Bishop Ullathorne Catholic
School & Humanities College
Our School
Bishop Ullathorne Catholic School & Humanities College is a voluntary-aided Catholic
school, situated in a very pleasant residential area, about three miles south of the centre of
Coventry, adjacent to the Coventry – Kenilworth Road (A429). Following a very successful
Ofsted Inspection (February 08), we are now planning our next stage of development as an
outstanding school.
Being an inclusive school, where all feel loved and valued, is central to our Christian
educational mission. We strive towards human fulfillment and excellence by fostering the
development of our true self, both as individuals and as a community. Through our
humanities status, the increased opportunity to explore what it is to be a human enhances
our capacity to make good our mission.
We are a truly comprehensive school that serves a very wide area of Coventry, including the
most advantaged and disadvantaged wards in the city. Our 866 pupils are drawn mainly
from six parishes and partner primary schools. 90% of all pupils rely on the school buses,
therefore, our pupils are a very heterogeneous community; whose needs, aspirations and life
experiences reflect the diversity of the city we serve.
From September 2006, our school became a specialist humanities college, with a plan to
provide an enriched humanities curriculum that acts as a springboard for whole school
improvement. Being a humanities college is not only of great benefit to our three lead
subjects (English, Geography and History), but also the entire school and all subject areas.
Three words can be used to summarise the aims of our humanities college:
1. Innovation
2. Personalisation.
3. Opportunities.
Our aims…
(1) To promote stimulating personalised learning through a significantly more flexible and
exciting curriculum that enriches the lives of students, and encourages autonomous life long
learners.
(2) To provide improved independent learning and thinking skills opportunities through a
mixture of (a) improved cross-phase initiatives (b) regular ‘digging deeper’ days at Bishop
Ullathorne School and (c) the development of shared approaches towards developing
learning and teaching through the development of year 5/6 master classes in each of our six
partner primary schools.
(3) To provide our students with the knowledge, skills and understanding
that literacy is at the heart of interpreting and succeeding in the world
around them. To empower them to become effective communicators so
that they gain insight into the enormous power of language in its written,
visual and auditory forms. Our pupils will become more confident in
exploring, analysing and interpreting language and meaning in fiction, nonfiction and the moving image.
(4) To broaden students’ awareness of the interactions between man and nature in the global
community and engender an understanding of our personal responsibility for the future
cohesion and survival of mankind and the environment.
(5) By extending opportunities to discover our past, we deliver more personalised and
contextualised opportunities to develop the necessary literacy and thinking skills to enhance
students’ appreciation, respect and tolerance of diverse attitudes, beliefs and interpretations.
Through increasing our students’ access to a greater range of information sources, we
develop more empathic, analytical and socially active citizens, with the skills to scrutinise
prevailing beliefs and viewpoints, whilst being able to critically articulate reasoned
conclusions.
To give a flavour of what this means for our school
community, some of the events and developments
for this year are:
 Increased enrichment experiences and
opportunities for our pupils
 Humanities enrichment days at Bishop
Ullathorne School for our partner primary pupils
 Development of a spiralling programme of
personal, learning and thinking skills.
 An international Humanities week in July for the
whole school, providing curriculum enrichment
 Development of new courses including Media
and Building Learning Power.
 Two adult learning courses for Polish parents
whose children have joined the school
 Improved teaching areas for Humanities.
 Improved ICT throughout the school.
Improved facilities:
The school’s library facilities have been completely modernised with a media studies suite
that includes editing facilities, an Independent Learning Centre and loanable laptops for use
by classes or individuals.
A crucial aspect of the school’s specialist school programme is support for the wider
community. As a result, some funds are earmarked for the development of the humanities
curriculum in each of our partner primary schools. In addition, community-based projects are
also funded to improve levels of literacy and numeracy through accredited courses for adult
learners – for example the Polish School which will run on Saturday mornings.
Specialist status is seen as the springboard for Bishop Ullathorne to become a local and
national centre of excellence for humanities education, working alongside fellow specialist
schools within the South West Federation of schools and across the city. Being a specialist
school is seen as a way to raise standards, choices and experiences for all.