THE Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu will give a demonstration of playing the African djembe drums when he visits a Warrington school tomorrow (Friday)
He will play in front of a special assembly at Sir Thomas Boteler CE High School.
Dr Sentamu will see for himself the great improvements made at the school since it became a Church of England-supported school in 2001.
The school has pioneered the Archbishop of York Award – a three-stage project akin to Duke
of Edinburgh Award but based on the Christian values of faith, hope and charity.
The Archbishop, who gave his consent and the name of his office to the award, will check on the progress of the scheme during his visit. A number of pupils are actively engaged in the awards scheme.
The school – believed to be Warrington’s oldest – has gone through many incarnations since its earliest days as a pre-Reformation church grammar school, founded in 1526 from a bequest from Sir Thomas Boteler, a local dignitary.
In its latest form as Warrington’s only Church of England secondary school and a specialist music college, it is proving very popular – attracting 1.2 first preference applications per place available.
This represents quite a turn around.
Head teacher John Sharples said: “We have gone from being the least popular choice of secondary school in Warrington to being the most over-subscribed. We’ve got a very strong Christian ethos here. Parents want their kids to come here because it is a safe, happy environment and the children thrive and go on to achieve great things.”
Academic performance has steadily improved. In 2001 only 25 per cent of Boteler students achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE, but by last summer 49 per cent achieved those key grades.
