St Wilfrids Catholic High School, North Featherstone
Encyclopedia
St Wilfrid's Catholic High School and Sixth Form
College, Dual Language
and Vocational Specialists is a mixed 11–18 comprehensive school
catering for both Catholic
and non-Catholics.
which 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 many excellent features”. St. Wilfrid's was awarded a second specialism as a Vocational specialist college which came into effect in September 2006. 14–19 courses on offer to pupils 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. It has it's own swimming pool.
The April 2007 inspection by OfSTED
recognised the school as "Good with Outstanding features". The subsequent Religious Education inspection awarded an "Outstanding" judgement.
The school has launched a theatrical production every year for approximately 20 years, the plays and musicals always draw in audiences of local families and the parents of students. The most recent of these productions was "Little Shop of Horrors" starring Jake Mitchell and Helena Bloomer in the lead roles.
Also the school has undergone renevations quite recently expanding its grounds to include the new 'newlands' building and 2 new tennis courts. Newlands has been used for maths, technology and language lessons for all year groups.
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 have also been earned. In February 2007 the school was awarded the Arts Council
Artsmark
Gold award.
NVQ level 1 language units qualification was introduced into the teaching of the department in September 2005. This has proven to be a success in both raising standards and 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 the school aims to extend its provision and training in NVQ in future years as it develops its vocational status.
At AS & A2 level, French, German, Spanish and Italian are taught. In addition to the GCSE and A’ Level courses delivered, the Modern Foreign Languages department also run Asset Languages courses as an introduction to a new language. The languages offered include: Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Russian, Polish and Swedish.
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
College, Dual Language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and Vocational Specialists is a mixed 11–18 comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
catering for both Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and non-Catholics.
History
In 1998, St Wilfrid's became a Language CollegeLanguage College
Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...
which offers six languages including French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, German
Culture of Germany
German culture began long before the rise of Germany as a nation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
In 2003 the school had both an OfSTED
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
and Religious Education inspection which identified St.Wilfrid’s as “a very good school, with many excellent features”. St. Wilfrid's was awarded a second specialism as a Vocational specialist college which came into effect in September 2006. 14–19 courses on offer to pupils include: Health & Social care, Travel and Tourism, Performing Arts (Dance and Drama), IT for Practitioners, NVQ in European languages, NVQ Hairdressing, CISCO
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
IT networking and Construction. It has it's own swimming pool.
The April 2007 inspection by OfSTED
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
recognised the school as "Good with Outstanding features". The subsequent Religious Education inspection awarded an "Outstanding" judgement.
The school has launched a theatrical production every year for approximately 20 years, the plays and musicals always draw in audiences of local families and the parents of students. The most recent of these productions was "Little Shop of Horrors" starring Jake Mitchell and Helena Bloomer in the lead roles.
Also the school has undergone renevations quite recently expanding its grounds to include the new 'newlands' building and 2 new tennis courts. Newlands has been used for maths, technology and language lessons for all year groups.
Awards
St. Wilfrids has several national awards including the Schools Curriculum Award, SportsmarkSportsmark
Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.Sportsmark awards are given to secondary schools for provision for sport and physical education. They are currently being reviewed along with Activemark awards...
Award, the School Achievement Award given in 2002 and 2003 for outstanding improvements in GCSE results. The Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
Artsmark
Artsmark
Artsmark is a national award scheme managed by Arts Council England. The scheme, that is open to all schools in England, recognises schools with a high level of provision in the arts.There are three levels of award:* Artsmark Gold* Artsmark Silver...
Silver award, the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
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
Investors in People
Launched in 1991 Investors in People is a business improvement tool administered by UK Commission for Employment and Skills and supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ....
Award recognising excellence in training and development for all teaching and non-teaching staff have also been earned. In February 2007 the school was awarded the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
Artsmark
Artsmark
Artsmark is a national award scheme managed by Arts Council England. The scheme, that is open to all schools in England, recognises schools with a high level of provision in the arts.There are three levels of award:* Artsmark Gold* Artsmark Silver...
Gold award.
Vocational
In 2006 the school was awarded a second specialism as a Vocational College. Vocational specialism means that the school offers a distinctive range of courses that provide opportunities for students to gain qualifications. All vocational courses follow a curriculum developed by exam boards with the help of employers. 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 students will be occupationally competent to carry out a job in their chosen career.AS/A2 Available courses
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Language curriculum
The ethos of a language college is widespread throughout school. The curriculum includes 6 Languages; French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian all of which are taught at key stage 3 as first and second languages. In key stage 4 the department offers 5 Languages at GCSE level. 10 GCSE courses are taught via after school twilight classes, allowing for increased numbers of dual and triple linguists in Years 9–11.NVQ level 1 language units qualification was introduced into the teaching of the department in September 2005. This has proven to be a success in both raising standards and 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 the school aims to extend its provision and training in NVQ in future years as it develops its vocational status.
At AS & A2 level, French, German, Spanish and Italian are taught. In addition to the GCSE and A’ Level courses delivered, the Modern Foreign Languages department also run Asset Languages courses as an introduction to a new language. The languages offered include: Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Russian, Polish and Swedish.