Archbishop McGrath Catholic High Schools

Archbishop McGrath Catholic High is a mixed 11 – 18 school serving the communities across the county of Bridgend. The Governors welcome applications pupils of all backgrounds - not only from Catholic families but also from all families who wish to share in the Christian atmosphere of the school.

We have approximately 830 pupils on roll, and we seek to foster a family spirit in which pupils, staff and parents can benefit from belonging to a supportive Christian community within a safe disciplined and caring learning environment.

We aim for excellence in all that we do, inspired by the Gospel values of love, truth, forgiveness and service. Our numbers enable us to know and care for our pupils as individuals. We aim to develop the full potential of each child through the provision of a high quality educational experience. As well as being a faith school, we are extremely proud of the contribution we make to supporting and nurturing our Welsh heritage and culture. Our pupils and staff also have an excellent record of supporting local, national and international charitable causes through our many annual fundraising events.

We are proud of our excellent academic results and of the achievement of pupils of all abilities and backgrounds. Our GCSE, Vocational and A-level results are consistently among the best when compared to similar schools locally and nationally.

The school moved into a new building on the edge of Brackla in 2011 and benefits from all the advantages of modern classrooms and excellent facilities.

We offer a broad and challenging curriculum and a wide range of exciting extracurricular opportunities including sports and a variety of educational visits both within Wales, the UK and abroad. We plan on further increasing our out of hours provision in the near future.

We want to develop the links that exist between our pupils, parents and wider school community. In doing so, we can help ensure everyone benefits - most importantly - our pupils. We are all part of what we like to call #teamAMG.

At Archbishop McGrath the education of our young people is an important building block of the society in which we live and an indication of the vision for that society to which we aspire. Our Catholic school is central to the Church’s mission.

Unless a school has Christ at the very heart of all that it is and does, it cannot be a Catholic school. The ethos of our school is not something extrinsic to the various aspects of a school life. Rather, the catholic ethos – and its concrete expression in liturgical prayer, assemblies and teaching of religious education is fundamental to our school, giving true and lasting value.

Throughout the life of the school, we seek to nurture and celebrate the success of every member of the school community. Both in the structure of the curriculum and in the planning of learning activities, the school strives to respond to the learning needs of each and every person in the school.

On September 1st 1965, Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School opened its doors to the first cohort of students and staff. On that day, there were with 12 members of staff and 206 pupils. On September 1st 2015, the school celebrates its golden jubilee of 50 years of service to the Catholic Church and the people of Bridgend, now with over 800 pupils and 80 members of staff. We are very proud of all we have and we are looking forward to continuing to serve the County, and Catholic and Anglican Deaneries of Bridgend, for many decades to come.

Discover what students experience during the first 3 years at Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School. Key Stage 4 covers years 10 and 11 where students prepare and undertake their GCSE examinations. Experience Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School's first class sixth form. Sixth form students are in their last 2 years of Secondary Education. Most Sixth Form students take 3 or 4 A-levels to study in these final 2 years.