Hagley RC High School

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'Hagley RC High School' is a secondary school in Hagley, Worcestershire, England, which gives education to children aged from 11 to 18. It is a roman catholic school, but non-catholics are allowed to attend, provided there is space.

The mission statement:

"Our aim is to develop a civilized Christian community with a reputation for the highest academic and social standards. We want a school to which children wish to come, to which parents wish to send their children and where teachers wish to teach."

The school prayer:

"Saint Nicholas Owen, make this school a safe refuge, inspire us in our love of God and our love of our neighbour, amen."

Hagley was founded in the late 1950s by Nicholas Owen, to provide an education to "Those pure of heart and noble of soul". It is exclusively catholic for the high school, but the security is more lax for sixth form, many sixth form pupils are atheist or even muslim. Masses are held on a regular basis, hosted by the venerable Father David McGough. Mass is mandatory, and is enforced on the lower years, (7-11) but the sixth form have free will. Although the majority choose not to go, there are a few students who regularly attend mass. Every week holy communion, (the body of Christ) is received by those in attendance. The services are usually forty minutes long, including receiving communion, homily, thanksgivings, penetance of sins, begging mercy from God, and chants and hymns in Latin.

Hagley RC High School regularly tops the OFSTED inspections, both pupil behaviour and teaching standards are superb. OFSTED recently reviewed the school, saying that Many pupils leave the school with good results, and go on to university. Although there is the option of dropping out at the age of sixteen, a considerable amount of pupils stay on at Hagley Sixth Form. This allows them to study A-levels.

The current headmaster is one T.J.Hammond, who has been successful in his role since being appointed headmaster in 2000. The current head boy is Conor Delaney and the head girl is Helena Whild These two, in addition to the school committee, provide an active role in the upkeep of Student-Teacher relationships, and help to organise events. One of OFSTED's compliments to the school was the active role of the student committee. A regular event at Hagley, organised by the committee, is the Halas House disco, in which people with learning disabilities are treated to a night of entertainment at the school.

Former Manchester United and England footballer Lee Sharpe attended the school between 1982 and 1987. Hagley RC High School hit the headlines in 1993 when 10 children and a teacher from the school were killed in a minibus crash on the M40 in Warwickshire. This made international news, and is marked every year by a memorial service. In addition to this, there is a "memorial garden" and memorial music block.

Hagley is twinned with its counterpart, Haybridge High School, which is just across the road. The two schools share playing fields, gyms, and even classes in the sixth form, but there is a history of friendly competition between the two, related to the liberal attitude of Haybridge towards religion, versus Hagley's Catholic views. However, some teachers choose to teach at both schools, owing to the ease of crossing between the two. It is noted that the two schools work in co-operation, helping to progress the two.