St Joseph's Catholic and Anglican High School () is a

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 ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, located on Sontley Road and situated on the edge of the

Erddig Erddig () is a country house and estate in the Community (Wales), community of Marchwiel, approximately south of Wrexham, Wales. It is centred on a country house which dates principally from between 1684 and 1687, when the central block was bui ...

estate. The school is opposite the Bishop of Wrexham's residence. It is currently the only shared Church school in Wales. The two Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Wrexham and the Anglican Church in Wales Diocese of St. Asaph have a shared responsibility for the school.

History

St Joseph's was opened in 1958 as St Joseph's Catholic Secondary Modern School. Headmaster - Mr Martin Cleary. In 1972 St Joseph's became a Comprehensive High School. It joined up with the

Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

in 2006. Originally there were three forms, or 'houses': Bishops, Abbots and Gwyns (named for the martyr

St Richard Gwyn Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), also known by his anglicized name, Richard White, was a Welsh people, Welsh teacher at Underground education, illegal and underground schools and a bard who wrote both Christian poetry, Christian a ...

). Eventually these were renamed and expanded and for many years there were four forms: Hannon, Mostyn, Petit and Vaughan. Each was named after a

Bishop of Menevia The Bishop of Menevia was the ordinary of the Diocese of Menevia in the Province of Cardiff in the Catholic Church in Wales. The Diocese of Menevia covered an area of roughly consisting of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, ...

. When the school gained joint church school status, the pupils were asked to vote for the new form names, based on contemporary religious icons. The following five names were chosen: Romero (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 Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador, Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular ...

), Cassidy (after

Sheila Cassidy Sheila Anne Cassidy (born 18 August 1937) is an English doctor, known for her work in the hospice movement, as a writer and as someone who, by publicising her own history as a torture survivor, drew attention to human rights abuse in Chile in th ...

), Devereux (after

Sean Devereux Sean Devereux (25 November 1964 – 2 January 1993) was a British Salesian missionary and aid worker assassinated in Kismayo, Somalia in 1993 while working for UNICEF. He has since become an important role model for the aid-working vocation, pa ...

), Kolbe (after

Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; ; 8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Conventual Franciscan friar, missionary, saint, martyr, and a Nazi concentration camp victim, who volunteered to die in place ...

), King (after

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

). In 2006 St Joseph's became a joint Anglican-Catholic school. The school has never been exclusively Catholic and has always (at least as far back as 1978) admitted non-Catholic students - mainly Anglicans. The whole school Eucharists alternate between the two traditions. The current headteacher is Mr Christopher Wilkinson. He was preceded by Mrs Maria B. Rimmer, the school's first female Headteacher (January 2010 - August 2016).

Academics

The school introduces some new topics that are different from primary school such as French, German, Drama, and various technology subjects. An official Welsh Assembly government inspection in spring 2008 awarded the school the maximum grading possible: seven grade ones. A 2020 Estyn report praised the school for ensuring "no pupil is left behind", rating all areas of performance at the school as either "good" or "excellent"; following a school inspection in February 2020.

Controversies

In December 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the school was accused of denying entry to pupils exempt from wearing face masks, mainly affecting disabled pupils; and criticised later for separating those exempt from wearing a face mask, with pupils that do wear face masks into a separate bubbles. The school responded stating they are following

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

guidance and implementing the necessary procedures to keep pupils safe.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Catholic High School Secondary schools in Wrexham County Borough Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Wrexham Church in Wales schools