The English Martyrs Catholic School and Sixth Form College is a secondary school and sixth form college located in Hartlepool 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.
Contents
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 Timothy McCarthy, followed by 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:
Canon John Bell (1973-1980). Bell was the first headmaster of English Martyrs, having previously been headmaster of the subsumed St Francis Grammar School.
David Relton (1980-1995)
Joseph Hughes (1995-2010
Michael Lee (2010–2015). Lee began his career at English Martyrs teaching history in 1977. Before being appointed head in September 2010, he had been head of sixth form and deputy headteacher.
Stephen Hammond (2015–2021)
Sara Crawshaw (2021–2024)
Colette Hogarth (2024–2025)
Andrew Rodgers (Executive Headteacher 2025–Present)
Glenn Thompson (Head of School 2025–Present)
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
The majority of secondary school students come from 6 feeder primary schools:
Sixth form
Pupils who obtain 5 grade Cs or better at GCSE can choose any Level 3 course i.e. an A Level or an Applied A Level course
Pupils who obtain 4 grade Cs or above at GCSE are advised to follow a double award Applied A Level course, plus additional AS subject/s
Pupils who obtain fewer than 4 grade Cs at GCSE are advised to follow a Level 2 course – either the BTEC First Diploma in Business or in Health and Social Care
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."
Annual John Bell Lecture
This 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.
Notable alumni
Paul Arnison, former professional footballer with over 350 professional appearances
Lewis Cope, actor and dancer
Pete Donaldson, radio presenter and podcast host
Kieran Bew, TV, film and stage actor. Kieran attended alongside his brother Duncan who works as a doctor at King's College Hospital.
Matthew Dolan, professional footballer whose former clubs include Middlesbrough, Hartlepool United and Bradford City
Janick Gers, guitarist in Iron Maiden who opened the school's new music block in 2007
Michael Gough, retired cricketer and cricket umpire (umpire of the year 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015)
Peter Hartley, retired professional footballer and former Hartlepool United captain
Michael Hunter, British, European and Commonwealth Bantamweight Boxing Champion
Andy Linighan, retired professional footballer and scorer of the winning goal in the 1993 FA Cup Final who attended along with his brothers who were also footballers, Brian Linighan and David Linighan.
Jemma Lowe, Olympic swimmer
Savannah Marshall, Olympic boxer and boxing world champion
Philip Middlemiss, actor and businessman
Professor Gerard Parkin FRSC, Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University