Thomas Gainsborough School
Thomas Gainsborough School, formerly Great Cornard Upper School, is a secondary school and sixth form in the village of Great Cornard, part of the town of Sudbury in the English county of Suffolk that educates approximately 1,400 pupils. It was granted the status of Specialist School in 1998, and was re-designated Technology College in 2001. The school converted to academy status in January 2015, when it became a member of the Samuel Ward Academy Trust Facilities. Included in the school is Great Cornard Sports Centre, and included coffee shop, funded in part by a £563k  grant from the English Active lottery fund. The complex features a youth drop-in-centre, dance and martial arts studios, changing rooms, fitness studios, a coach education unit and a social area. The school also completed the building of a Sixth Form study block and library in 2009, this building has since been renamed 'The Bavington Centre', and the Sixth Form area relocated. Reconstruction. In 2012, the school was granted funding for a total rebuild. Work commenced on the new building in June 2014 and was completed in August of 2015. The new facilities of the £17 million pound  site include a reading room, roof terrace and 9,124 sqm of space. Whilst the main complex of the old school site were demolished, the library and sports centre were not and are still utilized by the school. Additionally, the old site of Great Cornard Middle School that was acquired by Thomas Gainsborough School after the switch to a two-tier system remained, with the building now being used as a Sixth Form and Media centre. Academic performance. In their report on the school in September 2017 Ofsted gave an overall rating of the school as "Good", point two on a  four-point scale. The personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils was described as outstanding. Results for pupils at age 16 showed clear improvement between 2006 and 2009 outperforming both local and national indicators for pupils gaining 5 GCSE grades between A* and C, including English and Maths. In 2009 the school had the best contextual value added scores of any school in Suffolk. Headteachers. The current headteacher at The Thomas Gainsborough school is Mrs Helen Yapp, who became head in March 2021, after a brief period of filling the role as Acting Headteacher, after Mr Wayne Lloyd's departure  from the school in December 2020 Mr Wayne Lloyd was the headteacher between January 2012 and December 2020. The previous headteacher Mr Michael Foley moved to become headteacher of the Thomas Hardye School in September 2011. Andy Samways (Deputy Headteacher) was Acting Headteacher between these dates. Notable former pupils. Additionally, the school contains memorials to a former learning mentor, Mrs. Wait, who suffered a long and hard battle with cancer, former teacher, Shelley Baisden, who died of cancer and to a popular teenager, Yibi Matthews, who died of HIV contracted at birth. Yibi Matthews was remembered as the boy with  the big smile and his father, Rev David Matthews described Yibi's times at the school as "among his happiest".