Holy Family Catholic School

[EduCativ]

Holy Family Catholic School and Sixth Form, formerly known as the Holy Family Technology College, is a very popular mixed secondary school with around 1150 students aged 11-19. The school’s Catholic ethos underpins all that we do and forms the basis of the Holy Family Way. We are a member of the Federation of Catholic Schools of Waltham Forest and work closely with our feeder primary schools to provide the best possible Catholic education for all our young people.
We aim to educate the whole person, to develop each student’s academic potential as well as nurturing their creativity, spirituality, character, and resilience. Most of our students spend seven years with us, leaving the sixth form to start their degree courses at university, or to begin high-quality employment. We seek to instill in each of our students the belief that they should have a strong concern for others and that they should seek to do good in their school and their wider community.
The school has very close partnerships with our parishes and with parents (including through an active PTA) all of which helps to reinforce this Catholic. In school, there is a very great emphasis on extra-curricular activities and all students are offered every opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills through after-school clubs in an array of different fields including sport, music, and drama.
The achievements of our students and staff were highly praised in our most recent Ofsted report and the school has won numerous awards for the quality of academic outcomes we achieve. The following extract from that report summarises the main points in our Ofsted report of 2014: “Pupils’ and students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strong feature of the school’s work. This contributes hugely to the sustained good results at the end of Year 11 and to mature young people in the sixth form.
Teaching over time is mostly good and some of it is outstanding. It is underpinned by a strong approach through which teachers and students share a love of learning and this secures good progress for all learners. Senior leaders, staff, and governors are committed to the common goal of providing high-quality education. Pupils behave well, underpinned by a common approach which stresses responsibility and kindness towards others as well as towards oneself.”
We are fortunate to have a thriving sixth form and from September 2015 this will be housed in brand new accommodation. We accept applications to our sixth form from our own Yr 11 students and also from students from other schools across the borough and beyond, who would like to experience their sixth form education in a school-based sixth form with a Catholic ethos.
“An ethos is a way of living, behaving and doing things by people, though diverse, follow common values and are united by a shared vision of life.” (Monsignor Stack 2013). We are a Catholic school and daily prayer and worship are integral to all that we do. We provide a range of opportunities for this. Staff briefings every morning begin with a prayer/reflection. Registration includes prayer and every lesson is expected to begin or end with a prayer.
We offer staff and students the opportunity to attend Mass weekly on each site. At other times of the year, we celebrate Mass in school, at the Our Lady and St George’s church. Once a year the entire school community gathers together at the Assembly Hall, the only time all 1,250 members of the school community can be in one place together.
There are opportunities for students to receive the sacrament of reconciliation during Advent and Lent. Clergy from the local deanery and beyond make themselves available to hear confessions and on occasions, we have had ten priests in the hall administering the sacrament.
It is important to note that the ethos permeates all aspects of school life “The curriculum as a whole, and every part of it is religious since there is nothing which does not ultimately relate to God.”(Evaluating the Distinctive Nature of the Catholic school).

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