Hagley Rc High School
Encyclopedia
Hagley Catholic High School is a voluntary aided, mixed 11-18 school in Hagley
Hagley
Hagley is a village and civil parish on the northern boundary of Worcestershire, England, near to the towns of Kidderminster and Stourbridge. The parish had a population of 4,283 in 2001, but the whole village had a population of perhaps 5,600, including the part in Clent parish...

, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

. The school holds specialist Arts College
Arts College
Arts Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, the performing, visual and/or media arts...

 status, and was accorded a Grade 2 (Good) in its Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

  (2006) report. The school plays host to students studying for Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14...

, GCSE, AS and A-level examinations. The chosen Patron Saint is Catholic martyr Saint Nicholas Owen
Saint Nicholas Owen
Saint Nicholas Owen was a Jesuit lay-brother and English Catholic martyr who built numerous priest holes in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England.-Life:...

, and the school is divided into houses named after saints: Anselm
Saint Anselm
Saint Anselm may be* Saint Anselm College - a Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire.* Saint Anselm of Canterbury* Saint Anselm of Lucca the Younger* Saint Anselm, Duke of Friuli...

, Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...

, Chad
Chad of Mercia
Chad was a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonized as a saint. He was the brother of Cedd, also a saint...

, Gregory
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...

, Kenelm
Kenelm
Saint Kenelm was an Anglo-Saxon saint, venerated throughout medieval England, and mentioned in the Canterbury Tales...

, and Wulstan.

The school recently agreed to work in correspondence with Haybridge High School
Haybridge High School
Haybridge High School and Sixth Form is a 11–18 mixed comprehensive school with approximately 1,250 students in Hagley, serving North West Worcestershire. The school is a Technology College, with the two additional specialisms of Applied Learning and Sports...

 and sixth form, located opposite, to share subject teaching in the less commonly chosen subjects by students. They have shared common ground for sporting events for sometime.

Present Day

According to the BBC league tables Hagley RC High School has the 6th highest performance rate of the 20 or so state schools in in the county, based on GCSE results, with 73% of students in 2010 gaining 5+ GCSEs A* to C including Maths and English.

Hagley RC High School is a Specialist performing and visual Arts College, one of only two in Worcestershire, with The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre
The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre
The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre is a comprehensive school in Bewdley, serving north-west Worcestershire, England. Its campus is very close to the River Severn. In late 2009, The Bewdley School was awarded Specialist Art College status.-History:...

 being the second.

History

The Roman Catholic community in Worcestershire first began collecting funds to build a secondary school in 1942. Hagley Roman Catholic Secondary School was opened in 1959 (the current name was adopted when the school became comprehensive in 1974). Originally, the school was to be built in Stourport-on-Severn, but land was donated in Hagley.

In 1969, in the building which would later become Lab 5, a full scale replica of a Bristol Scout
Bristol Scout
The Bristol Scout was a simple, single seat, rotary-engined biplane originally intended as a civilian racing aircraft. Like other similar fast, light aircraft of the period - it was acquired by the RNAS and the RFC as a "scout", or fast reconnaissance type...

 aeroplane was built by five pupils and their history teacher. The aeroplane could only be removed when the window frames were removed. Though A Levels had been taught in the school since the 1960s - the first A-Level History lesson taking place on the steps outside the staffroom - they became an important part of the curriculum in the 1970s. A Sixth Form common room
Common room
The phrase common room is used especially in British and Canadian English to describe a type of shared lounge, most often found in dormitories, at universities, colleges, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. It is generally connected to several...

 and adjacent teaching rooms were built in 1976, and pupils began regularly to go on to university.

Uniform

The school uniform for Years 7-9 is based upon navy blue, white & yellow tie. blue blazer with crest and grey trousers or non lycra skirt for girls. For GCSE pupils (Those in Years 10 and 11, Key Stage 4
Key Stage 4
Key Stage 4 is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other exams, in maintained schools in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland—normally known as Year 10 and Year 11 in England and Wales, and Year 11 and Year 12 in Northern Ireland, when pupils are...

), there tie changes to a dark blue with no stripes, and a small yellow out line of the school's crest on it. For Prefects, which are appointed in Year 11, their shirt changes to light blue to make them stand out, and they are given by the school a modified version of the Senior Tie, this time with 2 yellow diagonal "double-lines" which are parallel to each other, on placed above and below the crest outline.
The sixth form dress code is smart for girls and a top with a collar for the boys.

Prefects, Library Monitors and the Office Junior

The School allows opportunities for pupils to experience levels of responsibility while at school.

Around a third of the pupils in Year 11 are given the role of School Prefects, who are there to monitor school during break and lunchtimes where staff can't. Their job is to help people who are new to the school, and to help staff by catching any misbehaviour and reporting it to the appropriative authority figure. The Prefect Body is split in to two teams (named Week A and B to tie in to the school's timetable system). The Prefects on each team are mainly responsible for that week, and have to perform duties in certain parts of the school, as allocated by their Head Prefects.

At least 10 pupils in the school are Library monitors, and they help the Librarian look after the Learning Resource Centre (
LRC) at break and lunchtimes. They help organise events in the Library along with the Library Student Committee, as well as helping run the day to day library service. The Monitors are split into three teams (X,Y and Z) all on one time table.

Every pupil in school has to perform the role of the Office Junior in Year 8. On their day (each pupil does it for one day) they are off timetable for the whole day, and they help the Receptionist by delivering notices to classrooms and sorting out the register folders. An Office Junior is awarded a certificate and a house point at the end of their day.

Notable alumni

  • Kevin Keelan
    Kevin Keelan
    Kevin Damien Keelan MBE is a former professional football goalkeeper. He spent the majority of his career with Norwich City, though he also played for Stockport County, Wrexham, New England Tea Men and Tampa Bay Rowdies.-Youth:...

     - Ex Norwich City goalkeeper.
  • Lee Sharpe
    Lee Sharpe
    Lee Stuart Sharpe is an English former footballer. Predominantly a left winger, Sharpe joined Manchester United from Torquay United as a youngster in 1988, playing for the club up until 1996...

    - Ex Manchester United & Torquay United player. Attended the school before pursuing his football career. In 2008 was invited back to open the newly constructed Peter Behan Sports Centre.
  • Umberto Giannini, in 1999 he achieved the ultimate accolade as winner of the British Hairdresser of the Year award - the youngest winner ever. Owner of a chain of UK hair salons who launched a successful range of hair care products. Born 1967, died 2001.
  • Peter Hayden - Author of The Day Trip and The Headmasters Daughter taught English at the school
  • Stephen Roberts
    Stephen Roberts
    Stephen Roberts is a former football player who most recently played for Walsall. He has also represented Wales at under-21 level....

     - Teacher of History for many years at Hagley, has written several books about The Chartists, his most recent being "The Chartist Prisoners".

School bus accident

The school became known for a tragic M40 minibus crash
M40 minibus crash
The M40 minibus crash occurred on 18 November 1993, just after midnight. It involved a minibus and a motorway maintenance vehicle. The minibus was transporting 14 children home from a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, when it veered into the back of the maintenance truck which was parked...

that occurred on November 18, 1993 in which twelve children and a teacher lost their lives. Several memorials were made for this including a stained glass window in the entrance foyer, and several charities were also formed in the wake of the crash. The press was criticized for its insensitive reporting of the event. One of the consequences of the crash was the launch of a national campaign to improve safety and driving standards for Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCV).

External links

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