 Bishop Simpson Church of England Girls School amalgamated with St Joseph’s Catholic (mixed) School to form St Bede’s School which opened in September 1976 as a joint Anglican and Roman Catholic school and later included free churches on its governing body.It claims to be the first such fully ecumenical school in the world.Between 1988 and 1999 the school underwent large-scale building works to bring the school together on its present site, and to create new facilities for a library, ICT and careers.