Dear students and parents,

It is a pleasure and a privilege to welcome you to St Michael’s Church of England High School’s website.

The school moved from the Throne Road site to Curral Road in 2011. We enjoy working and learning in a beautiful building with state-of-the-art facilities, including three multi-use games areas; sports fields; a sports hall; a dance studio; a drama theatre; a recording studio; design and technology rooms; computer suites; food and textiles facilities and science laboratories. Classrooms and corridors are light and spacious and at the heart of the school is a beautiful new chapel: a peaceful space for prayer and reflection.

I became the Headteacher in 2016. In 2017, Ofsted again judged our school to be Good; awarding us Outstanding for Personal Development and Welfare. In 2019, our Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools visit resulted in the highest judgement of Excellent for ‘The impact of collective worship’; ‘The effectiveness of Religious Education’ and the ‘Overall Judgement: ‘How effective is the school’s distinctive Christian vision, established and promoted by leadership at all levels, in enabling pupils and adults to flourish?’ This outcome was a very prestigious, highly valued honour.

Academic success at St Michael’s has gone from strength to strength: there has been a significant improvement in examination results, culminating in two years of exceptional student progress with many subjects and cohorts exceeding national figures for attainment and progress.

We educate over 1200 students at St Michael’s. We have been oversubscribed for many years, with over 500 students applying for 240 places into Year 7 every year. We provide a broad, rich and deep curriculum, taught by expert, passionate teachers in a safe, caring and supportive environment. We are relentless in our pursuit of high standards whilst promoting Christian values of mercy; integrity, care and compassion; humility; achievement; equality; leadership and service.

Our award-winning Student Voice children work tirelessly for the benefit of others: highlighting the problems faced by 21st Century children; liaising with local agencies to tackle environmental and social issues; supporting our local and global community and raising money for charity (over £60,000 to date). Our school community also donated food, gifts, aprons and goggles and we manufactured and donated visors to hospitals, surgeries, care homes, hospices and schools over lockdown.

At St Michael’s, we aim to show love, care and kindness to all in our community. We value what we have and share with others and we aim to enable everyone to achieve their full potential. Whilst Covid-19 has forced changes upon us, our children have adapted, continued to flourish and proven their resilience. As a welcoming, collaborative school community, we hope it will not be too long before restrictions are minimised and we can resume some kind of normality. Until then, stay safe and well.

With kindest regards,

Mrs Jayne Gray (MSc; NPQH)
Headteacher