Hagley Roman Catholic High School


Hagley Catholic High School is a mixed 11-18 school in Hagley, Worcestershire, England. The school holds specialist academy status, and was awarded a Grade 1 in the 2011 Ofsted report. The school caters for students studying for Key Stage 3, GCSE, AS and A-level examinations.
The chosen patron saint is Catholic martyr Saint Nicholas Owen, and the school is divided into houses named after saints: Anselm, Bede, Chad, Gregory, Kenelm, and Wulstan.
In 2007, the school agreed to work in correspondence with Haybridge High School, located over the road, to share teaching in the less commonly chosen subjects by students. The schools have shared common ground for sporting events for some time.
Hagley Catholic High School obtains impressive examination results for its pupils. According to BBC league tables, the school has the 6th highest performance rate of the 20 or so state schools in the county, based on GCSE results, with 73% of students in 2010 gaining 5+ GCSEs A* to C including Maths and English.

History

The Catholic community in Worcestershire first began collecting funds to build a secondary school in 1942. Hagley Roman Catholic Secondary School was opened in 1959. Originally the school was to be built in Stourport-on-Severn, but land was donated in Hagley.
In 1969, in the building which would later become Lab 5, a full-scale replica of a Bristol Scout aeroplane was built by five pupils and their history teacher. The aeroplane could only be removed when the window frames were removed.
Though A-Levels had been taught in the school since the 1960s, they became an important part of the curriculum in the 1970s. A sixth form common room and adjacent teaching rooms were built in 1976, and pupils began regularly to go on to university.
An extensive collection of catalogued records relating to the history of the school can be found in the library. A history of the school, written by teacher Stephen Roberts, was published in 2009.

Notable former pupils

The school became known for a tragic M40 minibus crash that occurred on 18 November 1993 in which twelve children and a teacher died. Several memorials were put in place, including a stained glass window in the entrance foyer, and several charities were also formed. One of the consequences of the crash was the launch of a national campaign to improve safety and driving standards for Passenger Carrying Vehicles. The huge number of letters which were sent to the school in the weeks after this event were placed for safekeeping in the care of Worcestershire County Archives in 2012.