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| Motto | Courage & Courtesy |
|---|---|
| Established | 1939 |
| Type | Academy |
| Headteacher | Mr Andrew Pickering |
| Location | Park Street Baldock Hertfordshire SG7 6DZ England Coordinates: 51°59′16″N 0°11′27″W / 51.98766°N 0.19077°W |
| Local authority | Hertfordshire |
| DfE URN | 117509 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 1332 in October 2012 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Hine, Hancock, Pembroke, Templar, Knights, Bennett, Crellin |
| Website | www.ktemplar.herts.sch.uk |
Knights Templar School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status located in the market town of Baldock in North Hertfordshire, England. In a February 2006 OFSTED report, the school was described as "outstanding", one of only eight secondary schools in Hertfordshire to be so recognised.[1][2][3] It retained its "outstanding" status following a further OFSTED inspection in February 2009.[4] The Knights Templar School gained Academy status on 1 April 2011. Following an OFSTED inspection in October 2012 the school was categorised as "good".[5]
Contents |
History [edit]
The school opened the day before the start of the Second World War in 1939 as the Baldock Secondary School, and was renamed The Knights Templar School by Vivian Crellin, a former headmaster of the school and a scholar of Baldock's medieval history.[6] Since that time the school has seen new buildings and ever increasing pupil numbers, leading to oversubscription every year. The school claims no connection with the Masonic order of Knights Templar or with The Da Vinci Code – rather, it is named after the chivalrous medieval order of the Knights Templar, who founded Baldock and built the original 12th century parish church of St Mary the Virgin[7] in the town. The motto of the Knights Templar School is "Courage and Courtesy".
Houses [edit]
The school Houses are Crellin, Hancock, Hine, Pembroke, Bennett, Knights and Templar, named after former Headmasters of the school (Hancock and Crellin), local educationists (G.H. Bennett and Alderman Neville Hine who for many years was Chairman of Managers of Baldock C.C. School and worked for the building of the Knights Templar School), 'Strongbow', the Earl of Pembroke (the school is built on land owned by the Earl in the medieval period), and the Knights Templar who built the parish church St. Mary the Virgin c.1125.
Recent years [edit]
In September 2005 it became a specialist school for Sport and the Performing Arts. The school has a strong musical tradition, with about a third of all pupils taking extra tuition in an instrument or voice. The Big Band and Senior Chamber Choir perform locally and the school organises a music tour bi-annually, geared mainly towards these two groups (though anyone is welcome). Recent tour locations include Budapest in Hungary during July 2006 and Liguria in Italy in July 2008. A former pupil, Frances Balmer, won the 2004 BBC Proms Young Composers' Competition.[8]
The Knights Templar School received coverage in the national media [9] in 2002 over the 'fixing' of 'A' level grades by examination boards. The school was the first in the country[10] to appeal the grades awarded to its students in GCE 'Psychology' [11][12]
In July 2007 the school's Art Department gained the Guinness World Record for Painting by Numbers.[13]
As a specialist school in sport the Knights Templar School also has a million-pound sports centre with fitness suite and a floodlit all-weather sports pitch.
Guest speakers at the school in recent years have included former politician Edwina Currie, film and television composers David Arnold and Debbie Wiseman, Cardinal Basil Hume, academic Professor Lord Soulsby, IVF pioneer Peter Brinsden, scientist Professor Sir John Polkinghorne, Professor Mick Aston from Time Team, former Cabinet Minister Lord MacGregor, actor and performer Gerald Charles Dickens, and two-times Olympic silver medallist Jonathan Glanfield.[14] The Hoosiers performed an acoustic gig at the school in March 2011.
As of October 2012 there are 1332 pupils.
Headmasters [edit]
- Mr F. Hancock 1939-1951
- Mr John Tyler 1951-59
- Mr Vivian Crellin 1960-1984
- Mr Peter Chapman 1984-2006
- Mr Andrew Pickering 2006–Present
Notable former students and staff [edit]
Students [edit]
- Leanne Wilson, actress
- Claire Slater, actress
- Rowan Oliver, original drummer with Goldfrapp
- Elizabeth Hall, international athlete
- Deborah Turness, Editor of ITV News since 2004[15]
Staff [edit]
- Adam Ficek, drummer with Babyshambles taught drums at the school
- Victoria Blakeborough, the former international rugby player for Scotland Women, taught R.E. at the school (2008–10)
References [edit]
- ^ Guardian Unlimited, "Inspectors name outstanding schools"
- ^ OFSTED report, February 2006
- ^ Performance as reported on BBC website
- ^ Ofsted Inspection Report February 2009
- ^ Knights Templar School OFSTED report - published November 2012
- ^ Vivian Crellin [1] Baldock's Middle Ages
- ^ Hertfordshire Genealogy: Baldock
- ^ The Guardian, Amazingly composed, 22 June 2004
- ^ The Observer, Angst Levels, 10 August 2003
- ^ The Observer, Timetable of a fiasco, 22 September 2002
- ^ The Independent, A-Level Crisis: Student's hopes rise and fall as coveted place slips, 21 September 2002
- ^ Rebecca Smithers, The Guardian, Whistleblower's mark of approval, 15 August 2003
- ^ CBBC Newsround, Kids paint way into record books, 18 July 2007
- ^ 'Olympian Joe Glanfield visits sports college to award young prize winners' - the Youth Sport Trust website
- ^ 'Deborah Turness: 'News is the best drama on television' The Guardian 5 July 2012 Retrieved: 24 April 2012
External links [edit]
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