Our Lady's Roman Catholic High School

We are a school with a distinct ethos centred upon the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The dignity of each person is at the heart of Catholic teaching; every student has their own individual strengths, gifts and talents; our aim is to ensure that these are all developed to their full potential.

We look for excellence in all aspects of learning and we expect high standards of achievement from all members of the community. We lead and innovate to make learning fun, challenging and distinctive. The relationships between teachers, students and parents are fundamental to the success of the school. Working together we ensure that students enjoy their time at Our Lady’s, make good progress and leave us as responsible, well-qualified, mature young people; ready to make a valued contribution to society.

Our Lady’s RC High School is a welcoming, purposeful and calm school where everyone is valued, supported and challenged. Our Lady’s is a place where students’ desire for learning and achievement is met by the passionate commitment of all the staff.

All our students grow in self-esteem and learn to become articulate mature and independent learners who appreciate the needs of others and the value of teamwork and partnership. They develop a love of learning that will last a lifetime.Our Lady’s R C High School is a Roman Catholic Secondary School provided by the Diocese of Salford and is maintained by the Manchester Local Education Authority as a Voluntary Aided School. The school’s governing body is the admissions authority and is responsible for taking decisions on applications for admissions. For the school year commencing September 2016, the governing Body has set its planned admissions number at 150.

The Governors recognise that the first responsibility of the school is to serve the Roman Catholic community for which it has been established. This is focused on the designated parish communities and the Roman Catholic primary schools that are partners in providing for those communities.

School governors are one of the country's largest voluntary groups with around 300,000 contributing to strategic development and raising standards of achievement at more than 30,000 schools.School governors are members of their school's governing body, which is known as a 'corporate body'. A corporate body has a legal identity that is separate from its members and as a result, individual governors are generally protected from personal liability as a result of the governing body's decisions and actions provided they act honestly, reasonably and in good faith.Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the governing body except where the whole governing body has delegated a specific function to that individual or where regulations specify a function is to be exercised in a particular way.

School governors are drawn from different parts of the community and can be parents and staff or from the LA, the community and other groups. This helps ensure the governing body has sufficient diversity of views and experience but does not mean governors of a particular category represent that group on the governing body. For example, parent governors do not represent the parents at the school and do not report back to them.

Pupil Premium funding is allocated via the Government specifically for children from low-income families who were eligible for free school meals, looked after children and those from families with parents in the armed forces.Each individual school decides how their Pupil Premium is best spent to raise achievement and improve outcomes for the target pupils identified. Schools are however held accountable for how the funding is used and are expected to report to parents and the Governing Body on Pupil Premium expenditure. Pupil Premium funding is received retrospectively, based upon information supplied to the school by the Department for Education.

The transition from primary school to secondary school can be overwhelming. Working closely with our local primary schools we run a comprehensive programme of transition events designed to support children through this life-changing experience. Our transition days help build the confidence and self-belief pupils need to progress smoothly from a primary school environment to a new educational experience as part of the Our Lady’s school family.

At Our Lady's R.C. High school we strive to provide a broad and well balanced curriculum for a students who most importantly have choice in shaping their own curriculum. In all departments we offer an engaging and inspirational learning environment, placing Christ at the centre of everything we do. In the classrooms we impart knowledge and strive for outstanding academic outcomes but we also feel it is paramount to nurture the young persons sitting in our classrooms.

At Our Lady’s RC High School all pupils are given the support they require to allow each individual to achieve their full potential. We recognise that each pupil is an individual and plan accordingly to maximise personal, educational and spiritual outcomes.

In Year 7 and 8 a range of different strategies are used across the curriculum to provide additional support to develop literacy skills such as the teaching of reciprocal reading strategies. For pupils with specific learning difficulties regarding literacy and numeracy, interventions are devised which work on the pupils specific areas of difficulty and if necessary develop the use of assistive technology to help develop independence. SEAL interventions are offered to pupils who require extra support in building self-esteem, confidence, self-regulation and resilience. The SEN provision at Our Lady’s is pupil centred and is devised based on a child’s individual need. If they require support with any aspect of their education the SEN team will work to find solutions and ensure that the child is given the best possible chance of achieving their potential.