St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Chesterfield

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


size = 120px
latitude = 53.25324
longitude = -1.45311
dms = dms
motto = "Gaudium Et Spes" (Latin: "Joy and Hope")
motto_pl =
established = 8 January 1856
approx =
closed =
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type =
religion = Roman Catholic
president =
head_label = Headteacher
head = Mr. S. McClafferty BA (Hons)
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r_head =
chair_label =
chair =
founder =
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specialist = Language College
specialist_pl =
street = Newbold Road
city = Chesterfield
county = Derbyshire
country = England
postcode = S41 8AG
LEA = Derbyshire
ofsted = 112998
staff =
enrollment = 1142
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses = Derwent, Dove, Amber and Wye
colours = Blue
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
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website = http://www.st-maryshigh.derbyshire.sch.uk
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St Mary's Roman Catholic High School is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, comprehensive school 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 1260 pupils attending, including 254 sixth form students (as of 2006).The Headteacher of this school is currently Mr S McClafferty, after the retirement of Mr T Moore OBE who has won awards for his involvements in the school's charity work, particularly the funding and building of a school in Burkina Faso, Africa. He received an OBE in December 2006 [http://www.honours.gov.uk/upload/assets/www.honours.gov.uk/queens_list.pdf 2006 Birthday Honours list, containing the nomination of Thomas Moore.] ] ; this was mentioned on the local BBC News programme "Look North".

The school is voluntary aided and holds many fundraising events in order to aid itself financially.

St Mary's performance is considerably higher than the local and national average [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/04/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/830_5413.stm School status at BBC site] accessed 24 December 2007] , and was recognised as 'particularly successful' by Ofsted in 1993-4 and 1997-8 [ [http://live.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/index.cfm?fuseaction=exceptionalResults&action=byRegion&byRegion=4 Ofsted report on line] ] .

However, it should be noted that the School has no specific geographical catchment area (like other schools in the area) and so can choose students from church Parishes in Chesterfield, though all Catholic applicants are generally accepted; regardless of academic ability. [http://www.st-maryshigh.derbyshire.sch.uk/admissions/criteria-for-admission-in-september-2007 Criteria for Admission in September 2008] accessed 24 December 2007]

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.

History

Beginnings

The school was first 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. 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.

Present Campus

The present campus was the brainchild of Canon David Ryan. He worked tirelessly, 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 2000 a new building was built to house the school's ICT facilities. This was dedicated to Canon David Ryan and was named 'The Canon David Ryan Building'.

In the summer of 2002, work in building an all-weather astroturf 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 also the local hockey club.

In September 2003 work on a 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 summer of 2005.

esquicentennial

The school celebrated its sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary) in 2006. One of the main celebrations involved the building of a school in Burkina Faso. Fundraising started in 2005, in order to reach a target of £30,000.

The school is now complete and footage of lessons were recently shown on the local BBC News programme "Look North" in December 2006, in the same article announcing that Mr. T. Moore will be receiving an OBE.

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 and the house symbol is a dove
*Chi Rho - The symbol is the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ (chi = ch and rho = r) superimposed.
*Ichthus - The house symbol is a fish.
*Pneuma - The house symbol is a flame, signifying the everlasting flame of Christ.

The house symbols appear on the students badges. The colour of the picture shows which year group they belong to and the colour is retained until the student leaves the school.

Pupils can be rewarded with merits for repeatedly achieving good work. These merits count towards the points scored by the pupil's house for the year.

1000 lbs of Manflesh

The School has its own Male Voice Choir, formed after the Chamber Choir ended in summer 2007. The Male Choir, called 1000 lbs of Manflesh 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.

St Mary's is one of the very few State Schools in the country to have a male voice choir.

The manflesh of 2007/8

Director Mrs Felicity Fletcher

Tenor 1 Daniel Humphries, James Cook

Tenor 2 George Stephenson, Joe Fallon

Baritone Chris Mather, Richard Smedley, Daniel Brooks

Bass Alex Breedon, Mark Karim, Luke Johnston, (James Coldrick)

The manflesh of 2008/9

Daniel Humphries, James Cooks, George Stephenson, Joe Fallon, Daniel Brooks, Alex Breedon, Mark Karim and Luke Johnston have now left. Manflesh continues with students from years 10 to 13 (including Chris Mather, Richard Smedley, Matthew Rodger, Stuart Found and others) and will perform at the Crooked Spire Concert and Winding Wheel concert and possibly other occations this and next year. Mrs Fletcher continues as Director.

chool Status

*St. Mary's is a DfES designated Language College.

*St. Mary's is also a DfES designated Beacon School.

References

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/04/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/830_5413.stm School attendance, compared with the local and national averages.]
* [http://live.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/index.cfm?fuseaction=exceptionalResults&action=byRegion&byRegion=4 Ofsted list of "Outstanding Providers in the East Midland region".]
* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/dfekx1_05.pl?Mode=Z&Code=&School=8305413&Type= KS3 Tables.]
* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/dfe1x1_05.pl?Mode=Z&Code=&No=830&School=8305413&Lsc=14&Type=&back= GCSE Tables.]
* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/dfe2x1_05.pl?Mode=Z&Code=&School=8305413&Type=&back=&No=830 Post 16 Tables.]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,114737,00.html The Times - "Top State Schools at GCSE"]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,113844,00.html The Times - "Top State Schools at A Level"]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,115677,00.html The Times - "Top Schools for GCSE" (both state and independent)]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,114842,00.html The Times - "Ranking of all Schools at A Level" (both state and independent)]
*Church of The Annunciation, Chesterfield - A Celebration of 150 Years 1854-2004 ISBN 0-9548623-0-9
* [http://www.st-maryshigh.derbyshire.sch.uk/file_download/9 School Prospectus]

External links

* [http://www.st-maryshigh.derbyshire.sch.uk/ School Website]
* [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/112/112998.pdf Ofsted Report (March 2004)]