It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our school website which I hope will give you an insight into life at St Catherine’s, how we are currently organised and our mission to provide Catholic Education for young people from the Calderdale and surrounding areas. The links will provide you with information about a range of aspects of the school from curriculum initiatives to news and events.
Over the next months St. Catherine’s will undergo significant changes as it moves to become an academy. The school will federate with Trinity Academy Halifax which is co-located on the same site and we will share the same sponsors which are the Anglican Diocese of Wakefield, Huddersfield University, Calderdale College and Calderdale Council. Although we will cease to be a voluntary aided Catholic school we will maintain our commitment to promoting a Christian ethos.
St Catherine’s is a caring and vibrant school that prides itself on keeping pace with new and innovative education strategies and ideas. We aim to maintain a positive ethos within a learning community that caters for young people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Our emphasis is on providing a first class education that meets the individual needs of all our young people. In order to achieve this we focus on raising levels of attainment and standards through a positive behaviour framework and appropriate teaching and learning styles.
Through the specialist schools programme we have had the opportunity to develop our specialisms of Technology, Science and Maths. Our engagement with this programme has enabled us to build a high quality bank of technological resources that benefit the curriculum and help raise standards and levels of achievement. It has also helped us to develop community and links that help children and young people develop social and citizenship skills; and encourages parental involvement in school based events and activities . We provide a broad and balanced curriculum and constantly review what our curriculum offers in order to meet the personalised needs of all our learners. We see it as vital that curriculum changes reflect the interests and learning needs of our young people as well as providing them with appropriate skills and qualifications in preparation for life beyond compulsory education.
As an 11 to 16 school we work closely with Trinity Academy Halifax to encourage students to take advantage of the post 16 opportunities available at the Academy. We understand that there needs to be a personalised approach to information advice and guidance and ensure that students are made aware of all potential post 16 routes and opportunities.
St Catherine’s prides itself on its pastoral care and form tutors, led by Progress and Learning Managers, track and monitor individual students’ academic, social and personal progress. It is our aim to ensure that all our young people develop and achieve to their full potential and are valued as individuals. Our emphasis is on ensuring that Catholic Education forms the basis of all we do. This includes encouraging and developing Christian values and relationships, daily prayer and the opportunities for worship and liturgy.
We hope that you find this website useful and welcome feedback that will help us to improve and develop this forum. We are an open learning environment and happy to invite you to visit the school, meet staff and students and see our facilities.
Patricia Sheard (Headteacher)
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