St. Cuthbert’s was designated as a Specialist Science College in September 2003. The Specialist Schools Trust identifies good schools and grants specialist status in order to maintain and further excellent standards of teaching and learning across the whole school.
In St. Cuthbert’s, the Science and Mathematics faculties were
chosen as the instruments through which excellence would be
promoted within the school and the local community. This
recognises the high quality of these faculties, as well as their
potential to develop new ideas and disseminate this good
practice. Both faculties have consistently produced very good
results in public examinations and offer a wide range of courses.
A notable feature of the Science faculty is its teaching of
separate rather than combined Science from Year 7. Most pupils
gain a Triple Award in Science at GCSE.
Specialist equipment
The injection of £650,000 across four years, enables the school
to put into practice detailed plans approved by the government.
We have enhanced teaching and learning with the use of ICT.
Laptops and projectors allow learning to take place in new,
exciting ways. We are transforming the standards of our
accommodation with rebuilding and refurbishment projects,
resulting in many more courses being available, including
vocational GCSEs, free standing mathematics qualifications,
BTEC and AS/A2 Science. As a result, numbers post-16 are
improving, maintaining a thriving Sixth Form. Faculties across the
school benefit from collaboration in relevant projects such as
Science related art. Pupils have the opportunity to gain CREST
Awards through extra-curricular activities in Science and Technology.
Making learning interesting
In the wider community, our secondary and primary partners work with St. Cuthbert’s to improve standards at their own schools. This involves staff training and direct intervention by teachers to improve skills in literacy, numeracy and investigative science. We are proud of our open evenings when parents enjoy Science events with their children. Local industry also works closely with the school to provide relevant scientific work experience and we undertake environmental projects to assist in the development of the Benwell Nature Park.
St Cuthbert’s Specialist Science College remains committed to excellence in education.
