Gloucestershire Catholic Schools’ Federation
Catholic schools in Gloucestershire have formed a unique schools
federation. The federation was initially funded with a £20,000 grant
from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Innovations Unit.
The £20,000 has been used to supply each of the Catholic primary schools in the county with a laptop so that they can easily communicate with the secondary schools and each other.
In addition the secondary schools have endeavoured to provide specialist teachers to assist curriculum developments in the primary schools. The federation has also formed a meaningful relationship with Deryn Harvey, the Assistant Director of the DfES Innovations Unit.
Members of staff from St Peter’s High School have been particularly effective in offering physical education, science, maths, music and French. Nick Johns the Assistant Head at St Peter’s, has been responsible for coordinating this pioneering work.
The primary schools indicate when they would like a five to six week block of specialist work and Nick takes care of getting the specialist teachers into the primary schools. Deacon Colm Robinson from St Peter’s Parish in the heart of Gloucester has assisted with the teaching of religious education as well as technology lessons.
Dominic Whyte, Headteacher of St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Nympsfield says, “Irene Lavin and Dave Pointon have given so much to our school through the federation work and staff have been delighted with the response of the children to both the French lessons and the rugby skills work. Staff have also developed their own knowledge and skills for the subjects and I know that this will have a tremendously positive impact on our school and standards.”
This work has also emphasised the value of professionals working together for peer group staff development. It fits neatly with the responsibility of St Peter’s High School as a Training School but more fundamentally, it is an excellent example of how Catholic schools work together for the benefit of all their communities.
Dominic emphasises that, “the children have benefited greatly from their expert tuition and I was only sorry that I have not been able to be out there more with the children during the Tuesday morning sessions.” From the perspective of the St Peter’s staff it is marvellous to see the enthusiasm of staff and students for this joint work.
The Federation is looking to develop over the next couple of years and have applied for an ongoing grant from the DfES Innovations Unit to continue this work but at present that has been unsuccessful. It is possible that the federation will apply to the DfES Partnership & Federation Unit for continuing support in the future.
The bringing together of all the schools in Cheltenham and Gloucester has also enabled the heads to meet annually. They discuss the federation and undertake an evaluation of the previous year’s work as well as discussing the way to move forward in the future. This really is very exciting work and complements the individual developments of many of our schools.
Plans are progressing for the amalgamation of St Peter’s Junior and Infants’ schools. Initial negotiations have taken place and plans are moving forward for an amalgamation in September 2005.
St Mary’s Primary, Churchdown and the Rosary, Stroud have received very good Ofsted reports, whilst St Joseph’s in Nympsfield has been awarded the Basic Skills Agency’s quality mark. St Benedict’s in Cheltenham is a specialist Sports College and its influence in the federation will develop over the coming years. St Peter’s High School is a specialist Maths and Computing school and this has enabled whiteboard technology to be introduced into the school’s major feeder schools.
It has also been very pleasing for St Peter’s to work closely with St Rose’s Special School in Stroud as part of its specialist school work. St Rose’s has gone through significant change with Sister Quentin retiring after many years as head of the school. The school is now led by Frances Billington.
There is a real positive air in the Catholic schools in the county.
Lawrence Montagu, Headteacher St Peter’s High School and Sixth Form Centre, Gloucester
The £20,000 has been used to supply each of the Catholic primary schools in the county with a laptop so that they can easily communicate with the secondary schools and each other.
In addition the secondary schools have endeavoured to provide specialist teachers to assist curriculum developments in the primary schools. The federation has also formed a meaningful relationship with Deryn Harvey, the Assistant Director of the DfES Innovations Unit.
Members of staff from St Peter’s High School have been particularly effective in offering physical education, science, maths, music and French. Nick Johns the Assistant Head at St Peter’s, has been responsible for coordinating this pioneering work.
The primary schools indicate when they would like a five to six week block of specialist work and Nick takes care of getting the specialist teachers into the primary schools. Deacon Colm Robinson from St Peter’s Parish in the heart of Gloucester has assisted with the teaching of religious education as well as technology lessons.
Dominic Whyte, Headteacher of St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Nympsfield says, “Irene Lavin and Dave Pointon have given so much to our school through the federation work and staff have been delighted with the response of the children to both the French lessons and the rugby skills work. Staff have also developed their own knowledge and skills for the subjects and I know that this will have a tremendously positive impact on our school and standards.”
This work has also emphasised the value of professionals working together for peer group staff development. It fits neatly with the responsibility of St Peter’s High School as a Training School but more fundamentally, it is an excellent example of how Catholic schools work together for the benefit of all their communities.
Dominic emphasises that, “the children have benefited greatly from their expert tuition and I was only sorry that I have not been able to be out there more with the children during the Tuesday morning sessions.” From the perspective of the St Peter’s staff it is marvellous to see the enthusiasm of staff and students for this joint work.
The Federation is looking to develop over the next couple of years and have applied for an ongoing grant from the DfES Innovations Unit to continue this work but at present that has been unsuccessful. It is possible that the federation will apply to the DfES Partnership & Federation Unit for continuing support in the future.
The bringing together of all the schools in Cheltenham and Gloucester has also enabled the heads to meet annually. They discuss the federation and undertake an evaluation of the previous year’s work as well as discussing the way to move forward in the future. This really is very exciting work and complements the individual developments of many of our schools.
Plans are progressing for the amalgamation of St Peter’s Junior and Infants’ schools. Initial negotiations have taken place and plans are moving forward for an amalgamation in September 2005.
St Mary’s Primary, Churchdown and the Rosary, Stroud have received very good Ofsted reports, whilst St Joseph’s in Nympsfield has been awarded the Basic Skills Agency’s quality mark. St Benedict’s in Cheltenham is a specialist Sports College and its influence in the federation will develop over the coming years. St Peter’s High School is a specialist Maths and Computing school and this has enabled whiteboard technology to be introduced into the school’s major feeder schools.
It has also been very pleasing for St Peter’s to work closely with St Rose’s Special School in Stroud as part of its specialist school work. St Rose’s has gone through significant change with Sister Quentin retiring after many years as head of the school. The school is now led by Frances Billington.
There is a real positive air in the Catholic schools in the county.
Lawrence Montagu, Headteacher St Peter’s High School and Sixth Form Centre, Gloucester
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