St Mary's Catholic School, Newcastle upon Tyne

St Mary's Catholic School (formerly St Mary's Catholic Comprehensive School) is an English secondary school in Longbenton, Newcastle, England. In September 2013, following conversion to Academy, the 'Comprehensive' was officially removed from the school's name.

St Mary's Catholic School
Address
Map
Benton Park Road

, ,
NE7 7PE

Coordinates55°00′26″N 1°35′38″W / 55.00717°N 1.59385°W / 55.00717; -1.59385
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoesAuxilium Christianorum (Help of the Christians)
Where Everyone Can Succeed
The North East's Most Cultural School
Shining together in faith, love and joy
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
Established1954
Local authorityNewcastle upon Tyne
Department for Education URN108534 Tables
Head teacherEmma Patterson
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1140
Colour(s)Navy, Light Blue, white
Websitehttp://stmarysnewcastle.co.uk/

History

edit

St Mary's started life as a technical school for boys in 1954, and was located on the north side of Rutherford Street,[citation needed] 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 Longbenton, one in Walker and one in Killingworth. 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.[citation needed] The school is part of the family of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.

New buildings for the school were completed in September 2011, including an atrium, the chapel, the main hall and sports facilities. 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

edit

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.[1] 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.[2]

Emblem, logos and identities

edit
 
stmonline Logo

The Fleur-de-lis 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 and the three castles represent the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. 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 from the Litany of Loretto.

Notable alumni

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Newcastle Council Press Release". newcastle.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2007.
  2. ^ "School School Information - Awards Page". stmonline.net. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2006.
edit