Democracy & Equality
St Edmund’s Catholic School is an 11- 16 voluntary aided school with over 1000 pupils on roll. It is situated in the inner city of Portsmouth with high levels of social deprivation and FSM6. It has a high percentage of pupils who have EAL. The school as judged as outstanding in February 2016 and July 2022
St Edmund’s prepares students for life in modern Britain through their outstanding personal development including citizenship education, PSHE and across the wider curriculum. The school firmly believes that promoting fundamental British values has allowed a dialogue to explore difficult issues and improve ethos, attitudes and outcomes.
Citizenship Studies is a distinct timetabled subject for all pupils in KS3 and a popular and very successful option for GCSE at KS4. Each year students in year 11 undertake a variety of citizenship projects on many different topics such as Racism in football, The impact of Covid on students mental Health, domestic violence, food poverty etc.
These projects promote an interest in and awareness of citizenship issues across the school community.
SMSC in school
The SMSC development of pupils is central to the Ethos that underpins all that takes place in school. This is evident in many ways:
Relationships that exist between all members of the community.
School display/visual learning environment.
Behaviour and attitudes.
Curriculum.
St Edmund's offers it students many fantastic opportunities to enrich their lifetime experiences.
Celebrating our Faiths
As a school we get together as a family to celebrate our Faiths at St John's Cathedral.
Proud to be Equal and Diverse
We are extremely proud of the fact that the St Edmund’s of today is a multi-cultural school. Over 33 nationalities are represented within the school and children/families of all backgrounds. This makes St Edmund’s a wonderful place for children to grow up in where all are considered equal and given the same opportunity. Every pupil is important.
Our broad curriculum aims to reach out to all of our children so that all feel included, learn and develop in order to become citizens in the world. As a school we are obliged to follow the national curriculum and the syllabus of the GCSE examination board. We pack a huge amount of additional wider learning and experiences into the lives and education of our children.
Within our curriculum we promote diversity, reflection, equality and opportunities to improve.
Curriculum content examples include English - Year 7 texts such as Gennifer Choldenko - Al Capone Irons My Shirts. History: Slavery, Colonisation, the Suffragettes, Holocaust (and memorial day), Black History month. Within creative subjects the Mexican Day of the Dead, African drumming and Reggae music. In Science we celebrate and look at the role of Women in science.
There are many unique experiences within school such as:
Recent visits by Chris Lubbe an inspirational speaker who gave a talk to our Year 11 students. Chris is an internationally acclaimed inspirational keynote speaker and storyteller who works in various sectors. Chris’ story contains themes such as fear, determination, courage, love and forgiveness, all in the face of blatant racial discrimination.
A visit from Quintessential a group of professional musicians from all over the world who come together every year to give Portsmouth children the opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of music instruments up close. Gen Verde an international performing arts group made up from a group of musicians and performing artists with a distinctly international profile. The current line-up is 22 women from 14 different countries. A group of Gospel Singers from America who spent the day with us.
These experiences add to our family culture and celebrate our rich diversity.
Senior Citizens Party
An annual celebration with our links from the community.
In March Year 8 students of St Edmund's Catholic School hosts its annual Senior Citizens party.
Every year at the start of the term the pupils of Year 8 gather to fundraise for their party, this involves efforts such as creating a money box, guessing the sweets in a jar, asking for donations, pupil/teacher penalty shootouts, bake offs and more, all of the funds raised are used to cover costs for the party, and all fundraising is pupil driven.
Our school invites local Parishes, previous party attendees and all of the Year 8 cohort's elderly family and friends to come along and join us for an afternoon of food and drink, with entertainment such as an old time sing along medley, bingo, raffle prizes and a whole host of pupil performances all free of charge.
Party guests were queuing up at the last event in March to get their seat as we hosted over 100 in our school hall where they enjoyed a menu of savoury and sweet delights including homemade sandwiches, cakes and scones amongst a variety of staple party snacks. Those Year 8 pupils who formed the Committee for the party also delighed in hosting a table each, getting to know their guests, assisting them during the party and enjoying their company and stories - not to mention the fruits of their labour in the form of food and drink!
The feedback from this event has been overhwhelmingly positive by guests, staff and pupils all reflecting the hard work of those involved on the day and behind the scenes. It is such a lovely time where we as a school can reach out into the wider community to provide an afternoon of fun to those around us. I would like to finish by quoting and echoing Mrs Lee (a party goer) when she says "Thank you so much for the wonderful party you gave us. Your school should be very proud of the way that Year 8 students conducted themselves as they were a credit to the school, and also their parents". Well done Year 8 - you were fantastic.
Engagement with Parliament
The school regularly visits the Houses of Parliament and has taken advantage of education workshops offered by Parliament UK Education. We have welcomed out Member of Parliament, Stephen Morgan, to the school who has generously given his time to speak to student studying Citizenship Studies GCSE
