St Mary's Catholic College (SMC) is a Catholic secondary school located in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

, Wirral, in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. St Mary's is one of four Catholic secondary schools in the

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 321,238, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Be ...

. The others are

St Anselm's College St Anselm's College is an 11–18 boys, Roman Catholic, grammar school and sixth form with academy status in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was established in 1933 and is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury. It is one of ...

, St John Plessington Catholic College and

Upton Hall School FCJ Upton Hall School FCJ is a catholic girls' grammar school with academy status located in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1849 by the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ). Admissions It is one of four Catholic schools in the Metropolita ...

. St Mary's is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

secondary school and

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

with academy status located in

, Wirral,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. St Mary's Catholic College (SMC) is part of St John Plessington Catholic College (SJP) and work in very close relationship to further both schools.

Pastoral care

There are numerous pastoral systems in place in SMC which care for a student's college life. The two most notable pastoral system are the form and year group systems. Each year group comprises eight forms which are each named after one of the forty catholic martyrs of England and Wales and then divided up into two half year groups named Alpha and Beta. These eight forms are: Alpha Half Year: * JB - abbreviating St. John Bosco. * VP - abbreviating

St. Vincent De Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. Afte ...

. * MT - abbreviating

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

. * TL - abbreviating

St. Therese of Lisieux ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

Beta Half Year: * BH - abbreviating

Basil Hume George Basil Hume OSB OM (2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was an English Catholic bishop. He was a monk and priest of the English Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth Abbey and its abbot for 13 years until his appointment as Archbishop of Wes ...

* SB - abbreviating St. Bernadette of Lourdes. * OR - abbreviating St. Óscar Romero * MK - abbreviating

Maximillian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; pl, Maksymilian Maria Kolbe; 1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp ...

. House System: As well as the year group system, there is also a house system. Every student in the school is placed into one of six houses which are named after saints or prominent Catholic figures. These houses are: * Romero - Named after

Óscar Romero Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular Bishop of Tambeae, as Bishop of Santiago d ...

. * Kolbe - Named after

* Teresa - Named after

. * Bosco - Named after St John Bosco * Hume - Named after

. * Bernadette - Named after St Bernadette of Lourdes. The school also enables and encourages students to report incidents of bullying, theft, crime or any unwanted behaviour in confidence to their school 24 hours a day via the TextSomeone system the school has introduced, along with the CallParents and Truancy Call systems, introduced to free up staff time usually consumed with administrative tasks.

Notable former pupils

Timothy Brown (bassist) The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements in the 1990s. They originally formed in Wallasey, England in 1988, with Rob Harrison on drums, singer/guitarist Simon "Sice" Rowb ...

(b 1969), bassist with

The Boo Radleys The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements in the 1990s. They originally formed in Wallasey, England in 1988, with Rob Harrison on drums, singer/ guitarist Simon "Sice" Ro ...

. *

Michelle Butterly Michelle Butterly (born 5 February 1970) is an English actress. Career She graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has played Julie Oldroyd in ''Soldier Soldier'' in 1997, Melanie Dyson in ''Casualty'' from 1999 to 2001, an ...

(b 1969), actress. *

Martin Carr Martin Carr (born 29 November 1968) is an English musician and writer who was the chief songwriter and lead guitarist with the band The Boo Radleys. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he was raised in Wallasey, England. Life and career Carr was born i ...

(b 1968), chief

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

with

. *

Louise Delamere Louise Alexandra Delamere (born 17 June 1969) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Lia in the Channel 4 comedy drama ''No Angels'' and Colette Sheward in the BBC medical drama '' Holby City''. Career Delamere appeared in ''Agatha ...

(b 1974), actress. *

Jonathan Walters Jonathan Ronald Walters (born 20 September 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Walters started his career at Blackburn Rovers but failed to break into the first team and joined Bolton Wanderers. He then went out ...

(b 1983), Premiership footballer.

Campus

From 2002 to 2004, a £12.5 million building programme took place at St. Mary's. This almost doubled the accommodation size of the whole school. This enabled the school to comfortably deal with rising pupil numbers. The building programme also addressed all of the accommodation shortfalls highlighted in the Ofsted report of March 2002. In April 2003, the Science and Technology Building opened, along with a new school chapel, extended library, Sixth form common room and study base, extra classrooms and two computer resource bases. In May 2004, the new Arts Block was opened, in time for the school to become a Specialist College for the Arts in September. There were two new drama studios, a fully equipped dance studio, three art rooms, two new computer rooms and five additional classrooms. The Music Department now has its own recording studio and soundproof practice rooms. The buildings include 19 classrooms (16 general and 3 Design and Technology), larger PE changing rooms, expanded and upgraded office/reception areas, improved access for students with limited mobility, three refurbished laboratories, and more dining room space. The current buildings' capacity can accommodate up to 1,850 students. Eight forms of entry and an anticipated sixth form roll of 300 +. In 2018 the school removed a wall in front of the girls' toilets to cut down on juvenile delinquency; in response parents pulled their children out of school and complained.

Significant events

On 1 December 2011, students from St. Mary's College were invited to perform for HM The Queen and HM The Duke of Edinburgh when they officially opened the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton. On 1 November 2016, St Mary's Catholic College became an

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

. St Mary's Catholic College...A Voluntary Aided Academy.

References

External links

GOV.UK information

Ofsted reports
{{authority control Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Wallasey Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral