Holy Trinity School, Crawley

The government provides the school with grant aid to cover 90% of the costs for external building maintenance and improvements. The governors are responsible for 10% of total costs. Each family represented in the school is invited to commit an annual donation.

Although donations at the school are not compulsory, the school does greatly benefit from the donations given. 'The Young Building' is just one of the buildings that donations benefitted.

The school is run by the Church of England and has been since its opening back in 1969; some of the original buildings still exist and the well-known Beith Court is situated in the middle of the school.

The Holy Trinity School is believed to have been the first purpose-built Church of England comprehensive school in the country. It provides a secondary education based on Christian belief.

Although the school started to take in pupils in September 1967, it was not opened officially until 17 December 1969, when The Queen came to open the school as it was based on the Church of England.

Ties at the school now are based on which house that particular student is in. 'Durham' wear red stripes, 'York' green stripes, 'Canterbury' blue stripes and 'Winchester' yellow stripes. Prefects at the school alternatively wear purple ties, to ensure they are easily identifiable by younger students who made need help. Initially, school ties were dark blue with a small logo of the school outline; this was changed a decade or so ago. Originally the school had six houses: Smythe, Chichester, Hodgkin, Monnington, Brittain, and Young.

The iconic school blazer has remained the same since the school opened, along with the logo.

Admission to the school is by application only and the pupils come from an area within a ten-mile radius of Crawley. The school takes children from some independent schools as well as local state primary schools. The Governors give priority to those who regularly attend a place of Christian worship but they also try to offer as many other places as possible to those who particularly want the school because of its Christian foundation, ethos and values.

The school has a history of success within its basketball program having won the nationwide basketball U15 National Schools Conference, alongside becoming national champions in the U19 and U15 categories in 2015.[2] Furthermore the program has produced a number of players who have gone on to represent both the national team and compete overseas in the US.[3]

Holy Trinity has appeared in the Guinness Book of Records for holding the longest continuous basketball rally.[4] Holy Trinity smashed the record of 60 hours and 3 seconds (set by Japan) and pushed the record to just over 72 hours. The record was set over 13–16 July 2007.

However the school no longer holds the record. It was raised to 81 hours in 2008 in Tenerife.

The drama and music departments work with pupils to create productions every November, alternating between musicals and straight plays. Some productions are:

• Wendy and Peter Pan 2016
• Les Misérables 2015
• Beauty and the Beast 2014
• Oliver! 2013
• A Midsummer Night's Dream 2012
• Back to the 80s 2011
• Arabian Nights 2010
• Hairspray 2009
• Animal Farm 2008
• Seussical 2007

Until 2011 the school held an annual Model United Nations Conference around the beginning of July. The conference brought pupils from schools around the area together to debate and resolve problems together.

The Holy Trinity School also had a permanent Debating Society, meeting once a week to debate on key subjects concerning the school and the world. As well as hosting their own Model UN at the school, the Debating Society takes part in Model UN meetings at other schools. The Society (and the school in general) takes part in the National MACE Speaking competition each year; the competition is run by the English-Speaking Union. For three consecutive years the school has progressed beyond the first round of the competition.

• Official website
• Holy Trinity Record (Newspaper)