St Mary's Catholic School (formerly St Mary's Catholic Comprehensive School) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Longbenton Longbenton is a district of North Tyneside, England. It is largely occupied by an extensive estate originally built as municipal housing by Newcastle City Council in the 1930s and extended in the 1950s. It is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro st ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

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 ...

. In September 2013, following conversion to Academy, the ' Comprehensive' was officially removed from the school's name.

History

St Mary's started life as a technical school for boys in 1954, and was located on the west side of Frederic Street (Rutherford Street not Frederic Street) (now a part of St. James' Boulevard), a short street between Bath Lane and Westgate Road in Newcastle until September 1966. It then moved to its current site in Benton Park Road in Longbenton where it continued to be a boys-only school until 1977. As a result of the re-organisation of Catholic Schools in 1977 St Mary's became a co-educational Catholic Comprehensive. The school was based on three sites, one in

, one in

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People * Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) * Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California ...

and one in

Killingworth Killingworth, formerly Killingworth Township, is a town in North Tyneside, England. Killingworth was built as a planned town in the 1960s, next to Killingworth Village, which existed for centuries before the Township. Other nearby towns an ...

. These three sites were brought together some years later to its current site in Longbenton and is now the only Catholic co-educational secondary school in Newcastle. The school is part of the family of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.

New School Building

New buildings for the school were completed in September 2011, including an atrium, the chapel, the main hall and sports facilities and so on. The original building was demolished and the site landscaped to provide a range of sports areas, a memorial garden, a wildlife area, and seating areas for students.

Achievements

In July 2007 the school was awarded Humanities College status by the government, and given an additional £500,000 to develop further expertise in English, religious education and the performing arts. The school has also been awarded the Arts Mark, and has the Healthy Schools Award. Its website has also won the purpleyouth.com Bronze award for best school website.

Emblem, logos and identities

The

Fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

contained within the arms of St Mary's is the symbol most commonly used by the school, and is used on letterheads and newsletters as the logo. The lily represents the

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or '' Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations ar ...

and the three castles represent the city of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. The present arms of the school were designed by the long serving ex Art teacher John Croney and replaced an earlier version. The motto of St Mary's is "Auxilium Christianorum" a title of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...

from the Litany of Loretto.

Notable alumni

St Mary's RC Boys' Technical School

* Brian Chambers (footballer), former professional footballer. * Bill Green (footballer), former professional footballer. * Mick McGiven, former professional footballer.

References

External links

St Mary's Catholic School Website

BBC News Article
- BBC News Article - St Mary's participation in Operation 60 GCSE. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Catholic School Educational institutions established in 1954 Secondary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle 1954 establishments in England Academies in Newcastle upon Tyne