Kettlethorpe High School Community Learning Centre

Kettlethorpe High School is a mixed

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

with

specialist status Specialist schools in the United Kingdom (sometimes branded as specialist colleges in England and Northern Ireland) are schools with an emphasis or focus in a specific specialised subject area, which is called a specialism, or alternatively in ...

for maths and computing in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. It provides for children ages 11–16, with a comprehensive admissions policy, and had an enrolment of 1,686 pupils.

Qur'an controversy

In February 2023, the school suspended four Year 10 pupils for causing minor damage to the pages of a personal copy of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

. While there were rumours of deliberate damage, a school investigation found there was no "malicious intent". The Free Speech Union wrote a letter demanding that

West Yorkshire Police West Yorkshire Police, formerly the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth largest territorial police force in England ...

expunge the hate incident record against the four boys. The mother of one autistic boy said that he had stopped eating due to death threats, and Home Secretary

Suella Braverman Sue-Ellen Cassiana "Suella" Braverman (; ''née'' Fernandes; born 3 April 1980) is a British politician and barrister who served as Home Secretary from 6 September 2022 to 19 October 2022, and again from 25 October 2022 to 13 November 2023. A ...

expressed concern at the police involvement in the matter.

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

alleged that the school took severe disciplinary action because of religious pressure.

Gareth Mellor controversy

On 7 November 2023, former assistant headteacher and safeguarding lead Gareth Mellor was convicted for possession of indecent images of children. As safeguarding lead, part of his duties was to protect children at the school from sexual abuse. Whilst Gareth Mellor admitted under interview to having searched the names of pupils at the school online, no evidence of sexual abuse of pupils at the school was found. Kettlethorpe High School stated that no concerns were raised about Mellor during his tenure. Some parents and students have alleged that concerns were raised, which in some cases resulted in their children being placed in isolation.

Notable people

* Stuart Lancaster, England International Rugby Coach, was a PE teacher at the school. *

Claire Cooper Claire Elizabeth Cooper (born 26 October 1980) is a British actress and former gymnast from Wakefield, England, best known for portraying Jacqui McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', a character she played full time from 2006 to ...

, actress, starred in

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

. * Chris Chester, ex-rugby league player for Halifax,

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

, Hull F.C. and coach of

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

and

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

. * Amy Garcia,

BBC Look North ''BBC Look North'' is a name used by the BBC for its regional news programmes in three regions in the North of England: * '' BBC Look North'' for the BBC North East and Cumbria region * '' BBC Look North'' for the BBC Yorkshire region * '' BBC L ...

newsreader.

References

External links

* Schools in Wakefield Secondary schools in the City of Wakefield Community schools in the City of Wakefield Specialist maths and computing colleges in England {{Yorkshire-school-stub