St Helena School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school with academy status, located in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England. The school is situated on Sheepen Road opposite

Colchester Institute Colchester Institute is a large provider of further and higher education based in the city of Colchester. Colchester Institute provides full-time and part-time courses for a wide variety of learners including 16 to 19 year olds, apprentices, adu ...

and is of easy reach from both Colchester North and Colchester Town train stations.

History

St Helena Secondary School was opened on Friday 28 January 1938 by

Kenneth Lindsay Kenneth Martin Lindsay (16 September 1897 – 4 March 1991) was a Labour Party politician from the United Kingdom who joined the breakaway National Labour group. He was the final Member of Parliament to be elected by the single transferable vo ...

, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education in Neville Chamberlain's National Government. In those days, education in

was controlled by the Colchester Borough Education Committee, chaired by Alderman Alex Blaxill, the Mayor. Originally, the school comprised two 'schools'; boys with Mr H Hepburn Reid as Headmaster; and girls with Miss M Lucas as Headmistress. There were some shared facilities, but otherwise there was strictly enforced segregation. The school took its name from Colchester's patron saint. According to the ''

Historia Regum Britanniae ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...

'' of

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...

written in the twelfth century, St Helena was the daughter of

Coel Coel ( Old Welsh: ''Coil''), also called ''Coel Hen'' (Coel the Old) and King Cole, is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen, a 4th-century leader in Roman or Sub-Rom ...

, a legendary King of Britain and duke of Colchester in the third century. She was the mother of

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

, the first Christian to rule the Roman Empire. The original segregated arrangement remained until 1961, when, under Mr Hepburn Reid's stewardship, the school became a co-educational Secondary Modern. After twenty-five years as Head of the School, Mr Hepburn Reid retired in 1963 to be succeeded by Mr H S Boyle. When the school was reorganised again in 1977 becoming an 11-18 mixed Comprehensive School, Mr J D McIlwain became Headteacher. By this time the school had become part of the Essex Local Education Authority. It was the Essex LEA which implemented secondary reorganisation in Colchester in 1987, converting St Helena School to an 11-16 mixed comprehensive, and opening a Sixth Form College on North Hill in the town centre. The school celebrated its golden jubilee in January 1988, and was honoured by the presence of the Rt. Hon. Kenneth Baker, the Secretary of State for Education and Science. On the Commemoration Day, (28 January 1988), he was accompanied by Kenneth Lindsay, making his first return to the school since he had opened it in 1938. On 20 March 2020, the school was temporarily closed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

School buildings

Although the original buildings from 1938 school still stand, new facilities have been added as well as minor structural maintenance. Two major building programmes have brought added capacity, so that an original capacity of 720 has now increased to over 1000. In 1976 a new block was constructed comprising general classrooms, science laboratories and art rooms. In 1991 a Sports Hall and technology rooms were built. The school which emerged as a

Grant-maintained school Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective ad ...

in September 1993 has a blend of traditional and modern. In 2007, a media block was built. In 2014 plans were put in place to build another block which will contain unisex toilets, science rooms and domestic science rooms. It is predicted to be finished by September 2015.

Houses

St Helena runs a House system. Each house consists of 10 tutor groups with up to 5 students from each Year group in it. The original house system was disbanded over 20 years ago, but was reintroduced in January 2004. The houses, apart from one, kept their original names: * Abbey- Red * Castle- Blue * Priory- Yellow * Temple- Green The houses are named after the Roman areas of Colchester.

Specialist school and academy status

In 2005, St Helena became a Specialist Media Arts College under the Governments Specialist School programme. The school then built a media centre which houses a drama studio, media computer suite and a television / radio studio. the school converted to academy status in March 2012.

Notable former pupils

Dominic King Dominic King (born 30 May 1983) is a British racewalker. He was selected for the British team in the men's 50 km walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics, having previously competed for England in the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Career King ...

racewalker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics *

Jamie Moul Jamie Moul (born 26 September 1984) is an English professional golfer who became the third man to top the World Amateur Golf Ranking on 13 February 2007. Moul plays out of Stoke-by-Nayland Golf Club near Colchester in Essex. His tournament wins ...

, professional golfer * Sir Bob Russell, long-serving Colchester MP and High Steward

References

External links

St Helena School WebsiteSigma Trust Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helena School, Essex Secondary schools in Essex Educational institutions established in 1938 1938 establishments in England Academies in Essex Schools in Colchester (town)