Trinity School, Nottingham

The Trinity School in Nottingham, England is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status for pupils aged 11–18. It is part of the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Multi Academy Trust.

The Trinity Catholic School
Coat of Arms
Address
Beechdale Road

Aspley, Nottingham
,
Nottinghamshire
,
NG8 3EZ

England
Coordinates52°58′09″N 1°12′33″W
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoAd Dei Gloriam
("To The Glory of God")
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
Established1975
FounderSisters of Loreto
Department for Education URN138341 Tables
OfstedReports
HeadteacherMatt Shenton
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment<1105
HousesArrowsmith, Barlow, Campion, Dalby
Colour(s)Green, silver and gold
DioceseNottingham
Websitehttp://www.trinity.nottingham.sch.uk

The School asserts that its main concerns are: 'academic excellence, good discipline and achievement in all the broader aspects of education within a happy and distinctively Catholic atmosphere'.[1] In 2011 90% of students achieved 5 A*-C grades at GCSE level and 90% of students were accepted onto their 'first choice' course at university.[1]

Admissions

The school is a faith school, and has restricted admissions. Its good academic results give it a high profile in the city, and places for the school will be limited. It is situated off Beechdale Road, a main thoroughfare, near the junction with Kingsbury Drive, between Beechdale (to the south-east), Aspley (to the east), and Bilborough (to the west). The area has many secondary schools, with Bluecoat Beechdale Campus neighbouring to the west, and Nottingham Academy for Girls nearby to the east. Woodlands School, a school for children with special needs, neighbours to the east. The north half of the school lies in Aspley, and the southern half is in Bilborough.

History

Former Schools

Bishop Dunn School was a co-educational secondary modern school on Kingsbury Drive, and named after Thomas Dunn. St Catherine's Convent School was at the Convent of Mercy on College Street in central Nottingham near Nottingham Cathedral from 1846, run by the Sisters of Mercy. It became a grammar school in 1951. It moved to Beechdale Road in 1962, becoming the Loreto Grammar School for Girls, a girls' Roman Catholic grammar school. The site on Beechdale Road was then run by the Sisters of Loreto, also known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It took in catholic girls from all over Nottingham and outside the city.

Comprehensive

It was formed in 1975 by the merger of the grammar school and secondary modern. The grammar school site is now the upper school.

Academy

The school converted to being an academy on 1 July 2012, and is no longer directly funded or governed by Nottingham City Council. However the school continues to co-operate with the council in regards to admissions.

Events

A drama technician for the School was discovered in 2013 to have coerced a 17-year-old to perform a sex act on him in a locked classroom . He was subsequently sentenced to a 12-month prison sentence (suspended for two years) and ten years on the Sex Offenders Register.[2]

Traditions

The school badge

The school badge, re-designed in 1988, encapsulates much of the school's credo and ideology. The cross is derived from the Bishop's cross. The fleur-de-lys represents the Loreto School and the Triangle the first symbol of The Trinity School. They are set in school colours of green, black, silver and gold. "Ad Dei Gloriam", their motto ("To the Glory of God"), sums up the driving ideology of the school.

Houses

In year 7 pupils are allocated into four different houses who compete against each other in a range of activities: most notably the annual athletics competition and swimming gala. The school has recently introduced House competitions such as House Debate, Inter-house Drama, Modern Foreign Languages and Piano recitals.

The 4 houses are named after English Martyrs who died in the name of Catholicism.

The Music Department

The school has a thriving music department, which is recognised nationally as being one of Nottinghamshire[3] and the UK's finest in a comprehensive school. The music department encourages children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to take up an instrument through its 'Orchestra' classes and also through an abundance of extra-curricular music ensembles led by music specialists. The school's Orchestra classes, which are a Trinity signature, offer every student in years 7 to 9 the ability to learn and play an instrument. Orchestra lessons offer violin, recorder and multi-instrumental tuition. The school's tradition of having such a special and inclusive music department has gained the school national acclaim and separates the school from competitors which has been recognised by high-profile musicians, composers[4] and politicians. Music's tradition at Trinity has enabled current and ex students to progress in their academic and music careers; notably Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who became the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2016.[5]

The music department has a reputation for producing and helping towards some of the best results at A level in the school.[6] The extra-curricular music offers are another feature that allows the school to stand out from the crowd, with groups on offer which include a brass band, concert band, chamber orchestra, senior and lower choirs, string ensembles, rock and blues band, guitar groups, music tech clubs and many more. The threat of funding cuts prompted ex-student Sheku Kanneh-Mason to donate £3,000[7] to save cello tuition at the school in 2017.[8] Sheku said of the school "I have had amazing opportunities at Trinity School, and to see other children not have the same opportunities as I had would be a huge shame."[8]

In 2020 former Trinity student Jacob Fowler, won the BBC Two TV show Little Mix: The Search with his band Since September. The band will tour as the supporting artist for Little Mix on their UK tour in 2021.[9]

Activities

Trinity School Show Band

The Trinity School Show Band was formed in 1997 as a traditional marching brass band with thirty eight members, developing into over a hundred members when it became a show band. They have taken part in competitions since 2001 when they entered the World Championships in Germany. They won the Colchester Band Contest trophy (Division Two) three times between 2006 and 2008. For the 2009 season, the band were placed in BYBA's top division. At BYBA finals, Trinity came first beating all the other bands in their division. Other awards include, Academy Brass 2006 (Division Two), National Championships (Division Two) in 2006 and 2007, and Ouse Valley Sounds MBC 2008 (Division Two).[10]

Following a year away from competing, for the 2014 season, the show band competed in Division 2 of the British Youth Band Association and won the first show of the season, at Music Revolution in Bradford taking Music Effect, Music Analysis, Field Wind, Field Visual, Field Percussion and Colour Guard captions.[11]

The Trinity School Show Band ceased to exist in 2017.

Academic performance

Trinity has achieved an outstanding academic reputation. Public examinations at KS3, KS4 and KS5 have all been to a very high standard. GCSE results have steadily improved, not just 5 A* to C benchmarks but also the numbers of higher grades including English and Maths. Each year most of the 100 or so Year 13 students leave with their first choice of University. [The actual raw data is on the DCSF performance tables web site, and the schools own web site]. This is coupled with excellent extra-curricular achievements in music, sport and adventure training which demonstrate the tenacity and ambition of the school. The school also works closely with its associated parishes, firmly within the Catholic ethos it seeks to promote. The school enjoys good support from parents and fosters excellent relationships with pupils, as is reflected and evidenced in the most recent Ofsted report of November 2008.

Although Nottingham has many poor performing secondary schools, it offers good results at GCSE, regularly having joint-best results for the LEA's schools, with Fernwood School. Fernwood, similar to many secondary schools in Nottingham, does not have a sixth form. Trinity is the only 11–18 school in Nottingham to get above-average results at A-level, except the independent (fee-paying) Nottingham High School and Nottingham High School for Girls. Many schools in Nottingham have recently become academies.

Notable alumni

Loreto Convent School
  • Jo Cleary,[14] Chair since 2012 of the National Skills Academy for Social Care, and since 2013 of the College of Social Work

St Catherine's Convent of Mercy Grammar School

Convent of Mercy School

Teachers

Matt Shenton is the current Headteacher, with Aidan Brennan as Deputy Headteacher. Assistant Headteachers are Rupert Bennett, Caroline McGrath, Steven Wadsley and Sarah Wilkinson.[16]

See also

References
  1. "About The Trinity Catholic School In Nottingham | A Catholic School". Trinity School Nottingham. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Russell, Dan (5 June 2015). "Nottinghamshire's top five secondary and primary schools". nottinghampost. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  4. "Presentation Evening". Trinity School Nottingham. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. "17-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason signs to Decca Classics". The Strad. Newsquest. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  6. Mitchell, Hannah (17 August 2017). "Music star from Trinity School celebrated A-level results". nottinghampost. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  7. "Young, gifted and giving back". BBC News. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  8. Mitchell, Hannah (12 September 2017). "BBC Young Musician donates money to his school to save music teaching". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  9. "Everything You Need To Know About 'The Search' Winners Since September". Bustle. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  10. "Trinity School Show Band". Trinity School, Nottingham. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  11. "Trinity School Show Band". Trinity School, Nottingham. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  12. Jaward, Isa (20 November 2016). "Sheku Kanneh-Mason: 'I've always felt that I fitted in'". The Observer. London. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  13. "Since September wins Little Mix The Search". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  14. Jo Cleary
  15. Teresa Higginson
  16. http://www.trinity.nottingham.sch.uk/general/default.aspx

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