School Watch

Kirkby High School takes every opportunity to enhance life for students

The students are fully at the heart of the community at Kirkby High School. The student voice initiatives this year, where all students give the senior leadership team regular feedback on all aspects of school life, has made their student council, student leaders, respect ambassadors and head boy and girl teams an incredibly strong asset in their constant drive for improvement. They are again heavily oversubscribed for year 7 in September 2017, but have no plans to admit more than 200 students per year - remaining a close knit community, where they really know students well, is a high priority for them. If you are curious about Kirkby High School, go and see their school any week day, any time - just let them know when you are going so they can arrange a guided tour. W: www.kirkbyhighschool.net

Gateacre nurtures all children to become great learners

Staff at Gateacre School are driven by the belief that every child should go to a great school and should become a great learner through their values; Believe, Achieve, Succeed. At Gateacre, they aim to ensure that all their young people become great learners by providing an outstanding education, in an environment that is warm, friendly and caring. This is a wonderful and rapidly improving school, it is a place where staff are genuinely proud to work and a school where the students are proud to belong. They look forward to working alongside you and your child in the coming years and beyond, so that they can celebrate with you their success along the way. W: www.gateacre.org

St. Mary’s celebrates outstanding inspection result

St. Mary’s College & Preparatory School achieved an outstanding inspection result this year after being given top marks by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI).

Awarding St. Mary’s its highest-possible grading in both of the main inspection categories; ISI described the quality of pupils’ academic achievements and personal development as excellent, due to the ‘outstandingly positive attitudes towards learning’ at the school’.  Academic excellence is a key aim at St. Mary’s, and pupils achieve outstanding results at all key stages. However, success is measured by much more than examination results. The school places great emphasis on the development of the whole person, encouraging achievement in many fields via its rich programme of extra-curricular activities. T: 0151 924 3926 W: www.stmarys.ac

Bellerive continues to develop and thrive

Bellerive FCJ Catholic College is located in a pleasant area of south Liverpool and is a popular and oversubscribed school. At Bellerive, they value achievement in its widest sense. The heart of the school is rooted in a strong Catholic tradition and their most recent Ofsted report confirmed they remain a good school. The new state of the art sixth form building opened in September 2016 and they have just opened a new science and technology provision with a purpose-built Sports Hall to follow. They continue to offer their own school bus service with routes across the city. W: www.bellerivefcj.org

An exciting future lies ahead for those at St Julie’s

St Julie's Catholic High school is a popular and vibrant learning community where academic excellence is standard and traditional values shape the delivery of a curriculum that is innovative and exciting. In recent years students have left St Julie's Sixth Form to go to Universities in places such as Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art. A recent Archdiocese inspection judged Catholic Education at St. Julie’s ‘outstanding’ in every category. With their brand new building now open, their future is an exciting one! W: www.stjulies.org.uk

St John Bosco hosts Mission Week raising awareness of refugee crisis

St John Bosco Arts College in Croxteth hosted a week-long event with the theme focused around “Refugees welcome”. Ahead of the event, teachers left items around the school to prompt discussion about what the theme could be. Items left included a boat, pieces of clothing and a lifebelt to represent the treacherous journey many refugees take to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. All was revealed on the Monday of mission week as the school welcomed author Frank Cottrell Boyce to the school to discuss his book ‘The Unforgotten Coat’. The hard-hitting story tells the tale of two refugee brothers from Mongolia trying to fit in at a Liverpool school. Students wrote poems, made cushions and took part in activities which touch on difficult subjects around refugees and immigration. Headteacher Darren Gidman says: “Mission Week is always a special occasion for our school as it gives us the opportunity to come together and encourage the discussion of issues affecting our community and young people.” W: www.stjohnboscoartscollege.com

Pupils have a ball as they bid fond farewell

Pupils and staff attended the Tower College Leavers’ Ball at the Hillcrest Hotel in Widnes, to celebrate the pupils’ time and achievements at school. In many cases, pupils had attended for 13 years, from nursery through to year 11. As always, it was a splendid occasion awash with style and elegance. All were treated to a delightful three-course meal over which many happy memories were shared. Miss Oxley fondly summed up the evening, saying: “It is always a lovely event as long-serving staff, some former pupils themselves, watch with pride as the pupils emerge from school as confident young adults who will go far in life.” So, farewell to all the Year 11 Leavers; Tower College wishes them the very best of luck in their future careers. W: www.towercollege.com