently going...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It was founded in September 1965.

Its students on average achieve 65% 5 A*-C Grades at GCSE (54% including Maths and English), which is above both the LEA and National Averages .

There are four houses, named after four English martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

s from the 16th century during the reign of Elizabeth I - Griffith, Gunstone , Saint John Jones

Saint John Jones

Saint John Jones, O.F.M.,, also known as John Buckley, John Griffith, or Godfrey Maurice, was a Franciscan friar, Catholic priest and martyr. He was born at Clynnog Fawr, Caernarfonshire , Wales and executed 12 July 1598...

 and Saint John Rigby. Some confusion can be found in the details of the houses, because St. John Jones went by the name of 'Griffith' during the 16th century.

The current headmaster is Mr. S. Cowdry. He replaced Mr. D. G Fox in December 2010. The Deputy principal is Mr. D. MacDonald in which was originally taken by Mr Cowdry. There have only been four headmasters at the school during its 42 years.

On March 2010, Ofsted inspected the school and was dropped from being good to satisfactory.

Their new School building is due to open on January 2012.

History of the College

St. Thomas the Apostle College opened in September 1965 as St. Thomas the Apostle School. The initial intake came from 2 Schools – English Martyrs and St Francis. In September 1967 boys from Archbishop Amigo also joined. The founder Headmaster was Mr W. Uden and his first Deputy was Mr. D. Crawford. Mr. Crawford retired in July 1982 and Mr. Uden at Christmas 1982. Initially there was a V1 Form but this was lost after the reorganisation of Catholic Schools in 1985 due to falling rolls. The College became Grant Maintained in September 1994 and became known as St. Thomas The Apostle College. In 1998 the College reverted to a Voluntary Aided College. Dr. Tope retired after 21 years as Principal in July 2004 and was succeeded by Damian Fox which was later by Mr Simon Cowdry in January 2011.

External links

• St. Thomas the Apostle College website