Welcome

As a Catholic school, we are committed to the whole person and the whole community. We value each of our students as a uniquely precious individual created “in the image and likeness of God”, with his or her own special gifts. We nurture not only our pupils’ minds and bodies but their spiritual growth. We help them develop into moral, responsible citizens. We expect every student to give of their best and have high standards of discipline and behaviour; we give of our best to each student, irrespective of ability or background.

At the heart of our approach are the Gospel values promoted by the greatest Teacher of all, Jesus Christ.

Academic Success

Recent public examinations confirm our excellent, and still improving, academic results. We intend to rise to the challenge of equipping your children to be fulfilled people who make a positive contribution to the world around them. Most of our students stay on into sixth form and a high proportion then go on to university. As well as the traditional academic courses, we are increasingly offering flexible vocational courses and a curriculum that is tailor-made to the individual student’s requirements. Whatever your child’s particular aptitudes, the sky’s the limit!

We take very seriously the responsibility of working with your child in a disciplined relationship of mutual trust and discernment.

Business & Enterprise with Ethics Specialism

There’s a lot to unpack in that seemingly simple statement. There are three major things that we can offer as a B&EE school which you won’t find in every educational establishment.

Firstly, we work with an ever-growing network of local business partners to provide our students with work-related learning and business awareness in all subjects. Secondly, we embed enterprise skills such as team work, leadership and communication into teaching and learning across the whole curriculum. Last but not least, we are unique amongst B&E schools in having Ethics as a part of our specialism. Not only does this develop qualities of social responsibility in our pupils, but it provides a point at which our enterprise culture can meet our Catholic ethos and form one complete, holistic world view.

We aim to form young people who are not only well prepared for the real world of work but are also aware of how relevant and vital Gospel values are to that world.

Brand New Building

St Wilfrid’s has been allocated funding by the DfES to enable the Governors, supported by the LEA and the Catholic Diocese of Arundel & Brighton, to construct a complete new school building. This will be opened on our existing site in September 2008 and will ensure that St Wilfrid’s has educational facilities to offer which are second-to-none. The extra funding brought by our BE&E status has already enabled us to invest heavily in new educational resources, particularly in the areas of Maths, ICT and Business and Vocational studies. The new build will further enhance this cutting-edge learning environment.

The overall shape of the building will be roughly that of a fish (a symbol of Christ for the early Church) and a focal point will be the chapel. As we step into the future we will take our traditional values with us.

New Headteacher

Our previous Head Teacher Bernard Smith and Acting Head Paul Walker have laid a solid foundation on which I am excited to be building. I inherit a strong community with shared values and high aspirations and I am greatly looking forward to leading it onwards to even greater achievements. I have come from St Paul’s Catholic College in Burgess Hill; my five years as Deputy Head at the school saw it move to a brand new building and increase its Key Stage 4 attainments to be the highest in Sussex. I offer the experience I gained there, as well as a strong faith commitment and my own insights as a parent, as catalysts to spur our school community on to further success at this exciting time.