Headteacher's PA

Harrytown Catholic High School is a voluntary aided Catholic comprehensive school for boys and girls aged 11-16. It is maintained by Stockport Local Authority and is under the trusteeship of the Diocese of Shrewsbury. We are a smaller than the average-sized secondary school which serves an increasingly diverse community drawn primarily from seven associated primary schools located in the north east of the borough of Stockport.

As a Catholic school we intend to put Jesus Christ at the centre of everything we do. Therefore we will strive to:

· live the gospel

· promote excellence and achievement for all

· nurture partnerships

Harrytown is first and foremost a Catholic School, where great emphasis is placed on developing each child to his or her full potential.  We celebrated our centenary in 2013 and are very proud of our long tradition of delivering a high quality Catholic education for the community whom we serve.

The school motto is ‘Laborare et Orare’

This is a Latin phrase that means ‘to work is to pray’

The founding principles of our school are outlined below and despite them being determined by the religious sisters who founded our school in 1913 they are just as relevant today as they were more than one hundred years.

Charity is an exercise, a training, a discipline of shaping our character to become less of 'me', but more of 'us', as the community. Charity means giving something to those in need without an expectation or wanting something back in return.

Humility, you are humble when you are free from pride and arrogance. You know that in your flesh you are inadequate, yet you also know who you are in Christ. Humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others. It is the opposite of aggressiveness, arrogance, boastfulness, and vanity. Rather than, "Me first," humility allows us to say, "No, you first, my friend."

Simplicity, the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do, the quality or condition of being plain or uncomplicated in form or design, the focus of being unconcerned with the latest fads remembering to focus on the important things – being more not simply wanting more’.

Service is something that we do to others, where we show love and kindness to everyone, even to those who do not treat us well. We can serve others in many ways, and we should ensure that we use every opportunity that we can. Relationships and showing that we care is one of the most valuable ways to serve others.

Unity is oneness; unity is not uniformity. Unity is about standing together for those things that are right and decent, for those who need support, for justice and reconciliation.

Harrytown offers pupils and their families a Catholic education in a caring and orderly community where we always try to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. We aim to know and value our pupils as individuals and to help everyone to develop their gifts and talents through a well-balanced, forward-looking curriculum supported by traditional values of hard work and cooperative behaviour. Relationships are fundamental to our mission and methodology and we work hard to nurture them in order to support pupil progress and achievement throughout the pupils five years at the school and beyond.

Examination results are consistently good and the majority of our pupils take 9 or 10 GCSEs at the end of Year 11. The school has very strong links with the excellent Aquinas College which, as our local Catholic sixth form provider is where the vast majority of our pupils go after completing their Key Stage 4 with us. The school enjoys excellent working relationships and partnerships with other local primary and high schools and we are committed to working with Stockport local authority, our diocese and our family of diocesan schools. Extra-curricular opportunities include sports activities, cookery clubs, art clubs, STEM club, musical events, field trips, retreats, foreign visits and holidays to name but a few. We are keen to develop the “whole person” by encouraging a culture of high aspiration, initiative development, self-confidence and active involvement in charity work.

There are opportunities for pupils of all ages to take on additional responsibilities through a range of activities such as the school council, peace council, pupil leadership opportunities, youth SVP and sports leaders programmes – there are far too many to list here. At Harrytown, the pursuit of personal achievement is combined with an emphasis on the importance of working with and for others, especially those in need.

The school enjoys the support, challenge and guidance offered by a highly skilled and effective governing body who, as volunteers, dedicate a significant amount of time, energy and expertise to help make our school ‘better than previous best’ on our ongoing journey of improvement. The leadership team comprises;

Headteacher:                      Mrs C Pickles

Deputy Headteacher:        Mrs L Garratt

Assistant Headteachers:  Miss J Cullen

                                             Mr C McCreesh

                                             Ms T Kosasih

General Introduction

Founded in 1913 as an independent convent grammar school, in 1978 Harrytown Catholic High School became an 11-16 mixed comprehensive school. A more extensive school history document is available.

There are currently c.800 pupils on the school roll and the current community which we serve is drawn from seven associated parishes/primary schools and quite a large number of other local primary schools. There is a determination to maintain and where possible extend our close links with our community of parishes and schools. Through our mission statement we are strongly committed to living the Gospel, pursuing achievement for all and nurturing partnerships. There is a tradition of active worship, community service and significant involvement in fund-raising for charities. We are always keen to appoint staff who can assist with, and support our range of extra-curricular programmes and bring their expertise and interests to bear on extending this provision further. The school was designated a specialist science college and despite the demise of specialist schools programme we retain a strong link to science through the activities on offer within a large successful science department.

Our Curriculum

The academic structure of the school is based upon subject departments, which are encouraged to work co-operatively. Subject departments are organised into one of four faculties. The faculties are STEM, Humanities, Communications, Creative & Physical. Subject Leaders, Faculty Leaders and senior staff meet regularly to discuss, evaluate, monitor and plan – with improvement in pupil outcomes and progress being at the heart of all these processes. There is a published calendar of meetings whereby improvements and developments in learning and teaching are considered along with aspects of curriculum, our catholic mission and ethos and staff professional development. Our staff are kept informed about day-to-day issues through a daily briefing. There are two face to face briefings each week before school and on the other days we communicate the briefing through electronic methods. A briefing document is produced and made available before school each morning. There is also a Weekly Staff bulletin which allows for other communication items to be shared. On Fridays, Holy Mass is offered in our Centenary chapel before school.  All daily briefings and weekly bulletins are published through our information management system and staff are expected to read and implement the information contained therein. A number of working parties have been formed, as the need has arisen, to discuss particular areas of focus or importance.

Our curriculum offer across Years 7-9 is both broad and balance and in Year 7 the majority of subjects are taught in mixed-ability groups. The school has recently moved to a system where more subjects can set their pupils for learning with regard to academic ability in Years 7, 8 and 9. The key stage 4 curriculum again is broad and balanced and the school arranges both Year 10 and 11 into two populations, where setting takes place as appropriate for each student’s ability. There are a number of subjects which appear in the key stage 4 curriculum which are in addition to those offered at key stage 3.

The school has invested in an expansion of provision for pupils with additional needs. We have developed both a pastoral hub and nurture provision which operate alongside our wider SEND offer. We have specific provision for pupils with SEND both within and beyond the classroom.

Additional support is provided as required in small groups for pupils withdrawn from other lessons for specific work/diagnosed needs or as “in class” support. The school has a robust programme of interventions to further support the learning and development of our pupils and we use regular checks of performance and pastoral data to direct our efforts to the areas of greatest need.

All pupils in key stage 3 (Years 7-9) are given experience in Music, Art, History, Geography, Citizenship/Ethics for Life, Design Technology subjects and at least one Modern Language and they develop their ICT/computing skills through a combination of discrete lessons and cross-curricular provision. The core curriculum comprises Religious Education, Mathematics, English, Science and Physical Education.

In Years 10 and 11 optional subjects are available. A core of Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, remains compulsory for all pupils. A guided choice is made from a range of optional subjects to ensure that all pupils follow a suitable and balanced combination of subjects. The school currently offers pupils a choice from 3 options pools within a system designed to enable the pupils to achieve not only the EBacc but also a positive Progress/Attainment 8 outcome.

We are continually considering further modifications to our curriculum which we offer in the light of proposals and changes in policy which come from our political leaders. The school operates on a fortnightly 50 period (1 hour) cycle. We have a strong pastoral system where tutors, year heads and our team of pastoral managers follow their form classes through the school.

Pastoral Care

The pastoral system is designed to complement and support the academic work of the school and promote the welfare, wellbeing and safety of all pupils. Form classes are arranged in mixed-ability groupings. The Heads of Year are each supported by a Pastoral Manager (who does not have a teaching commitment). Heads of Year, Pastoral Managers and Form Tutors progress through the school with their Year and Form groups respectively. In addition, the school has the support of a professional counsellor, learning mentors, school nurse and we are actively trying to recruit a full time Lay Chaplain. All teaching staff are required to contribute to the pastoral care of the pupils in all their dealings with them. Staff are also required to undertake, as requested, specific duties in support of the form-tutor system. These duties are as important as subject responsibilities.  Contact with parents is well established and encouraged as we believe that strong and collaborative relationships with parents are in the best interest of the pupils and the school.

Accommodation

The school comprises of six buildings, (although some of the buildings are actually a series of building phases which are adjacent/conjoined to that which was in place previously)

· The Ampere building (main building) housing Maths, English, Science, RE, and the most recent addition our centenary Chapel. In addition there are also a number of offices and the main school hall.

· The Boyle building is a separate building and houses a library area and some classroom/small group teaching accommodation.

· The Curie building contains the Food Technology Room and a computer suite.

· The Dalton building houses the PE, the sports hall, changing rooms and PE office.

· The Einstein building houses the dining hall, pastoral hub, nurture classroom and SEND.

· The Faraday building contains History and Geography teaching accommodation.

· and finally The Galileo building is home to Art, Technology, ICT, Computing, Music, Foreign Languages and a number of classrooms used to deliver Maths, Humanities and Personal Development.

Further Information

This position is on the staff of a Catholic Voluntary Aided school in which the Governors are the employers. In order to promote the primary philosophy and purpose of the school consistently and with integrity, practising Catholics or active, committed members of other Christian traditions who will be positive examples will be preferred, but applications will be positively received from other candidates who can honestly declare a genuine empathy with and support for the aims of this Catholic mixed comprehensive school and demonstrate a commitment to fully engage throughout all aspects of their daily practise. This will include, for teaching staff, a willingness to attend and/or on occasions lead form-prayers, assemblies, attend school Masses and other liturgical celebrations including days of recollection/retreat arranged for form tutor groups. Non-teaching staff are welcome to participate if duties/workload permit. As will be readily appreciated, we are naturally keen to enhance the distinctive nature of the school through the work of all subject areas and the valued individual contributions of all staff. Within the framework of GCSE and National Curriculum many subjects may have a social and moral content.

Applicants for teaching posts are requested to provide the name of their parish priest or church minister as an additional referee wherever possible. Applicants for non-teaching posts are invited to do so if they wish.

The school is committed to its responsibility under the ‘Safeguarding of Children and safer recruitment in Education’ statute and will undertake all necessary checks with all relevant authorities to verify the credentials of each and every candidate and their suitability to work with children. References will always be sought from the candidates’ most recent employers.

Any offer of employment is made subject to satisfactory references and appropriate clearance from all relevant bodies.

Please note that a successful candidate, not currently on staff, will be required to sign the most current Catholic Education Service model contract of employment which has been adopted by the governing body.

A complete non-smoking policy throughout the school site has been adopted and successful applicants will be required to adhere to this policy.

Successful applicants will be allocated a professional friend who will support them through their induction period. They will receive series of inductions booklets and handbooks and will be expected to participate in the schools induction programme.

The school website is to be found at www.harrytownschool.org

Mrs C Pickles

Headteacher

2024