St Anselm's College, Birkenhead

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St Anselm's College
School crest
We Love Moomins
"Moomins are secksay"
Founded: 1933
Type: Secondary and sixth form
Location: Prenton, Wirral, England
LEA: Wirral
Ofsted number: 105114
School Category: Voluntary aided
Headteacher: Teh Popezorz
Staff: Under 9000
Students: Over 9000
Age Range: 11-18
Gender: Moomin
Website: http://www.st-anselms.com

St Anselm's College, is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided grammar school located in Merseyside, England. It is one of four Catholic schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, and one of three Irish Christian Brothers schools in the Merseyside area. The school is located within the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury.

Founded in 1933, the school was in recent years granted Technology College status, in cooperation with Upton Hall School. The school used its specialist school status as an opportunity to improve teaching facilities and broaden the curriculum but unfortunately lost the status in 2005 after an exodus of adequately qualified staff.

Contents

[edit] History

The school was founded in 1933 by the trustees of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, at the invitation of the Rt. Rvd. Hugh Singleton, Bishop of Shrewsbury. In 1946 it became a Direct Grant Grammar School and continued as such until 1975, when the trustees opted for the school to be independent in order to continue as a single-sex Selective school.

The Education Act 1993 gave the trustees the chance to re-enter the maintained sector and so, once again, offer parents the choice of a Catholic Grammar School education for their sons, irrespective of their ability to pay. In 1995, the school became one of the first Independent schools to re-enter the maintained sector.

In September 1999, the school became voluntary aided in line with the Education Act 1998.

The teaching staff at this and other Christian Brothers schools have traditionally been avowed Christian Brothers, but over the decades, the responsibility for this provision has been passed down to what is now a full-time lay teaching staff of 44, maintaining strong links with the Edmund Rice Family and with the guidance of the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

[edit] Ethos and mission

The college mission statement:

Our Catholic Community
offers a learning environment
for us to develop
our God given talents
and to recognise Christ amongst us.
We respect the dignity of
God's creation and,
inspired by Gospel values,
seek to serve one another.[1]

Education at the school is, at its core, Roman Catholic, and inspired by the work of Blessed Edmund Rice. It is fundamentally based on the Eight Essentials of Christian Brothers Education,[2] and the religious studies programme at the school follows that prescribed by the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

The study of the history and ethos of the college forms a part of the Religious Studies programme at Key Stage 3, and is a common focus for the weekly assemblies. (The Christian Brothers resident in the house that adjoins the college ensure that Sixth Form students are kept well informed about the ethos of the college by an annual programme of discourse which complements the PSHE programme.

Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 or 1034 – April 21, 1109), patron saint of the college, was an Italian medieval philosopher and theologian, who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Called the founder of Scholasticism, he is famous as the inventor of the ontological argument for the existence of God.

[edit] Facilities

Recent additions to the school grounds include the Br O'Halloran Building and the Br Senan Kerrigan Sports Hall.

[edit] Achievements

[edit] Specialist school status

After two unsuccessful applications, the school finally achieved joint Technology College status together with Upton Hall School, another local Catholic grammar, as part of the UK Specialist schools initiative. The school had been able to apply for specialist Language College status because, Wirral Grammar School for Girls, another school in the Wirral LEA had already applied for this specialism.

Since achieving the status the school has further developed its programme for A-level and GCSE in ICT, installed a wireless computer network in many areas of the school, increased the number of computer workstations available to students for academic work, and also made an email service and extranet available to all students.

In 2006 this designation expired, and the school has announced its intention to make an application, independently from Upton Hall School to renew its status.[3] The school also has also announced, because of the success of the programme, its intention to apply for a second specialism in Languages.

[edit] Sport

The school has a reputation for sporting achievement far outstripping its size. Notable sporting achievements include winning the National Schools Cross Country Championship at Intermediate Level, regularly attending the National Schools Athletics Final and travelling the country competing in various rugby union competitions.

[edit] Business

As headmaster, Christopher Cleugh helped the school attain Investor in Technology status and also secured the schools foreseeable financial future by moving the school over to the graint maintained system.

[edit] Affiliations

The College has traditionally been affiliated with Redcourt - St Anselm's, a local independent primary school, and although independent from its secondary, both schools are part of the Edmund Rice Family, and share sports facilities in Nocturum.

The joint-technology college status of the school with Upton Hall School until Autumn 2006 gave rise to increased cooperation between the two Catholic grammar schools on the Wirral Peninsula. This has particularly seen fruit in the sixth form, where students have the opportunity to take certain subjects offered at either school. A mini bus is used to transport the students across the 3 miles between the two schools. Other joint activities include language talks and spiritual activities. There has been talk among the members of the sixth at both schools about whether this may lead to the development of co-education in the sixth forms at the schools, as has been the case at the neighbouring Wetherhead High School.

[edit] Alumni

Alumni of the school are referred to as Old Anselmians, or within the school as Old Boys, reflecting the single-sex nature of the school. The alumni association of the college is the Anselmian Association.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.st-anselms.com/Information/mission.shtml
  2. ^ http://www.christianbrothers.org.uk/schools/eightessentials/eightessentials.html
  3. ^ http://www.st-anselms.com/newsletters/NewsletterNov06.pdf

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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