PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT FOR SEPTEMBER 2018
ST BENEDICT S CATHOLIC SCHOOL Classification: Office Times: Headteacher: Chair of Governors: Voluntary Aided, Co-Educational, Comprehensive, Day School, 11-18 years 8.00am 4.30pm Upper School Centre 8.30am 4.00pm Lower School Centre Mrs K Pereira Mr David Dawson Number on Roll: 850 SCHOOL DAY Morning: Afternoon: 8.55 am 1.25 pm 2.15 pm 3.30 pm TERM DATES 2018 2019 Autumn term Starts Wednesday 5 September 2018 Half term Monday 22 October 2018 to Friday 26 October 2018 Ends Wednesday 19 December 2018 Christmas holiday Thursday 20 December 2018 to Tuesday 1 January 2019 Spring term Starts Wednesday 2 January 2019 Half term Monday 18 February 2019 to Friday 22 February 2019 Ends Friday 5 April 2019 Easter holiday Monday 8 April 2019 to Monday 22 April 2019 Summer term Starts Tuesday 23 April 2019 Half term Monday 27 May 2019 to Friday 31 May 2019 Ends Wednesday 24 July 2019
EXAMINATION RESULTS AT ST BENEDICT S Examination results of all schools form the key part of School Performance Tables. These are published each year by the Department for Education. They contain a great amount of information, and this can be confusing. The tables we include in our prospectus supplement give you a lot of information. You can see how well students have done in each subject, and you can see some year-by-year trends at GCSE. We would like to draw your attention to a few key headline features of our exam performance, of which we are extremely proud. At GCSE St Benedict s has consistently been among the top-performing schools in Suffolk. The headline figures of 74% of pupils gaining English and Maths at grade 4 or above (equivalent to a grade C or above) is a pleasing result. It maintains our position as a high performing school, particularly at a great time of reform in the school examination system. The progress of our pupils is also consistently among the highest performing schools both locally and nationally. More important than actual grades achieved by pupils, is the progress made by our pupils over their time of study at the school, and this is why there is a new headline performance figure for all schools. This measure is called Progress 8. Our Progress 8 figure for this year, provisionally at 0.44, again establishes us as a school where pupils of all abilities progress well. Our figure suggests that students here make about half a grade more progress across all subjects than if they went to a school on national average progress. All students contribute to this measure and we are justifiably proud of the progress made by all pupils. While we are rightly proud of our very highachieving students, we are equally pleased with others with more modest academic achievements that do them equal credit. At A level St Benedict s has again consistently achieved high rankings in Suffolk and nationally among other non-selective schools. Again the government has decided to change how performance is measured by introducing the new headline figure of Points per entry rather than total points achieved per candidate. Even on this new system our students do well, achieving the equivalent of B-C grade, or 35.6 points, on average at each A level taken. Our achievement at A level is independently validated by ALPS (A level Performance System) which regularly ranks us as a high performing provider at A level. Our ALPS overall quality indicator of 3 confirms this status and this year places us in the top 25% of sixth forms and colleges nationally. Again at A level an impressive 82% of A level grades are at an A* - C grade. We pride ourselves on our excellent exam results because we know that having the best qualifications will open doors for our students as they make their way in the world. Here at St Benedict s we are proud of the achievements of all our pupils and the opportunities that this gives them. The proportion of students who go on to further education remains high and we are committed to always being a school which delivers for our students.
RESULTS SUMMARY 2017 GCE A LEVEL Points Per Entry 35.57 (B-) Average Point Score for students Best 3 A Level 38.27 (B-) % passes A*-C 82% % passes A*-B 54% % passes A*-E 100% % AAB 14% A Level ALPS Score 3 (Excellent) GCE A LEVEL SUBJECTS SUMMARY 2017 Results achieved by pupils aged 16, 17 and 18 (on roll 3 rd Thursday in January) Subject Entries A* A B C D E U Applied Business 19 3 4 3 6 3 0 0 Applied Science 9 0 1 4 2 2 0 0 Art (3D Design) 7 0 0 0 2 3 2 0 Biology 14 1 5 5 3 0 0 0 Chemistry 9 1 1 3 4 0 0 0 Computer Science 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 English Lang & Lit 4 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 English Language 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 English Literature 5 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 French 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 Geography 12 1 3 3 4 0 1 0 Government & Politics 11 0 2 6 1 2 0 0 Health & Social Care 6 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 History 22 2 6 4 4 4 2 0 Maths (Further Additional) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Maths (Further MEI) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Maths (MEI) 10 1 1 4 2 1 1 0 PE 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Physics 7 0 1 2 3 0 1 0 Polish 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Psychology 7 0 3 2 1 1 0 0 Religious Studies 14 0 1 3 6 2 2 0 Sociology 25 2 4 6 11 1 1 0 Spanish 5 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 General Studies 16 0 1 5 5 2 3 0
GCE AS LEVEL SUBJECTS SUMMARY 2017 Results achieved by pupils aged 16, 17 and 18 (on roll 3 rd Thursday in January) Subject Entries A B C D E U AS Applied Business 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 AS Applied Science 11 1 1 4 5 0 0 AS Art 10 2 4 1 0 3 0 AS Biology 17 5 7 2 0 0 3 AS Chemistry 23 3 5 5 5 1 4 AS Computer Science 10 0 0 1 2 2 5 AS DT Product Design 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 AS English Literature 26 1 6 5 7 6 1 AS French 11 3 0 6 2 0 0 AS Geography 20 2 0 7 3 4 4 AS Govt & Politics 15 4 3 2 4 0 2 AS Health & Social Care 12 0 3 1 4 2 2 AS History 23 4 7 5 4 2 1 AS Maths (Further MEI) 7 2 3 0 1 0 1 AS Maths (MEI) 25 12 4 3 3 3 0 AS Physics 18 2 5 3 4 1 3 AS Polish 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 AS Psychology 15 5 1 5 2 1 1 AS Religious Studies 14 1 6 2 4 1 0 AS Sociology 38 7 14 10 5 2 0 AS Spanish 9 5 1 2 0 1 0
GCSE 2017 2017: Number in year 145 Statistic June 2015 June 2016 June 2017 Basics English and Maths 4+ % 64 74 74 EBac % 33.1 37.5 24 2+ A*-C Science % 70.9 74.3 64 1+A*-C MFL % 41.2 45.8 34 GCSE Subjects Summary 2017 Number of 15 year olds achieving each grade (on roll 3rd Thursday in January) 145 Subject Entries 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 U English Language 145 8 13 15 20 29 26 24 4 3 2 English Literature 137 6 12 19 27 26 20 17 7 1 2 Maths 145 6 11 19 11 37 29 14 11 5 1 Subject Entries A* A B C D E F G U X Art & Design 69 7 6 17 16 18 2 3 0 0 0 Biology 55 14 12 17 7 5 0 0 0 0 0 Chemistry 55 11 19 8 14 3 0 0 0 0 0 Computing 26 0 3 6 9 4 3 0 1 0 0 DT Food 8 0 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 DT Product Design 30 2 6 10 7 3 0 1 1 0 0 Drama 23 0 3 6 6 5 3 0 0 0 0 French 36 4 9 6 7 6 3 1 0 0 0 Geography 57 6 11 6 10 12 10 1 1 0 0 German 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 History 66 5 12 13 15 12 3 3 1 1 0 Maths (Additional) 12 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Music 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PE 35 0 2 11 11 7 4 0 0 0 0 Physics 55 14 17 10 10 3 1 0 0 0 0 Polish 5 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Portuguese 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Religious Studies 141 16 20 38 28 12 11 10 3 2 1 Science Additional 90 0 6 19 31 19 5 5 2 3 0 Science Core 87 1 7 21 29 17 6 2 3 1 0 Spanish 28 8 7 7 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 Statistics 22 1 6 12 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
PUPIL DESTINATIONS 2017 16+ Returning to sixth form/further Education 99% 18+ Progressing to Higher Education in 2017 95% Applying to Higher Education for 2018 2% Employment/Apprenticeships 1% Returning to complete three year 2% sixth form course SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 2016/2017 Percentage of pupil sessions missed through total absence 6. 8%
Curriculum All Students follow a two week timetable which consists of 40 75 minute lessons. The number of periods per fortnight that are allocated to each subject are shown in the table below. Key Stage 3 In year 7, 8 & 9 students follow a broad and balanced curriculum. In a normal Year cohort of 150 students, there are 6 groups for most subjects, giving an average class size of 25. PSHEE is taught in Tutor Groups of about 30. DT, Drama and Music have 8 groups, giving an average class size of 19 for these subjects. In Years 7 and 8 students are set for Maths and Science broadly in line with the prior ability in these subjects. For literacy based subjects they are based on sets that are broadly in line with their prior ability in English. DT, Music, Drama and PSHE are taught in completely mixed ability groups. The standard subject allocation is as follows: Years 7 Subject Number of periods per fortnight English 5 Maths 5 Science 5 RE 3 History & 6 Geography French 4 DT 2 Art 3 Music 1 Drama 1 ICT 2 PE 2 PSHEE 1
Year 8 The curriculum in Year 8 is similar to Year 7 except that one extra lesson is given to Maths and one less lesson is given to Art. Year 9 Subject Number of periods per fortnight English 5 Maths 6 Science 5 RE 3 History & 6 Geography French 4 DT 2 Art 2 Music 1 Drama 1 ICT 2 PE 2 PSHEE 1 In Year 9 the curriculum remains similar except that the students now have a choice of French or Spanish. Maths reverts to 5 lessons and Art to 2 lessons per fortnight. Subject Number of periods per fortnight English 5 Maths 5 Science 5 RE 3 History & 6 Geography French or Spanish 4 DT 2 Art 2 Music 1 Drama 1 ICT 2 PE 2 PSHEE 1 In science, students begin KS4 from September in year 9. This allows students to pursue the science GCSE course, while completing the remaining element of the KS3 curriculum, alongside.
Again students are grouped together for Maths and Science according to previous achievements in these subjects. English is also taught in groups that have been chosen broadly according to prior achievement in English. All other subject subjects are then taught in mixed ability sets. Years 10-11; Key Stage 4 (GCSE) At Key Stage 4, students can personalise their curriculum by a set of Option choices. At St Benedict s, 3 option subjects may be chosen; the rest of the time available is filled with a wide and comprehensive range of Core subjects. The core subjects consist of: Core Subject Number of periods per fortnight (Year 10) Number of periods per fortnight (Year 11) English 6 6 Maths 6 6 Science (Triple or 8 9 Double Award) RE 4 4 PE 3 2 PSHEE 1 1 There are then 3 Option blocks, from which 3 additional subjects are chosen. At present, subjects offered include Subject Option Number of lessons per fortnight Spanish 4 French 4 History 4 Geography 4 DT Product 4 Design DT Food 4 Art 4 Music 4 Drama 4 PE 4 ICT 4 Computing 4 Key Skills 4 Business Studies 4 Students are advised about appropriate choices of options. Subjects are arranged to enable the majority of students to take their preferred combination of subjects.
Some individual students have modified timetables at KS4. Various types of alternative provision may be arranged after registration between students, parents and teachers. Years 12-13; Key Stage 5 (GCE A Level) The main offering in Years 12-13 (Sixth Form) is a selection of A Level subjects. Like all Sixth forms, we have a minimum GCSE qualification that students must meet before proceeding on to A Levels. For many years, we have operated a common timetable at Sixth Form with our neighbour, County Upper School. This enables both schools to offer each other some of their A Level choices as well as their own, affording a wider selection of subject choices and combinations. All the standard A Level subjects are on offer. We review the subjects to include on a regular basis, so the list below is just an indication of what will probably be timetabled in future years: English Language and Literature English Literature Mathematics Further Mathematics Biology Chemistry Physics Psychology Religious Studies Geography History Sociology Computing French Spanish Art Music Government and Politics Theatre Studies (CUS) Media Studies (CUS) DT Health and Social Care Applied Business Applied Science PE Students also follow a Religious Education course of study which leads to the Extended Project Qualification or EPQ. On average, St Benedict s Sixth Formers each take 4 full A Levels.
We encourage all students to progress to further education or training Post-16; for those students who do not wish to follow an A Level programme, we support their applications to other further education or training providers. This resulted in St Benedict s consistently having a very high staying on rate into Post-16 education or training. Pastoral Care Pastoral care has long been recognised as one of the great strengths of St Benedict s Catholic School. Students are placed in Tutor Groups for Registration and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE). The Tutors role is to provide a first point of contact between home and school and to support the students both pastorally and academically. Tutors monitor each of their students progress and behaviour and see every tutee daily at morning registration. Students spend between 15 and 25 minutes per day with their tutor groups for registration, our daily act of worship, notices and uniform and equipment checks. Over the course of the year, they come to know their tutors and their peers very well. Inter-tutor sports and other competitions help to develop a sense of community and mutual respect within the tutor groups. Each year group is managed by a Head of Year. Heads of Year play a vital part in managing the system of pastoral care within the Year and intervene where necessary to provide further guidance and support. The Head of Year sets the focus of the Year group through weekly assemblies and through team meetings with their tutors. There are 3 Pastoral support assistants across the 2 sites As well as supporting and guiding each student s personal and academic development, Heads of Year also ensure that spiritual growth takes place through daily acts of worship, in tutor groups, year assemblies or school assemblies. Between them, tutors and Heads of Year come to know every student in their care. In many cases, they will be the members of staff that students and parents look to for support, advice and guidance. The pastoral and academic support available to students is very comprehensive. All KS3 students participate in a programme of mentoring interviews with their tutor. All Year 10 and 11 students are mentored by either their form tutor, another member of staff with whom it is judged they have a good working relationship, a member of the Senior leadership team or a trained 6 th Form mentor. Other support networks are in place to be used where needed, including 6 th Form subject support or focus groups. The Pastoral Support Assistant in each year group works closely with students and can often provide advice or support when the Head of Year is not immediately available. We pride ourselves on this care and endeavour to make it available when required. The school also works closely with other agencies in Suffolk which offer specialist support in a range of areas (for example health, bereavement, Young Carers), and in consultation with parents, will refer students whenever appropriate.
Behaviour Respect for Oneself Respect for Others Respect for the Environment The 3 Rs are the foundation of our Behaviour Policy. Expectations of every student s behaviour are high. Through mutual respect and consideration for others, students help to create an atmosphere and an ethos which is caring, supportive and secure. When individuals fall below the standards we expect, there is a range of clear and consistent sanctions that will be applied. We will deal with minor matters without unnecessary fuss. When more serious offences happen, we will always inform parents or guardians of what has occurred, and how we intend to deal with it. Uniform St Benedict s has a smart and practical school uniform. We expect all students in Years 7-11 to wear their uniform and to follow the school guidelines on hair and makeup. Chaplaincy and Worship St Benedict s is well supported by the clergy of the Deanery. We draw upon the services of a team of Deanery priests, who visit us frequently and lead us in worship at school masses and other liturgies. They celebrate class masses and Penitential services at Advent & Lent and join us on special occasions. The school has a chaplaincy co-ordinator to support the spiritual development of our school community. We ask all our students to participate in the religious life of the school, whether they are Catholic or non-catholic, because our collective worship is at the core of our Christian ethos. Non-Catholics are encouraged to share acts of worship through participation in prayer and liturgies, for example by joining in the Lord s Prayer, the Our Father, the common prayer of all Christians. Weekly School and Year Assemblies begin the day and are centred on the teachings of the Gospels, and how our belief is relevant to our everyday lives; in other words, making us think about how to be effective Christians in the Modern World. When we are asked what makes our school distinctive, we point to those occasions when we come together in worship. From our beliefs, our values and ethos derive and from those spring the happiness and success of our school community.
The Sixth Form St Benedict s has a high staying-on rate after Year 11. We encourage all students to plan their futures and to discuss their ideas with appropriate adults. A large number choose to stay on into our Sixth Form. Those who do stay on enjoy great success. For many years, St Benedict s Sixth Form has established itself as one of the very best in the Country, with an A level success rate that stands comparison with any state school nationally. From Sixth Form, our students most often choose to go into Higher Education, and our students have won places at virtually every university in the country. The Sixth Form team, led by the Head of Sixth Form and Assistant Head of Sixth Form is expert at advising and guiding students through the university admissions process, including the specific requirements of applications to Oxbridge. Our success rate at placing students at Oxbridge and Russell Group has also been nationally recognised. Exciting Opportunities Students often value and remember those extra events and occasions at school with great fondness. We understand that, by making many opportunities for extra- curricular activities, we can enhance the educational experiences of many students. Subject departments are always looking for such extension activities. There are too many to list, but here are some examples: School Plays; most recently, Seussical Orchestral and Choral Concerts, including the celebrated Christmas Concert and performances at the Apex and Snape Maltings Modern Languages events, including Languages Day, Exchanges and conferences Enterprise events involving real contact with the world of industry A multitude of sports events and fixtures; St Benedict s has an enviable record for a small school competing often with much larger ones Debating and Public Speaking Art visits to museums, exhibitions and places of interest; an annual highlight the A Level foreign visit- recently to Rome and Venice; next to Paris Conferences and field trips for Science and Geography students Pilgrimages and visits to places of religious significance: including an annual pilgrimage to Rome This is a taster of what goes on in a typical year at St Benedict s. All students will participate in some of these events during the year. No one could possibly do them all!
HEALTHY SCHOOLS STATUS St Benedict s School achieved Healthy Schools status in July 2008, satisfying national standards in PSHEE, emotional health & wellbeing, school food and physical education. FACILITIES FOR THE DISABLED The school recognizes its responsibilities and endeavours to enable disabled members of the community to access the school s facilities and for disabled students to access a suitable curriculum. As well as regularly renewing procedures and the curriculum we also have a programme of improving facilities. Recently we have provided parking and access ramps and lifts, installed appropriate doors and created a safe haven in case of fire on the first floor. A lift is available in the main block. Toilet facilities have recently been further upgraded for more severe disabilities. The school s Disability Equality Scheme and Accessibility Plan are available on request and on our website. SEND POLICY The policy is regularly reviewed and kept in line with statutory requirements and guidelines. The Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo) coordinates procedures to identify and monitor the progress of students with SEND. The recent Ofsted inspection found that pupils with SEND are achieving well. The school s SEND Policy is available on request. PROCEDURES FOR SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN The school takes great care to ensure students are safe in school. Correct staff appointment procedures are enforced and the headteacher has satisfied the Safer Recruitment assessment. Procedures for responding to suspected child protection situations are well known by staff. A copy of the school s Safeguarding Policy is available on request. FURTHER INFORMATION Further information is available on our website: www.st-benedicts.suffolk.sch.uk. We also welcome personal telephone enquiries and visits.