Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School
Blessed Hugh Faringdon is a Catholic state secondary school in Reading in Berkshire, England. The school has approximately 850 pupils on roll and around 100 teaching and non teaching staff. The school specialises in Mathematics and the Performing Arts. Blessed Hugh Faringdon is one of the many Catholic schools in and around Reading but the only secondary and is under the Trusteeship of the Diocese of Portsmouth. The school is a member of the Partners in Excellence group of schools. History Blessed Hugh Faringdon was founded in the 1958 by and for the Catholic Community in Reading. £200,000 was raised by the Catholic Community to purchase the land and build the school. The efforts were led by Archbishop John Henry King who encouraged the parishes of Reading to raise money through subscriptions, garden fetes, bazaars and bank loans. The school was named after Hugh Faringdon, who was a member of the Order of Saint Benedict and was elected abbot of Reading Abbey in 1520. He frequently entertained King Henry VIII at the abbey, but in 1539, at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, he was indicted for high treason and was executed opposite the present St James's Church.