St Joseph's Catholic & Anglican High School

Coordinates: 53°02′06″N 2°59′38″W / 53.035°N 2.994°W

St Joseph's is a secondary school in Wrexham, Wales, located on Sontley Road.

History

St Joseph's was opened in 1960 as St Joseph's Catholic Secondary Modern School. Headmaster - Mr Martin Cleary. In 1972 St Joseph's became a Comprehensive High School. It joined up with the Anglican church in 2006.

Originally there were three forms, or 'houses': Bishops, Abbots and Gwyns (named for the martyr St Richard Gwyn). Eventually these were renamed and expanded and for many years there were four forms: Hannon, Mostyn, Petit and Vaughan. When the school gained multi-faith status, the pupils where asked to vote for the new form names, based on memorable religious and public icons. The following five names were chosen: Romero (after Oscar Romero), Cassidy (after Sheila Cassidy), Devereux (after Sean Devereux), Kolbe (after Maximilian Kolbe), King (after Martin Luther King).

The school re-introduced a school council in 2005.

In 2006 St Joseph's became a joint Anglican-Roman Catholic school. This move met with opposition from a group called Concerned Catholics, because they thought this would lead to a dilution of Catholic teaching, though the Anglican Church agreed to use the Catholic RE syllabus. The Catholic objectors have complained to Rome about this issue and presented a petition. The school has never been exclusively Catholic and has always (at least as far back as 1978) admitted non-Catholic students.

Now it is a joint Catholic and Anglican school, the forms have changed to Romero, Cassidy, Devereux, Kolbe, and King. The newest form is King, which was added to cope with the bigger influx of children arriving because of the school's increased status.

The school's Headteacher is Mrs. M. B. Rimmer. In the year of 2010, Mr R Woods was appointed to become the deputy head. As well as this, he also took up the post of R.E teacher. Not long after this in December 2010, Mr Kenworthy, the previous headmaster, left. Mrs Rimmer was selected to take his place.

Academics

The school introduces some new topics that are different from primary school such as French, German, Drama, and various technology subjects. Every lesson lasts one hour apart from one a week on their assembly day.

Academically St Joseph's is one of the most successful schools in the north of Wales. An official Welsh Assembly government inspection in spring 2008 awarded the school the maximum grading possible: seven grade ones.

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