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I hope that it provides you with all of the information that you need whilst giving you an insight into St. Joseph's Catholic College.
We are a Catholic College and as such we firmly believe that we are a community in which all are valued, where the life and the relationships of the College are permeated by Gospel values and in which the individual is seen as unique, with infinite potential for growth towards wholeness.
St. Joseph's is indeed a unique place to be for both students and staff. It is a high achieving, multi cultural College where raising aspirations is seen not only in terms of academic achievement but more importantly as a preparation for its students to be active, caring, fulfilled citizens in an ever changing world.
St. Joseph's is a Business and Enterprise College as well as a Gifted and Talented Lead School for The Schools Network. This does make a real difference to our students in the many opportunities that are available to them both inside the College and in the wider community. We deliver a range of external courses for our community ranging from ICT, ECDL, to learning a new language and a range of work and life skills courses as part of the Extended Schools initiative.
The College achieved Outstanding in its Ofsted report in 2008/9. This was followed by an Outstanding R.E inspection. We are justly proud of these successes, but realise that a great deal of hard work is ahead if we are to maintain and consolidate on our strong foundations.
We will continue to focus on our personalised curriculum and how it can be shaped to suit the needs of individual students. Our extended Key Stage 4 programme, starting in Year 9, continues to be an area for development along with our bi-weekly Flexible Fridays. The College offers a number of subjects at GCSE and also BTECs in Drama and Sport.
The College is very proud of its improving Sixth Form. This year, the College was included in the Government Initiatives IQ A Level Excellence Report. We offer all the traditional ‘A’ Levels which includes amongst others: A Level French and Italian, Physics and Chemistry alongside BTECs Level 3 in Sport, Science and Performing Arts. The recent Sutton Report stated that St. Joseph’s had a higher percentage of reaching university than either New or Cirencester Colleges.
The College is very fortunate to be a part of Villiers Park. This is an initiative which seeks to enable students who have no history of further education in their family, get to the ‘elite’ universities. At present we have over twenty five students in our Sixth Form and fifteen students in Key Stage 4 taking part in this wonderful programme.
Learning and teaching along with personal development and well being continue to be priority areas at the College for all our students from Year 7 through to Year 13.
There is a high emphasis placed on the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of our staff as we realise the importance that this has in both raising aspirations and impacting on students’ achievements. This year the focus is on ‘Gifted and Talented’ training.
The College now has its own Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Students and parents can now access College resources and information. I believe this is leading to improved communication between students, parents and the College.
St. Joseph's is a truly special place where every child really does matter. At St. Joseph's we have always considered ourselves as a family, ultimately wanting the best for each other. I hope that it will continue to be a College that succeeds in its aim to enable students to fulfil their infinite potential by being an innovative, energising place for both students and staff.
I look forward to working with and meeting you over the coming year.
Maureen Harries
Principal
September 2011
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