St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Chesterfield

For schools with a similar name, see St. Mary's Roman Catholic High School (disambiguation).
St Mary's Catholic High School
Motto Gaudium et Spes
Established 1865
Type Academy
Religion Catholic
Headteacher Maria Dengate
Location Gatefield Close
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S41 8AG
England
53°15′12″N 1°27′11″W / 53.25324°N 1.45311°W / 53.25324; -1.45311Coordinates: 53°15′12″N 1°27′11″W / 53.25324°N 1.45311°W / 53.25324; -1.45311
DfE URN 138470 Tables
Ofsted Reports Pre-academy reports
Students 1,260 pupils
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–19
Houses Pneuma Ichthus Pax ChiRho Alpha Omega
Colours Navy Blue
Broke Ground 30 May 1978
Website www.st-maryshigh.derbyshire.sch.uk

St Mary's Catholic High School is a Catholic, co-educational, secondary school with academy status in Upper Newbold, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, that specialises in the teaching of languages.

It received a School Achievements Award for the third time in 2003 and has approximately 1,260 pupils attending, including 254 sixth form students.

History

Beginnings

The school opened on 8 January 1856. It was part of the Church of the Annunciation, a Roman Catholic church in Chesterfield, built by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and completed in 1854.[1] The church at the time was also known as St Mary's. The school later moved to a site on Cross Street, also in Chesterfield, around 100 metres from the church. The buildings on Cross Street are now home to St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a feeder school to St Mary's Roman Catholic High School. Both schools are closely linked with the Church of the Annunciation.

In 1997, the school adopted the motto that now adorns the school badge, "Gaudium et Spes", meaning "Joy and Hope".

The school's mission is "Live, love and learn in the light of Christ".

Present campus

The present campus was the brainchild of Canon David Ryan. He worked for fourteen years from the time of his arrival as Parish Priest at the Annunciation, to raise funds for the new school campus. The present campus was officially opened in 1982, one year after its completion. In 1996, a new Music Block and Maths/Physics Block were built, and in 2000 a new building was built to house the school's ICT facilities and sixth form study. This was dedicated to Canon David Ryan and was named the Canon David Ryan Building. David Ryan died in 2003.

In the middle of 2002, work in building an all-weather astro-turf sports pitch was completed. The pitch has facilities for football and hockey, and is floodlit for use during the evening, particularly for after-school sports fixtures and Chesterfield Hockey Club.

View of Reception

In September 2003, work on a £1.6 million Sports Hall was started, the building was completed in June 2004. The building was dedicated and blessed in the same month.

In 2004, work started on building a new building to house the school's English Department, this was completed in the middle of 2005.

Footballer Harry Maguire to Mrs Cain and Mr McKee on 10 January 2018.

The new reception area was completed in the middle of 2009.

In 2014, work began on a new Drama Studio next to the Music Block, to replace the original one in the Humanities Block, which is now Learning Support. The new Drama Studio was completed in the middle of 2015.

In 2016, one of the language classrooms was turned into Maths 6. In 2017, Art 3 was converted into a room used as part of the Enrichment Learning Programme.

Future of campus

Plans are currently being drawn up (April 2018) for a new two-storey block which will be located on the site of the cage and portacabins. It will include many more classrooms, offices and facilities including communal toilets, special needs rooms, pupil media facilities and a large events hall and foyer with lantern roof.

There is also the possibility of a two-storey extension off the Ryan Block with dining space on the ground floor and more sixth-form rooms upstairs. The school is currently attempting to do fundraising for these projects.

140th anniversary

The school celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2005. One of the main celebrations involved the building of a school in Burkina Faso. Fundraising started in 2005, including a mass sleepover in the newly built Sports Hall in order to reach a target of £30,000.

The school is now complete and footage of lessons were shown on the local BBC News programme Look North in December 2006, in the same article announcing that T. Moore was to receive an OBE.

Sesquicentennial

The school celebrated its sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) on 30 January 2015. A competition took place during art lessons to design a new logo for the school. A time capsule was buried outside the Admin Block to be opened in 2065. Planting of trees also took place.

Staff

The school has around 120 staff, including teaching assistants, plus midday supervisors, cooks and cleaners.

Head Maria Dengate

Deputy Head Susan Cain

Assistant Head Helen McKay

Director of Business and Finance Alison Finch

School houses

St Mary's has six school houses which compete in the school's various inter-house events (primarily sport). The house names reflect the school's Catholic ethos:

  • Alpha - The house symbol is the Greek letter alpha
  • Omega - The house symbol is the Greek letter omega
  • Pax - Sign of peace holy spirit and the house symbol is a dove.
  • Chi Rho - The symbol is the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ (chi = x and rho = p) superimposed.
  • Ichthus - The house symbol is a fish which was used by early Christians
  • Pneuma - The house symbol is a flame, signifying the everlasting flame of Christ and breath of God.

The house symbols appear on the pupils' badges. The colour of the picture shows which year group they belong to and the colour is retained until the pupil leaves Year 11.

Pupils can be rewarded with house points for positive behaviour and good deeds. These merits count towards the points scored by the pupil's house for the year. However, negatives (debits) can be given if pupils have a poor attitude or conduct in school, or makes videos trying to give the school a positive reputation and help boost fundraising.

Extracurricular

There are many extracurricular clubs and sports teams which pupils can join. The school hosts a sports day annually at Mount St Mary's or the English Institute of Sport

Some of the clubs/practices include: basketball, hockey, netball, table tennis, football, rugby, homework, language, photography, art, comedy, unexplained phenomena and chaplaincy.

Choir

The school has several choirs spanning all year groups. The school has its own male voice choir - "Manflesh" - formed after the Chamber Choir ended in the middle of 2007. The male choir made its first appearance at the 2007 Crooked Spire concert, singing 'Gaudete' and 'A La Ruru Nino'. 2008 saw Manflesh sing at the Winding Wheel, and then in July, along with the other school choirs, tour Venice singing at St Mark's Basilica and San Giovanni. In 2013, "Mini Manflesh" was added to the list of choirs, an all-male choir for lower years. The school holds concerts throughout the year at different venues, and has a large band which perform in the three masses in the school year.

School status

St. Mary's is a DfES designated Language College and Academy.

The school is voluntary aided and holds many fundraising events in order to aid itself financially. It also regularly donates money to different charities. The current charity is Sheffield Children's Hospital and bake sales, badges and even a book about true ghost stories on the school site have all raised lots of money for the charity.

St Mary's performance is considerably higher than the local and national average,[2] and was recognised as "particularly successful" by Ofsted in 1993-4 and 1997-8.[3]

The school has no specific geographical catchment area (like other schools in the area) and so can choose pupils from church parishes in Chesterfield, though all Catholic applicants are generally accepted; regardless of academic ability.[4]

The school adopted the song "Let us build a school" as their official school hymn in 2006. Former Australian international cricketer Jason Gillespie has visited the school, and there is a picture of him in the sports hall to commemorate this. In January 2018, former pupils Harry and Laurence Maguire visited the school and a signed football shirt was presented to Mr McKee and Mrs Cain.

The school hymn Walking in Faith with Mary our Mother is often sung in school masses and assemblies. It was composed by Mrs Fletcher and Mrs Breedon and includes the school's mission "Live, love and learn in the light of Christ" in the lyrics.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ Church of the Annunciation, Chesterfield - A Celebration of 150 Years 1854-2004 ISBN 0-9548623-0-9
  2. ↑ School status at BBC site accessed 24 December 2007
  3. ↑ Ofsted report on line
  4. ↑ Criteria for Admission in September 2008 accessed 24 December 2007

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