Teacher of Science

About St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School

Established in 1961, St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School has a proud history. We are a mixed, voluntary-aided Catholic secondary school for pupils aged 11-16, located in Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan in Greater Manchester. The pupil roll is 1,200 and we are over-subscribed year on year due to the excellent reputation the school holds within the community.

St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School is committed to providing an education rooted in Gospel values, inspiring pupils to make the world a better place. “Prepare the way of the Lord” is the school motto.

Values and Vision

St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School provides an environment for learning that is safe, supportive, caring and encourages life-long learning. The key values that are upheld are Education, Discipleship, Mission, Understanding, Nurture and Dignity.

Our students often refer to us as their second family as they feel nurtured in the environment provided for them and whilst educational attainment is crucial, we firmly believe that the development of the whole child is the mission of the school and gives all of our pupils the best chance to lead fulfilled and prosperous lives.

We seek to offer a curriculum that meets the needs of all, as we recognise that every young person is uniquely talented.  Each pupil is provided with a personalised pathway and understands that this gives them the best chance of achieving their individualised goals. The technology provided to subject and pastoral teachers is the conduit for a structured framework to support and guide pupils along these pathways, using easily accessible data.

In addition to formal lessons, pupils engage in activities that reinforce our Catholic ethos such as form prayers, weekly collective worship, class masses, whole school masses, daily morning prayer, spirituality lessons and much more.

The theme of all that we do with our community of young people is to encourage them to put their faith and beliefs into action and strive to make the world a better place.

About us

We know that St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School is a great place to work and our staff retention figure reflects this. We are a community of like-minded individuals who share a passion for the betterment of young people on every level. We are also passionate about our work-life balance, encouraging wellbeing and mindfulness at every opportunity.

We are blessed with a dedicated and hard-working staff who have retained our status as a high quality provider of education over many years. Our staff community is incredibly supportive of each other and our personalised CPD programme means that everyone’s career development is supported in a way that is specific to them.

For teaching colleagues who join our school, regardless of experience, there is a strong and supportive framework of induction. Also for those new entrants to teaching, there is a mentoring programme to ensure that qualified teacher status is achieved. We have strong links with the development of new teachers as St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School is the lead school within the Wigan & West Lancashire Catholic Schools Direct programme. This is carried out in partnership with Liverpool Hope University, an accredited teacher training institution.

https://www.alssit.co.uk/announcements/2019-05-17-wigan-and-west-lancashire-schools-direct

Ofsted  An excerpt from the Ofsted Report conducted on 16 & 17 November 2021

What is it like to attend this school?

"Pupils are happy at St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School. They feel safe and well looked after. Pupils enjoy good relationships with each other and staff. They said that their teachers set high standards for pupils’ behaviour and achievement. Pupils feel valued and respected. They are proud of what they achieve.

Staff recognise and celebrate pupils’ academic and personal achievements. Pupils behave well. Their conduct in lessons is extremely good. They have positive attitudes to their learning. Pupils are calm and sensible when moving around school. They are polite and look after their school environment. Pupils rarely experience poor behaviour in lessons or around school."