Thornleigh Salesian College

Infobox UK school
latitude = 53.601347
longitude = -2.443703
dms =
name = Thornleigh Salesian College


size =
motto = "Sicut Cervus" (Latin: "As the hart longs (for running water, So longs my soul for you, O God)")
motto_pl =
established = 1925
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Voluntary aided secondary school
religion = Roman Catholic
president =
head_label = Headmistress
head = Mrs. A. Burrows
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label =
chair =
founder = Clergy of Bolton
founder_pl =
specialist = Specialist Sports College
specialist_pl =
street = Sharples Park
city = Astley Bridge
Bolton
county = Greater Manchester
postcode =
country = England
LEA = Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
ofsted = 105264
staff =
enrollment = 1506
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses =
colours =
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk/default.aspx
website_name = www.thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk

Thornleigh Salesian College is a Salesian and Catholic secondary school in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.

History

Thornleigh College was founded in 1925 by the Salesian Society at the request of the Clergy of Bolton.

It became a Direct Grant Boys' Grammar school catering for a wide area in Lancashire. In 1979, following the reorganisation of Catholic schools in Bolton to a comprehensive system, Thornleigh joined with St Anne's High School, to form a six form entry Voluntary Aided Mixed Comprehensive School with a Sixth Form Centre to serve the needs of all Catholic Sixth Form pupils. Catholic Secondary Schools in Bolton reorganised again in 1986, and Thornleigh combined with St Cuthbert's school, which had been founded in 1963, to form a new seven form entry Voluntary Aided Mixed Comprehensive School with a Sixth Form centre which continues to serve the whole of the borough. The school is under the Trusteeship of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

For ten years from 1980 Thornleigh was a split site school. £4 million of investment in new buildings in the years 1986 to 1989 enabled the whole school to consolidate at Sharples Park from September 1990. A new building for the Sixth Form was opened in 1987 and an £800,000 extension was added to it in 1995. A five class room extension for 11-16 pupils plus a new two storey dining room, costing £1.1 million in total, were added during 2000. In 2004, Thornleigh received a Sports College and Investor in People status.

On the same site is the Thornleigh Sixth Form. The head of the Sixth Form is Fr. Andrew Waller SDB. In total (2002), there are currently 1624 students at Thornleigh, with 370 studying at the Sixth Form.

Badge & motto

The Latin Motto "Sicut Cervus" can be loosely translated as 'as the hart grieves'. The motto is that of the Hargreaves family, and the head of a hart (a male deer) was the family crest. The crest is worn on the blazers of every student. The Hargreaves were a wealthy Bolton family who owned the house at Sharples Park which was bought by the Salesians when Thornleigh was founded in 1925. The crest and motto were kept by the school and the school took its name from the house.

Current management

The school is currently managed by a group of governors and Mrs Burrows is the current headmistress.

Fr Martin Coyle, the previous headteacher, stepped down in July 2007 and Mr Almond was appointed temporary head teacher until January 2008. The new headteacher, Mrs Burrows has been in place since Mr Almond's departure. Assistant headteacher Mr Roach left at the same time as Mr Almond, moving to Mount Saint Joseph Secondary School as a headteacher.

Current senior team

* Mrs Burrows - Headmistress
* Mr Graham - Deputy Headteacher
*Mrs O'Callaghan- Deputy Head
* Mr Johnston - Head of Key Stage 3
* Mr Fletcher - Head of Key Stage 4
* Mr Buckley - Upper School Pastoral Support
* Fr Waller SDB - Head of Sixth Form

Notable former pupils

* Danny Jones - guitarist and vocalist in the band McFly
* Conor McGloin - guitarist in the band Kinesis
* Damon Gough - musician, known as Badly Drawn Boy
* Maurice Lindsay - chairman, Wigan Rugby League Football Club, former chief executive of the Rugby Football League
* Ian McAllister - former chairman of Ford UK, current chairman of Network Rail
* Helen Flanagan - actress
* Frank Finlay - actor
* Danny Boyle - film director
* Brian Finch - television writer
* Richard Henry McFarlane - poet, known as Hovis Presley
* Bernard Wrigley - actor, comedian and musician
* Norman Prince - guitarist in the folk band the Houghton Weavers
* Tony Berry - vocalist in the folk band the Houghton Weavers
* Mike Pollitt - goalkeeper for Wigan Athletic FC
* Kerry Pollard - politician, former Member of Parliament for St Albans
* David Atherton - entrepreneur, founder of online retailer dabs.com
* Daniel J Corcoran - Irish Under 20's Fencing Champion, North West England Sabre Champion, Great Britain Under 17 Fencing team.

External links

* [http://www.thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk Thornleigh Salesian College]
* [http://www.salesians.org.uk Salesians of Don Bosco UK]