English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College
The English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College is a secondary school and sixth form college located in Hartlepool, County Durham with academy status. English Martyrs (referred to locally as "EMS" and "Martyrs") is the only Catholic secondary school in Hartlepool. The school and college are both located on the same site on Catcote Road, however, a newly built specialist sixth form block provides the majority of A-Level classes, as well as some 11–16 school lessons. History. St Joseph's Convent School was founded in 1885, and became a direct grant grammar  school following the Education Act of 1944. St Francis RC Grammar School was opened in 1956, and two new secondary schools, St Bede's for boys and St Anne's for girls, were opened in 1963. St Peter's secondary modern school opened in King Oswy Drive in 1960 replacing St Bega's school. The school had approximately 200 students and the headmasters were Mr Timothy McCarthy, followed by Mr Robert Garraghan. In 1973, the national policy of Comprehensive education led to all the Catholic secondary schools in the town being merged as the English Martyrs' Comprehensive School. These were  St Anne's, St Bede's, St Francis', St Joseph's and St Peter's schools, each of which is represented by a star on the school badge. The new site was the buildings of St Bede's and St Anne's and the St Francis site which was closed down in 1985. List of previous headmasters. Previous headmasters include: Statistics. The following statistics are summarised from the following "Evening Gazette", "Northern Echo" and "BBC News" articles. National averages are given in ("italics") after the school's score. Intake. Main school. "Admissions Criteria 2013" The majority of secondary school students  come from 6 feeder primary schools: Sixth form. "6th Form College Prospectus 2013-2014" Houses. There are five houses within the school: St John Boste, St Margaret Clitherow, Blessed John Ingram, St Anne Line and St Thomas More. In the same way as the earlier St Francis RC Grammar School had named its houses after the English Martyrs, in 2009 the houses of the English Martyrs School were introduced and named after the following. Prior to this introduction, Saints John Boste, Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line and Thomas More all existed as houses in the school's PE department for use  during sports days and athletics tournaments, however they were unconnected to the pastoral or academic care of pupils. Annual school events. Annual awards evening principal guests 1981-2012. A tradition of the school since 1981 where awards are given to students of both the school and sixth form college. Recognition is given to achievement at GCSE, 'A' level and GNVQ levels." There are prizes donated by local individuals and groups as well as Huntsman Tioxide, Teesside University and The Daily Telegraph. Each year attracts over 1000 guests and a Principal Guest of Honour "who themselves represent achievement in a range  of fields". The evening also features music by the school orchestra and individual student musicians with refreshments to end the night. Annual school show. Another tradition of the school is an annual school musical, usually held around the end of November. This features pupils from all years, although older students and sixth formers generally get the leading roles. The music department, orchestra and drama department work together on its production. Tickets are made available to parents throughout the school to buy. Annual John Bell Lecture. This now traditional once a year lecture is usually given around March in the school 's St Anne's hall. The lecture is in honour of Canon John Bell, the last headmaster of St Francis and the first headmaster of the new English Martyrs school, and lasts around 40 minutes followed by audience questions. Complimentary tickets to attend are made available free of charge.