New academy brings 12 Catholic schools together
A NEW multi-academy which brings together 12 Catholic schools – making it the largest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham – has pledged to support pupils from all faiths as well as refugee students from Afghanistan.
Our Lady of the Magnificat Multi-Academy Company was formed on 1st September after bringing together Our Lady of Lourdes and Holy Family Multi-Academies.
The academy is made up of three secondary schools, one middle school, five primary schools and three first schools across south Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
In the Stratford area, St Benedict’s Catholic High School and Sixth Form in Alcester, St Gregory’s Primary School in Stratford, Our Lady’s Primary School in Alcester and St Mary’s in Henley are all included in the new academy group.
Thomas Leverage, CEO of the multi-academy company, told the Herald the emphasis was on student equality, a good education and, importantly, preparation for life and jobs after they leave school.
“The world has changed since the Covid pandemic and the way we live and work has changed too,” said Mr Leverage. “We are very mindful of supporting the whole school family from the age of four to 19 and we need to be agile in adapting to the needs of pupils. We want to give everyone a good education and have great opportunities for career progression or life at university. It is important to provide a robust, sustainable foundation to enable our post-16 and post-18 students to gain an understanding of the world beyond the school gate.”
One way in which students will gain an insight into other parts of the world is through the multi-academy’s involvement in the Afghan Refugee Students scheme. Warwickshire County Council approached the company to see if it wanted to be involved and Trinity Catholic School in Leamington was selected.
“We have already supported refugee students from Syria and Iraq and we are happy to provide for Afghanistan refugee children as well,” said Mr Leverage. “We can provide them with studies not just in maths and English but in other areas and we help them with things like application forms for jobs and provide support for mental health and wellbeing issues as we would with all our students.
“We welcome pupils who are from the Catholic faith, or people with different faiths or no have no religion at.”
The multi-academy will have responsibility for 4,000 pupils and 678 members of staff, but there are already plans in place to double its size to 24 school by next year.
“We have the same resourcing as other schools and we stand by the principles of the Catholic church, which originally built schools for poor children,” said Mr Leverage.
The schools
Secondary
St Augustine’s, Redditch
St Benedict’s, Alcester
Trinity Catholic School,
Leamington
Middle
St Bede’s, Redditch
Primary
St Gregory’s, Stratford
Our Lady’s, Alcester
St Mary’s, Henley-In-Arden,
St Mary’s, Evesham
St Mary’s, Broadway
First schools
Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
Redditch
St Thomas More, Redditch
St Peter’s, Bromsgrove
