Thank you for your interest in our fantastic 11-18 school.

Christopher Whitehead Language College is a fabulous school where every child is valued and all have the opportunity to achieve.  This is a school that offers opportunities to excel, whether it is academic, sport, drama, art or music, there is something for everyone.  We are ambitious for all who join the school and students are pushed to excel.  This is a very different school to the one of five years ago.

This is a school that has undergone significant investment, is continuing to receive significant investment in producing ‘world class’ facilities.  Our £3 million sixth form centre is now five years old and is a major success.  The new £2.75 million three story performing arts building is underway – a major transformation for music, drama and dance with two additional science laboratories being a welcome addition.  Further grants have been received and subject to planning will improve our Additional Needs/Alternative Curriculum.  These investments will be ready for February 2023.

Our students’ behaviour and attendance have continued to be recognised as exemplary and have been judged to be ‘outstanding’ in our last three Ofsted inspections.  Most recently, May 2018, our student behaviour was described as ‘exemplary’.  All students make significant social and academic progress.  These are key performance indicators that tell you our students feel happy, safe and ready to learn.  Crucially, they make progress from their starting point.  We ensure they follow the correct broad balanced curriculum pathway in order to achieve the best qualifications and develop the best skills for further education and a successful career.  No student leaves our school without a course, apprenticeship or a pathway to a successful future.  This is a statistic we are particularly proud of as is the fact that currently twelve staff entrust the school with the education of their children (my third child has just left year 13 to attend Birmingham University), the staff know what the school achieves and entrust their children to this valuable experience.

We are particularly proud of the breadth of our curriculum.  There is something for everyone, with 25+ courses at A-level including seven Level 3 BTECs with all students challenged to be the best they can be.  This is reinforced by a very talented, dedicated staffroom with:

• Specialist A-level teachers.
• A wide range of courses and smaller groups that do not exceed 18.
• The ‘Impetus’ programme of guest speakers that has seen a variety of inspirational speakers from Oxford, Birmingham and Bristol universities including TV personality Professor Lord Winston.
• A wide ranging enrichment programme that has been developed by the students and sixth form.  Our sixth form netball team is unbeaten in three years and we are the county sixth form football champions.

This is a sixth form that is increasing in size and reputation with students from 15 different 11-16 institutions thriving within this school sixth form experience. Their recommendation that this is a fabulous experience is testament to the current sixth form offer and being given tremendous life changing opportunities.  Please look at our curriculum offer on the website – applications are welcomed all year round.  Students see this as very different to an 11-16 school, challenging but an opportunity to develop their personalities/skill set.  We are incredibly proud of the wide range of courses, experiences, apprenticeships and work that our sixth formers have undertaken with:

• Our first successful University of Oxford applicants in Classics and History, two of our strong courses.
• A wide range of Level 3 apprenticeships with Level 3 Health and Social Care, Hairdressing being popular courses.
• Two of our current teaching staff being students from our first sixth form cohort.

I believe this is a happy, vibrant school that offers life-changing experiences. We run twenty-four after school clubs and in-school experiences, allowing academic, sporting, dramatic and artistic development to the highest standards.  Students are challenged to work with local and national communities, supporting Worcester Food Bank, Dementia UK, the Afghan refugee crisis and awareness of the Holocaust.  Christopher Whitehead is much more than an academic route – we challenge and develop the whole child.

I hope you get the sense of excitement and privilege we all feel from working in this lovely school, giving opportunities for our young people to learn and excel.  ‘In pursuit of excellence’ is our mantra, which is much more than a strap-line and can be seen in every aspect of our school where personal development is as important as academic success.

Neil Morris

Headteacher’s Blog – https://neilmorriscwlc.wordpress.com