About St Wilfrid’s

St Wilfrid’s is a large Catholic VA secondary school with a roll of 1800 (including 400 6^th form students) in Featherstone, north east of Wakefield. Pupils come from a variety of social backgrounds and are attracted from a wide area, including communities in neighbouring local authorities. The great majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds and few speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is broadly in line with schools nationally. The number of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities has increased and is approaching the national average.

In 2009 the percentage of students achieving 5 GCSE’s with grades A* to C was 95%, and the A-Level average point score was 790. The school received a rating of grade 2 during its last Ofsted inspection in 2007 – “a good and improving school with some outstanding features”. Ofsted also commented on our “encouraging and supportive” learning environment, the fact that “parents value highly the education it provides” and that “the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of its pupils is excellent”. The recent Wakefield-wide Strategic Area Review by OFSTED identified us as a “consistently excellent” post-16 provider, a judgement confirmed by several other external agencies, which place us in the top 12% performing sixth form colleges nationally.

The school is a designated resource base for pupils with speech and language or communication difficulty. We have been a specialist Language College since 2000 and the ethos of Language College is widespread throughout school and well beyond into the local and wider communities. Every year the school hosts an International Week, in which over 200 teachers and pupils from all around the world come to St Wilfrid’s for a week of cultural workshops and inter-school link projects.

We are fortunate to have over 100 partner schools in over 30 countries and this allows our pupils the opportunity to meet and correspond with their international peers. The International Dimension is a strong feature of St Wilfrid’s and has helped to broaden our pupils’ horizons and to develop a common vision and sense of belonging for all communities; where the diversity of people’s different backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and positively valued. Global citizenship forms a key strand of our whole school curriculum. Having been awarded the International School’s Award on two occasions St Wilfrid’s is proud of the strong international dimension that permeates the curriculum. Our Modern Languages department also delivers and leads Primary MFL teaching in French, German and Spanish each week to 8 partner primary schools.

Among the many initiatives the school is involved with is the Food for Life Partnership, an award scheme that allows schools and their communities to transform their existing food culture into one that focuses on health, sustainability, attainment and enjoyment. Through developing skills in cooking, growing, enterprise and healthy living, pupil’s health and learning is improved. The programme has had a huge impact on the school – we have won the silver award and developed creative community links with allotments on our fields and setting up summer schools.

As a specialist school, St Wilfrid’s is very proud of its numerous community and school partnerships. Since becoming a specialist Language College in 2000, we have worked hard to establish a network of dynamic and mutually beneficial partnerships.

In 2006 our excellent educational performance was again recognised when we were awarded our second specialism of Applied Learning which had allowed us to further enrich an already broad curriculum with the addition of such courses as BTEC Construction and NVQ Hairdressing. Having a second specialism has also impacted on our community links and has strengthened and developed existing and new partnerships. Finally from April 2009, we have been embracing our third specialism of Leadership Partner Status. This third, high performing specialism recognises the amazing results achieved by our pupils and staff. It is and will also have a significant impact on developing leadership both within our student body and in the local community. By working in close partnership with the local community our students can maximize their attainment and skills by learning from external partners and by helping to improve the experiences of all members of our community.

The following are just a selection of our community partnerships:

• A hugely successful Modern Languages NVQ programme which has led to a network of 10 secondary schools working together with St Wilfrid’s to enhance learning and attainment for all students
• Applied Learning subject and diploma networks led by St Wilfrid’s
• Joint project work with local community groups and independent organizations to develop opportunities for our students to gain leadership skills, organise, run and participate in community events.
• Community Allotment programme
• Inter-generational afternoons
• Eco Group and Eco Garden proposed projects with the local community forum.
• Adult evening classes

Pastoral care is especially strong. We are a truly inclusive school that helps pupils of all abilities and backgrounds become confident, caring young men and women. We attribute this to the opportunities presented to students, together with the support of dedicated staff who take an interest in developing the whole person.

Facilities at St Wilfrid’s are continuously improving. There has been a substantial building programme in recent years and we invest heavily in the latest technology. We have recently completed a £6.8 million scheme which has given us a new teaching block called Newland for Technology, Modern Foreign Languages, Maths and Music, complete with a state of the art recording studio. The scheme has provided a Sports Hall, complete with three more teaching and learning rooms, a retractable seating system for 1200 and 8 outdoor Sport England specification tennis courts.

We have dedicated ICT suites in every area of the school, over 700 computers in all, every classroom has a smart board, and every teacher has a laptop computer linked by a wireless system to ensure speedy, efficient communication and a professional delivery in the classroom. We have our own swimming pool in which all students take swimming lessons—we aim to make every child a swimmer by the end of the first year. Sixth formers have their own common room, dining room and study facilities and are able to enjoy a distinctive experience from the rest of the school.