St Crispin's School
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| St Crispin's School | |
| Image:St Crispins School Wokingham logo.jpg | |
| Motto: Excellence for all | |
| Established | 1953 |
| Type | Comprehensive |
| Headmaster | Mr. Alex Biddle |
| Students | 1061 (Jan 2006) |
| Location | London Road Wokingham, Berkshire England |
| Specialism | Maths and computing |
| LEA | Wokingham |
| Website | www.crispins.co.uk |
St Crispin's School, founded in 1953, is a mixed-sex comprehensive school in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, catering for pupils between 11 and 18 years of age. There were 1,057 students at the school in 2005, of whom 191 were in the Sixth Form.<ref>DFES statistics</ref> The school is located on the London Road just outside the main town centre.
St Crispin's became a DFES specialist school in mathematics and computing in September 2004, and is both a Microsoft Academy and a Cisco Systems Networking Academy. The school has Investor in People Status and also holds the Sportsmark Award. St Crispin's has strong links with the local community and has a special link with Costain through its building awareness programme.<ref>Costain Building Awareness Programme</ref> In 2003 the school received a substantial addition to its funds by gaining a School Achievement Award from the DFES.<ref>School Achievement Award Scheme</ref> In 2004 St Crispin's School, represented by Ella Dolan and Joe Rogers, were the winners of the John Redwood Cup in the inaugural Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition.<ref>Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition</ref>
The school takes its name from St Crispin, the patron saint of cobblers, tanners and leather workers. The choice of name was perhaps inspired by the famous St Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V, a rousing battle cry from the king prior to the Battle of Agincourt which was fought on 25 October 1415 (St Crispin's Day).
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[edit] Architecture
St Crispin's School was the first of the Ministry of Education's prototype prefabricated schools. It was built between 1951 and 1953 by the Ministry of Education's own team of researchers into rational school building (David Medd and Mary Crowley) under the direction of S. A. W Johnson Marshall. The work was inspired by that of the Hertfordshire Architect's Department.<ref>Pevsner, N. The Buildings of England: Berkshire, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, pp.309-310.</ref> The aim was to establish new levels of cost efficiency for both erection and running costs. The new techniques speeded up the building process so much that the school was able to open five months ahead of the planned schedule. St Crispin's was classified as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage on 30 March 1993.<ref>Images of England ref. no. 41799</ref> The building is of light steel construction with components of modular sizes. The school consists of a four-storey classroom block above the main entrance with a central courtyard and a rambling series of inter-connected mostly single-storey buildings. By the side of the main entrance are paintings by Fred Millett on the composition slabs, including a picture of a modular girl. The original school site consisted of 29 acres, of which four acres were gardens to be tended by the students. The gardens have long gone but the school still has extensive playing fields and also benefits from the use of the adjacent St Crispin's Sports Centre.
[edit] History
St Crispin's was officially opened on 14 October 1953 by the Right Honourable Florence Horsburgh, the then Minister of Education. It featured in a BBC Schools Current Affairs broadcast on 16 October 1953. There were 360 pupils aged between 11 and 15 on roll on the first day with 19 members of staff. By the end of the first full academic year there were 580 pupils at the school. The numbers rose rapidly and by 1958 there were 856 pupils on roll. In the current academic year there are 1061 students at the school.
[edit] Headteachers
- Eric Bancroft (1953-1971)
- John Cole (1972-1992)
- Alex Biddle (1992 to date)
[edit] Notable alumni
- Serena Doshi, internet entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Neo1
- Stephen Hughes, footballer
- Peter Lewington, England and Warwickshire cricketer
- Stephen Meads, international squash player
- Tom Morgan, international rower
- Graham Woodward, President of Airbus Canada
[edit] Further reading
St Crispin's School: The Story So Far. Wokingham, Berkshire: St Crispin's School, 2003.
[edit] External links
- St Crispin's School website
- St Crispin's Gold
- School in Focus - Celebrating Success: St Crispin's School, Wokingham
- Science buddies
- School overview and profile from Schoolsfinder
- Music tuition at St Crispin's from Berkshire Maestros
- Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
- St Crispin's Guest Book for former pupils
[edit] References
<references/>
| Berkshire Secondary Schools |
|---|
| Comprehensive: The Bulmershe School | Denefield School | Desborough School | Kennet School | Little Heath School | Newlands Girls' School | St. Bartholomew's School | St Crispin's School | The Downs School | Trevelyan School |
| Grammar: Herschel Grammar School | Kendrick School | Langley Grammar School | Reading School | Slough Grammar School | St Bernard's Convent School |
| Independent: The Abbey School | Cheam School | Claires Court School | Crosfields School | Dolphin School | Downe House | Lambrook Haileybury | Leighton Park School | Ludgrove School |
| Public: Bearwood College | Bradfield College | Eton College | Heathfield St Mary's | Pangbourne College | Reading Blue Coat School | St. George's School, Ascot | St. Piran's | Wellington College, Berkshire |
