St Thomas himself was a 13th-century theologian who was so chunky that a nickname for him was “the Dumb Ox” (which is hilarious, because he was actually a genius). He once scribbled a prayer on a napkin that is still used today, and he had a habit of writing so much that his scribe literally ran out of paper. The trust named after him probably hopes you run out of paper writing essays, too.
Here’s a surprise: Aquinas argued that laughter is a good thing, because it helps us rest our tired brains. So the trust is, in a roundabout way, ethically obligated to let you giggle at a meme during detention. I’m not saying that’s in the charter, but it should be.
What does this trust actually do?
It runs a bunch of primary and secondary schools across the UK, mostly in the Midlands. Imagine a giant octopus, but instead of tentacles, it has headteachers, and instead of ink, it squirts out Ofsted reports. Delightful. They handle everything from payroll to PE kits, so individual teachers can focus on, you know, teaching.
The trust’s motto is something like “building the kingdom of God through education.” That’s fancy talk for: they want kids to learn algebra and also not be jerks. Surprisingly, this is harder than it sounds. One of their bizarre facts is that they run a “Farm School” project where kids learn to milk goats. Because nothing says “seventeenth-century piety” like getting kicked by a goat before lunch.
Home - St Thomas Aquinas – Catholic Multi-Academy Trust
