St Wilfrids Catholic High School, North Featherstone

Infobox UK school
name = St Wilfrid's Catholic High School


phone = 01977 691000
fax = 01977 723569
established =
type = High School
head = Mr. J. McNally cite web| url=http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Education/Schools/Admission/Secondary/Schools/StWilfrids/Default.htm | title=www.wakefield.gov.uk: St Wilfrid's Catholic High School and Sixth Form College, Dual Language and Vocational Specialists | accessdate=2007-05-30]
street = Cutsyke Road
city = Featherstone
county = West Yorkshire
country = England
enrollment = 1600
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
publication =
website = http://www.st-wilfrids.wakefield.sch.uk/index.html
website_name = www.st-wilfrids.wakefield.sch.uk
email = [e-mail]

St Wilfrid's Catholic High School and Sixth Form College, Dual Language and Vocational Specialists is a mixed 11-18 comprehensive school for both Catholic and non-Catholics alike.

Mission Statement

Welcome At St Wilfrid's every individual is valued and supported. We aim to make everyone feel they are a part of a community which works together and cares for each other. At the heart of our life is a desire to encourage students to lead a Christian life and be of service to others. We aim to get the best out of every individual academically, to help them achieve their highest standards.

History

In 1998, St Wilfrid's became a Language College.cite web | title=Specialist Schools Home | publisher=DfES | date=July 2006 | url=http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/ | accessdate=2006-08-02] Every student has a choice of six languages to choose from, as well as a chosen language. The language college offers six languages including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian and Japanese.

In 2003 the school had both an OfSTED and Religious Education inspection which identified St.Wilfrid’s as “a very good school, with very excellent features”.cite web | title=2003 Ofsted Report | publisher=Ofsted | date=March/April 2003 | url=http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?inspectionNumber=249773&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\school\108\s10_108297_20030716.pdf | accessdate=2007-06-24] Following this OFSTED identified the St. Wilfrid's as an Outstanding School in his annual report in 2004.

In recognition of its high achievement, St. Wilfrid's was additionally awarded a second specialism as a Vocational specialist college. This came into effect in September 2006 and is apparent in the wide range of 14-19 courses on offer to pupils. These currently include: Health & Social care, Travel and Tourism, Performing Arts (Dance and Drama), IT for Practitioners, NVQ in European languages, NVQ Hairdressing, CISCO IT networking and Construction.

The April 2007 inspection by OfSTED recognised the school's qualities as "Good with Outstanding features"cite web | title=2007 Ofsted Report | publisher=Ofsted | date=May 2007 | url=http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=108297&inspectionNumber=301965&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\school\108\s5_108297_20070611.xml | accessdate=2007-06-24] . The subsequent Religious Education inspection awarded an "Outstanding" judgement.

Awards

St. Wilfrids has several national awards including the Schools Curriculum Award, Sportsmark Award, the School Achievement Award given in 2002 and 2003 for outstanding improvements in GCSE results, the Arts Council Artsmark Silver award, the British Council International School Award for outstanding global links, the Ramseys Award given to the school with the best global video-conferencing facilities and programme, as well as the Investors in People Award recognising excellence in training and development for all teaching and non-teaching staff. The school was recently (February 2007) awarded the Arts Council Artsmark Gold award.

The School has Launched a School production every year for approximately 20 years, the plays and musicals always draw in big crowds full of local families and students parents. The Most recent of these productions was "Disco Inferno" which starred Jake Mitchell as the lead, Jake has previously acted in 'Heartbeat'. 'The Royal' and the TV movie 'If I had you'. All the nights sold out and reviews were generally excellent and credit was given to the cast and Director Sally Eldridge, the school's head of Drama.

Vocational

In 2006 we were awarded a second specialism as a Vocational College.

Our Vocational specialism means we offer a distinctive range of courses that provide even more opportunities for students to gain valuable qualifications. Our links to local employers are second to none.

What is the nitty-gritty of my studies?

All our vocational courses follow a curriculum developed by exam boards with the help of employers. Some courses use applied learning in an academic school classroom context. Wherever possible, links to the world of employment are emphasised; this may be visiting speakers, work placements, visits or real work. This means that in most cases you will be occupationally competent to carry out the job in the career you have chosen on completion of your course. In the case of level 3 courses, you may even enrol at University.

We are the only school sixth form to offer NVQ Hairdressing in the region, we have strong links with local employers and work experience providers, most students go on to employment or further education and we have an excellent stay-on rate (students rarely leave with nothing). Our facilities and staff are superb.

AS/A2 Available courses

*Art and Design
*Art Graphics
*Biology
*Business Studies
*Chemistry
*Resistant Materials
*Food Technology
*Graphics
*Textiles
*English Language
*English Literature
*French
*Further Mathematics
*General Studies
*Geography
*German
*Government and Politics
*History
*ICT
*Mathematics
*Media Studies
*Music
*Music Technology
*Physical Education
*Physics
*Psychology
*Sociology
*Spanish
*Drama and Theatre Studies
*Theology

chool Uniform

*School blazer.
*School tie.
*A grey 'V' necked cardigan or pullover.
*Boys - Black or grey socks.
*Girls - Black or grey tights or white socks.
*Black low heeled FULL shoes. Trainers and boots are not allowed.
*In adverse weather a coat may be needed. Expensive leather or 'fashion' coats, tracksuit or denim tops are not allowed.
*Boys - Grey collar shirt and black/grey tailored, uniform trousers.
*Girls - Yellow collar blouse and black tailored trousers, or a dark grey knee length skirt.
*Year 11 students must wear plain white shirts.
*Short sleeve shirts should not be worn.

Extreme hair styles and colours, jewellery and make-up including nail varnish are not allowed in school. The only exception to this is a single pair of studs may be worn in the ear lobes for girls and a wrist watch is permitted or if the person is a frequent visitor to B19.

Language Curriculum

The Modern Languages curriculum is rich and varied with 6 Languages; French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian taught in key stage 3 as first and second languages.In key stage 4 the department offers 5 Languages at GCSE level, this will develop to 6 as Russian progresses through the school. 10 GCSE courses are taught via after school twilight classes, allowing for increased numbers of dual and triple linguists in Years 9-11. The OCR NVQ level 1 language Units qualification was introduced into the teaching of the department in September 2005. This has proven to be a huge success in both raising standards and in motivating students to relate the learning of a language to a useful, practical and tangible work related environment. NVQ Level 2 qualifications were introduced in September 2006 and we aim to extend our provision and training in NVQ in future years, as the school develops its Vocational status.At AS & A2 level, French, German, Spanish and Italian are currently taught. In addition to the GCSE and A’ Level courses delivered, the MFL department also run Asset Languages courses as an introduction to a new language. The languages offered include: Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Russian, Polish and Swedish. The ethos of Language College is widespread throughout school and well beyond into the local and wider communities.

References

External links

* [http://www.st-wilfrids.wakefield.sch.uk/ Official website]