Loreto Sixth Form College

About Loreto

Our mission and ethos

Loreto College is centred in God, rooted in Christ and animated by the spirit of Mary Ward, the founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM). Our vision is that it will be an educational community where each person has the experience of being loved and valued as a sacred individual created by a loving God; a community where students enjoy an enriching and liberating education that helps them grow into the fullness of life and empowers them to be people of courage who are alive to the needs of humanity and committed to making a better world.

Loreto College has been based in Manchester since 1851. We are part of an international network of Catholic schools and colleges run by the IBVM, and a national network, Loreto English Education Network (LEEN), and are overseen by the Loreto Education Trust (LET).

All that we do is anchored in our seven Mary Ward values: freedom, justice, sincerity, truth, joy, excellence and internationality. We seek to develop the whole person, honing academic excellence alongside providing students with opportunities to develop spiritually, morally and ethically, to reflect on the world and their place in it, and to nurture their gifts and talents.

College life

Loreto College has around 3600 students. We are a diverse and inclusive college; students join us from across Greater Manchester and come from a range of cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. We have inclusive entry requirements and believe in providing all that students need to better their life chances and those of their families. Our students and staff benefit from our modern buildings, excellent facilities, and very well-maintained estate inside a gated campus. We work closely with our partnership high schools and have been oversubscribed for many years.

The College is led by the Principal and the Senior Leadership Team and supported by highly experienced Senior Management and College Management Teams. All senior leaders/managers have an open-door policy, and welcome suggestions, ideas or concerns being discussed.

Curriculum

The College offers a broad curriculum of over 40 A Level (or equivalent) courses, alongside Level 3 and Level 2 vocational qualifications and GCSE resits in Maths and English. Our Pathways Department delivers courses for students with learning differences and/or disabilities to help them to develop literacy, numeracy, employability skills and independence. We offer a huge range of enrichment activities to our students from Coding Club to Duke of Edinburgh, Politics Society to Badminton. We aim to provide something for everyone.

The Curriculum Team help to manage the curriculum at the College which is organised into five faculties, with Heads of Faculties working closely with Heads of Departments, teaching staff and support staff.

Our Inclusion faculty includes the Pathways department and our Additional Learning Support (ALS) team who provide tailored support for students on mainstream programmes with Special Education Needs and Disabilities, and their teachers.

Collectively, alongside the Student Services team, departments have a long history of achieving excellent outcomes for our students including very impressive value-added scores. We believe this comes from our shared vision and from the collaborative planning, ongoing professional development and sharing of best practice within and between departments which ensures an outstanding experience for our students, alongside managing workload for our staff.

Student Services

Pastoral care for students is central to Loreto’s mission. We have a strong community ethos and commitment to caring for and developing the whole person and this is embedded through our Hall system. Students are allocated a tutor group and are placed within one of our 14 Halls. All teachers are tutors and deliver a centrally planned and resourced tutorial programme on three key themes: Student Life, Safeguarding and Wellbeing and Careers and Employability. Tutor groups are made up of students studying courses across the college. Tutors act as advocates for their tutees and are able to support tutees to achieve well academically and personally.

Heads of Halls lead fortnightly assemblies, track and support students’ progress, attendance, and attainment and support students with safeguarding or personal difficulties. Heads of Halls lead all communication with parents/carers and they work to support staff and students to achieve their very best.

Student Services also includes our Safeguarding and Student Wellbeing teams, along with our well-resourced Careers service and on-site Counselling staff.

Chaplaincy

Students and staff of all faiths and none are welcomed to our Chaplaincy area where they can gain support from our vibrant Chaplaincy Team. The Chaplaincy area provides a quiet space, the chance to chat to a Chaplaincy Team member, and opportunities to reflect spiritually with daily morning prayer and weekly mass. The Chaplaincy team also helps to organise liturgical events, college charity initiatives, the annual staff retreat and trips for students, such as Lourdes and Taize.

Enabling

The work of the College is supported by our superb enabling teams which include: Cross-College IT, Software Development, Library and Study Centres, Exams, Finance, CIS, Administration, Reprographics, Premises, Catering, Technicians, Payroll and Human Resources and the college’s Learning & Development and Sustainability & Environment Managers. The teams provide excellent support to teachers and students for events, processes and the day-to-day work of the college.

Governance

We have a very committed, involved and experienced Governing Body that sets and monitors the strategic direction of the College. The Governing Body and its sub committees are involved in the strategic planning of finance and accommodation matters and are well informed of curriculum and pastoral matters through robust quality assurance processes at regular intervals through the year.