St Bonaventure's Catholic Comprehensive School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Bonaventure's Roman Catholic Comprehensive School is located in Forest Gate, London Borough of Newham, United Kingdom, and is a voluntary-aided Catholic comprehensive secondary school for boys aged 11-18. The school generally does very well in the local and national league tables at GCSE level, with an average of 70% of students achieving five or more A*-C passes in 2006, well above the national average. It has a large co-educational sixth form in partnership with its local sister school, St. Angela's, which also attracts a considerable number of students from other schools in the borough, and often beyond, wishing to continue their education post-16. The sixth form offers various qualifications, from the traditional GCE A-levels to intermediate and advanced GNVQ courses, and has a good tradition of preparing pupils for admission to prestigious higher education institutions.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The school is led by current headmaster Stephen Foster and has had Technology College status since 1996 and Science College status since September 2004. The vast majority of pupils are Catholic, but mostly from ethnic minorities which represent the socio-economically deprived local catchment area. It is traditionally heavily oversubscribed for entry to Year 7 and on average accepts 250 new students each year, although in recent years the school has started to substantially reduce its intake of students from other faiths and denominations.
Being a strict Catholic school, all pupils are entered for a compulsory GCSE in religious studies. In 2006, the school officially became a Language College, meaning that all pupils are also entered for a GCSE in a modern language (normally French or German). The director of sixth form studies is Dr. Andrew Stone, and due to the limited space and resources, as well as the large number of students, sixth form teaching is usually split between the St. Angela's and St. Bonaventure's campuses. Sixth form teaching was also shared with St. John's Catholic School in Green Street as part of the 'Sixth Form Consortium' of Catholic secondary schools until its closure in 1990.
[edit] Notable alumni
Distinguished old boys include:
- Jermain Defoe, born 1982, Tottenham and England footballer
- Plan B - English rapper
- Victor Ebuwa - Contestant on Big Brother 5
- Terry Morrison -- musician and comic actor
- Timothy Campbell - The Apprentice 2005 series winner
- Chris Hughton - Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Assistant Manager
- Martin Ling - Leyton Orient Football Club Manager
- Glen Murphy - Actor
- Clint Dyer - Actor & Director
[edit] Headteachers
Former headteachers include:
- Mr Stephen Foster, Headmaster, 2003 - present
- Sir Michael Wilshaw, Headmaster, 1985 - 2003
- Mr Owen Craddy, Headmaster, 1974 - 1985
