Sir Thomas Picton School is a secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 in Haverfordwest

Haverfordwest

Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales and serves as the County's principal commercial and administrative centre. Haverfordwest is the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire, with a population of 13,367 in 2001; though its community boundaries make it the second most populous...

, Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, with around 1250 students, 200 of whom are in Years 12 and 13. The school caters for pupils from all over Pembrokeshire, serving towns such as Haverfordwest and Neyland.

It is named after Sir Thomas Picton, (August, 1758 – 18 June 1815), a Welsh military leader who fought in a number of campaigns for Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, and rose to the rank of lieutenant general

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

. He is chiefly remembered for his exploits under the Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...

 in the Iberian Peninsular War

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

 and at the Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, where he was mortally wounded while his division stopped d'Erlon's corps attack against the allied centre left, and so became the most senior officer to die at Waterloo.

The school was never, as some people think, an old military hospital. It was purposely built in the early 1950s as the new secondary modern school and the land was previously agricultural. The school has recently improved its facilities, with new science laboratories and refurbished toilets. It is known for its sports facilities, including the neighboring sports centre, gym, sports hall, running track,and astro-turf.

Notable ex-pupils include:

• Connie Fisher
  Connie Fisher
  Connie Fisher is a Welsh actress and singer, who won the BBC One talent contest, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?...
  
   - singer, winner of the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
  How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
  How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? was a British television talent series, that was broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One between 29 July and 16 September 2006. It documented the search for a new, undiscovered musical theatre performer to play the role of Maria von Trapp in the 2006 Andrew...
  
  
• Duffy
  Duffy (singer)
  Aimée Ann Duffy , known as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her 2008 debut album Rockferry entered the UK Album Chart at number one. It was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2008 with 1.68 million copies sold...
  
   - female soul singer-songwriter

Layout

The school is split into different wings, labelled from A-H.

A Wing: Pupil Support and Resources.

B Wing: English Department, and Special Educational Needs.

C Wing: Modern and Foreign Languages.

D Wing: Biology, Chemistry, Geography, and ICT Facilities.

E Wing: Home Economics, Performing Arts (Music and Drama).

F Wing: Art and Technology (Resistant Materials,Electronics, Textiles).

G Wing: Physics and ICT Facilities.

H Wing: Mathematics, Sociology, History, Religious Studies and ICT Facilities.

Facilities

The school is very much about creating a caring environment for pupils, and has a very active school council system. There are many unique facilities at the school, including new science labs, ICT facilities and an extensive range of vocational studies to choose from. The school operates under the Haverfordwest federation, whereby the school can share resources with other nearby educational establishments, such as Pembrokeshire College

Pembrokeshire College

Pembrokeshire College is a further education college with a campus in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in Wales and around 40 outreach centres across the county...

 and Tasker-Milward VC School.

Pupils

The school has 1167 pupils on its roll as of June 2010, of whom 200 attend sixth form lessons. Pupil support is a very important aim of the school, so there are many facilities available in school to help pupils, such as a school counselling service, a peer mentoring system, and form tutor mentoring.

The environment

One of the school's major aims is to improve the way in which the environment around the building is treated, and also the overall contribution of greenhouse emissions from the school. There have been large scale projects to replace the older windows with double-glazing to conserve heat energy, and plans to install a wind turbine to help meet the school's rising energy needs are well underway, which may supply 10-15% of its required electrical energy.

School council

School council at STP is considered very important, and also vital to help improve the school by listening to other pupils, and implementing changes.

Extra-curricular activities

There are many extra activities and facilities for pupils to attend/use outside of lesson time. Some examples are:

-Extr@STP

-Blue Lagoon (Peer mentoring)
-Naked Jelly Wrestling
-Naked orgies