St Benedict's Catholic High School is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. It is located in

Alcester Alcester ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. It is west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Redditch. The town dates back to the times of Roman ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. The school is named after

Saint Benedict of Nursia Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Ch ...

, the patron saint of Europe and students. Established in 1963, it is an

academy school An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. 80% ...

(converted in 2017) overseen by the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham The Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The archdiocese covers an area of , encompassing Staffordshire, the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and much of ...

and the

Catholic Education Service The Catholic Education Service (CES) is an agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW), whose object is the advancement of the Christian religion, primarily through education. History The CES has its roots in the ...

. The catchment area for the school includes Alcester,

Bidford-on-Avon Bidford-on-Avon is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Warwickshire, very close to the border with Worcestershire. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census it had a population of 4 ...

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries. A wool trading centre in the Middle Ages, Chipp ...

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, England, Worceste ...

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

and Studley. St Benedict's Catholic High School offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the Sixth Form college have the option to study from a range of BTECs and A-Levels. St Benedict's became an academy in 2017, with the Holy Family Catholic Multi Academy Company. Also in the group are the main feeder schools; Our Lady's Catholic Primary in Alcester, St Mary's Catholic Primary in Henley, St Mary's Catholic Primary in Evesham, St Mary's Catholic Primary in Broadway; and St Gregory's Catholic Primary in Stratford-upon-Avon. The Holy Family Catholic Multi-Academy merged with Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Multi-Academy in September 2021, forming Our Lady of the Magnificat Multi-Academy Company. Our Lady of the Magnificat Multi-Academy is a family of 17 schools, spread across Warwickshire and Worcestershire, visit www.magnificat.org.uk for more information.

Sixth Form

The sixth form building, which opened in 2011, is a separate building to the main school with 3 floors. It has its own cinema room, MAC suite and state of the art classrooms including a sound proofed music room. The Sixth form offers a mixture of A-levels and BTEC level 3 courses, covering a wide range of subjects from English Literature to Criminology. It has just recently entered into a consortium with 2 local schools to provide students with a broader range of enrichment activities and career progressing opportunities.

Recent inspection results

Its most recent inspection,

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

rated St. Benedict's 'Required Improvement'. The quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management were all related requires improvement. The sixth form was rated 'good'. However, the report pays attention to the fact that 'Most pupils at St Benedict's are happy, confident and enjoy school.' The school was last inspected in 2012 and in 2007, in which it was rated outstanding both times. Previous inspections were carried out with different leadership teams and when the school was not an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. A section 48 inspection report carried out by the

Archdiocese of Birmingham The Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The archdiocese covers an area of , encompassing Staffordshire, the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and much of ...

in 2018 stated that the school 'Requires Improvements' with regards to its religious aspect.Unknown
/ref> The most recent section 48 inspection carried out in 2022 deemed the school Good and recognised the significant improvements made to the school.

Notable former pupils

Gerry Mayhew Air Marshal Sir Gerard Michael David Mayhew (born 15 February 1969), is a former senior Royal Air Force officer, who served as Deputy Commander Operations, Headquarters Air Command from May 2019 until August 2022. Early life and education B ...

(b. 1969) - senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

officer, Air Marshal *

Andrew Pozzi Andrew William Pozzi (born 15 May 1992) is a retired British hurdling athlete. His greatest success was indoors; Pozzi was the 2017 European champion and the 2018 World Champion indoors at 60 metres hurdles. He was the 2012 UK 60 m and 110 m Cha ...

(b. 1992) - athlete, 2018 indoor World Champion at 60 metres hurdles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Benedict's Catholic High School Secondary schools in Warwickshire Academies in Warwickshire Educational institutions established in 1963 1963 establishments in England Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham Alcester