Sir Thomas Picton School

Sir Thomas Picton School was a secondary school in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, with around 1,250 students, 200 of whom were in Years 12 and 13. The school catered for pupils from all over Pembrokeshire, serving towns such as Haverfordwest and Neyland. The school closed in 2018 when it merged with Tasker Milward Voluntary Controlled School to form Haverfordwest High VC School.

Sir Thomas Picton School
Address
Queensway

Haverfordwest
,
Pembrokeshire
,
SA61 2NX

Wales
Coordinates51.805°N 4.962°W / 51.805; -4.962
Information
TypeState comprehensive
MottoInclude, Inspire, Improve
Closed2018
Local authorityPembrokeshire
Acting headteacherMrs T. Edwards
GenderMixed
Age11 to 18
Enrollment1167 pupils[1]
LanguageEnglish
Colour(s)  Navy Blue   Light Blue
Websitehttp://www.stp.pembrokeshire.sch.uk

History

The school was named after Sir Thomas Picton, (August, 1758 – 18 June 1815), a Welsh military leader who fought in a number of campaigns for Great Britain, and rose to the rank of lieutenant general. He is chiefly remembered for his exploits under the Duke of Wellington in the Iberian Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, where he was mortally wounded while his division stopped d'Erlon's corps attack against the allied centre left, and so became the most senior officer to die at Waterloo.

The school was not built as a military hospital, but it was built with this use in mind, hence the single storey structure with very few steps, copying the basic Government design such as the old Odstock hospital. It was built in 1954, alongside the Government offices at Cherry Grove, as the new secondary modern school; the land was previously agricultural. The school recently improved its facilities, with new science laboratories and refurbished toilets. It was known for its sports facilities, including the onsite sports hall, the gymnasium, the tennis courts, the running track and athletics area and full size astroturf.

Due to budget concerns from Pembrokeshire County Council in addition to the underperforming GCSE and A Level results from both schools over a period of a few years, the decision was made to merge Tasker Milward V.C. School and Sir Thomas Picton School into a new School, Haverfordwest High VC School, using the Tasker site (now known as the Portfield Campus) for lower School and the Sir Thomas Picton site (now known as the Prendergast campus) for upper school and sixth form use, in addition with a completely new uniform consisting of ties and blazers, a contrast from what both schools uniforms were, which were polo tops and jumpers. Both Tasker Milward V.C. School and Sir Thomas Picton School ceased to exist in August 2018 and the new combined school opened in September 2018.[2]

Facilities

Facilities include science labs, ICT facilities and an extensive range of vocational studies. The school operates under the North Pembrokeshire Federation, whereby the school can share resources with other nearby educational establishments, such as Pembrokeshire College and Tasker-Milward VC School.

The school is split into different wings, labelled from A-H.

  • A-wing: special learning, art gallery, etc.
  • B-wing: English
  • C-wing: Mathematics
  • D-wing: Welsh, Science, Bookbase (in-school library), ICT
  • E-wing: Food Technology, Music, Drama
  • F-wing: Art, textiles, product design, motor vehicle,
  • G-wing: Business Studies, ICT, Science
  • H-wing: Hair and beauty, Religious studies, Geography, History

Pupils

The school had 1,167 pupils on its roll as of June 2010,[1] of whom 200 attended the sixth form. Pupil support was a very important aim of the school, so there were many facilities available in school to help pupils, such as a school counselling service, a peer mentoring system, and form tutor mentoring. Additionally, the school installed postboxes in every classroom into which suggestions, complaints, questions and concerns could be deposited. This fulfilled a dual purpose - as well as ensuring that all available budget was spent, it allowed pupil concerns to be ignored more efficiently. However, the postboxes fell out of use. A "Bully Button" on the Sir Thomas Picton website allowed children to submit statements about anything they felt unsafe about to a senior member of staff, who would speak to them in school.

Notable ex-pupils

The environment

One of the school's major aims is to improve the way in which the environment around the building is treated, and also the overall contribution of greenhouse emissions from the school. There have been large scale projects to replace the older windows with double-glazing to conserve heat energy, and plans to install a wind turbine to help meet the school's rising energy needs are well underway, which may supply 10–15% of its required electrical energy.

Extra-curricular activities

There were extra activities and facilities for pupils to attend/use outside of lesson time. Some examples are:

-Extr@STP
-Blue Lagoon (Peer mentoring)

Notes
  1. "Sir Thomas Picton School", Pembrokeshire County Council, 21 June 2010.
  2. Wightwick, Abbie (28 January 2019). "Nearly 200 schools have shut in Wales since 2013". Wales Online. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
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