page_title: St Crispin's School
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St Crispin's School / History
context_page_description: St Crispin's School, founded in 1953, is a co-educational comprehensive school in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, catering for pupils between 11 and 18 years of age. There were 1,164 students at the school in 2017, of whom 234 were in the Sixth Form. The school is on the London Road just outside Wokingham town centre.
context_section_description: The school was named after St Crispin, the patron saint of cobblers, tanners and leather workers. The choice of name was perhaps inspired by the famous St Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V, a rousing battle cry from the king before the Battle of Agincourt which was fought on 25 October 1415 (St Crispin's Day).
  St Crispin's was officially opened on 14 October 1953 by the Right Honourable Florence Horsbrugh, the then Minister of Education. It featured in a BBC Schools Current Affairs broadcast on 16 October 1953. There were 360 pupils aged between 11 and 15 on roll on the first day with 19 members of staff. By the end of the first full academic year there were 580 pupils at the school. The numbers rose rapidly and by 1958 there were 856 pupils on roll. As of the 2006/2007 academic year, there were 1050 students at the school.
  In 2003 the school celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and was featured as a "School in Focus" on the Teachernet website. In the same year the school received a substantial addition to its funds by gaining a School Achievement Award from the Department for Education and Skills.
  St Crispin's was awarded specialist maths and computing status with effect from September 2004. The award was accompanied by additional government funding of £600,000 spread over four years to allow the technology to be used across all areas of the curriculum.
  In July 2008 St Crispin's became the first secondary school in the Wokingham Borough to be awarded the prestigious ICT Mark from Becta, the (now-defunct) Government-funded agency for promoting ICT in schools and colleges.
  In the summer term of 2008 St Crispin's was recognised as a High-Performing Specialist School by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The status was granted as a result of the school's overall performance and, in particular, for its high-level GCSE results and good OFSTED report. As a result of this recognition the school was invited to apply for a second specialism. A plan for a specialism in Leadership was submitted in January 2009 and approved on 14 February. The school was formally designated as a Leadership Partnership School with effect from April 2009.
  In 2010 the school was inspected by OFSTED. As a result of the inspection, the school achieved the status of being an 'Outstanding' school. Later, in 2013, the school was again inspected by OFSTED and had its rating changed to 'Good'.
caption: The Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, oil painting at Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, Poland
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