Every half term we will be collating good news stories from our schools to showcase the successes and milestones reached by our students, teachers and governors.

Here is the round up of the Autumn term: ‍

Christmas card winners

After the success of last year, the archdiocese ran its Christmas card competition for the second year running.

Students from both primary and secondary schools put their creativity to the test and designed cards to be used as the official archdiocesan Christmas card for 2024.

A shortlisting panel whittled down hundreds of entries to just 10 – five from primary school and five from secondary schools. The public were then asked to vote for their favourite on archdiocesan social media channels.

After receiving hundreds of votes, Emilia from Holy Family Primary School, Cronton won the primary school category and Oliver from St Edmund Arrowsmith High School, Ashton-in-Makerfield was named the winner of the secondary school category.

Congratulations to Emilia and Oliver and thank you to everyone who entered.

St Mary’s school parliament receives special visitor

The school parliament at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Chorley received a special visit from UK parliament, Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Sir Lindsay made the visit during UK Parliament Week and it was captured by Sky TV’s children’s programme FYI and Granada News.

You can find out more here:

Knit-ivity!

Rosie, a talented year 5 pupil from Our Lady and St Philomena’s Catholic Primary School, Liverpool showcased her incredibleknitting skills when she created this nativity scene.

Well done Rosie!

Holy Name’s Christmas present drive

The families and children of Holy Name Catholic Primary School, Liverpool have been collecting new toys and gifts for the Fazakerley Federation community centre to help ensure that every child in their community receives a gift on Christmas morning.  

The school was overwhelmed by the generosity of their families as they continue to show how they live out the principles of Catholic social teaching and demonstrate solidarity in caring for others in our community. 

St Edmund Arrowsmith student receives place at Harrow

Morgan, a Year 11 student from St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, Ashton-in-Makerfield has secured a fully-funded place at Harrow School in London to study for his A Levels.

Morgan describes the opportunity as a ‘chance of a lifetime.’

He said of the moment he found out he had been accepted: “It was a fantastic moment and one that will stick with me for the rest of my life and something that has now completely changed the course of my life forever. I can’t even begin to imagine the sort of opportunities this process has opened up to me and I can’t wait to have my first day and spend those next two years in the school, living a life I never thought would be remotely possible to me.”

Headteacher Mr Dumican, said: We are all absolutely delighted for Morgan, it is a life-changing opportunity for him. Morgan has shown huge resilience, dedication and sheer hard work to achieve this amazing success.

“He has given everything to being the best version of himself all the way through the process, these are the things we try to instil in our pupils every day and he richly deserves his place at Harrow.

“The whole school community are rightly very proud of him!’