A VIBRANT ENVIRONMENT
Meena McDonald visits Archbishop Temple to discover a school that is truly outstanding
The moment you set foot into this incredible Grade II listed building you know you’re somewhere special.
Headteacher Ivan Catlow explains what makes Archbishop Temple Church of England High School so special. “Our rich and vibrant environment is so obvious the minute you arrive. Pupils are stretched and challenged in their academic studies along with a wide range of extracurricular activities and are therefore given the foundation and teaching to carry them through to the next stage of life. Our broad curriculum goes way beyond the national requirements and provides knowledge, inspiration and experiences for all our pupils.”
This can be observed across numerous activities throughout the school where pupils are exposed to everything from environmental issues, educational competitions, the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and sporting activities to motivational talks from business mentors.
One example is Rivercraft, a specially developed Minecraft game based on the Environment Agency’s £54.7M flood defence scheme in Preston and South Ribble. Using interactive play through the creation of a Minecraft world, the games help young people learn about climate change, the environment and flooding along with raising awareness of careers in STEM and civil engineering.
The school excels in subjects right across the curriculum and recently came first in the regional final of the Tomorrow’s Engineers EEP Robotics Challenge. The competition is a curriculum-linked programme, where pupils work together to solve real-world engineering, technology and computing challenges. The Archbishop Temple engineers will compete against over 40 other schools from across the country at the final in June.
Archbishop Temple is also keen to inspire its business pupils and recently welcomed local businessman Aaron Willis. The Apprentice candidate gave pupils invaluable advice about starting in business, dealing with negativity, building confidence and self-belief, as well as the benefits of working hard.
The school boasts many sporting successes and regularly wins local and regional competitions in football, basketball, netball, table tennis, badminton and indoor athletics.
Committed to investing in its facilities, pupils will benefit from an investment project the school is undertaking worth £300,000 to develop a ground-breaking new football pitch. It will be the best grass pitch in the city and is being developed by those that were responsible for the pitch at Wembley!
Although the school is based in a Grade II listed building it is still extremely keen to utilise the most advanced technologies and is currently running a decarbonisation project which involves a ground source heat pump heating the school, improved windows that hold on to as much heat as possible and photo-voltaic panels to generate power.
Headteacher Ivan Catlow concludes: “Providing pupils with an all-rounded, knowledge-rich education will ensure they develop the skills required for the next stage of their lives and embark on exciting careers with enthusiasm and commitment.”
For more information on the inspirational school please call 01772 717782
SCHOOL OPEN EVENING
Wednesday 19th October
4pm – 7pm
See archbishoptemple.com for more details
Archbishop Temple Church of England High School
St Vincent’s Road
Fulwood, Preston PR2 8RA
archbishoptemple.com
