All round education at the heart of Cathedral School
AT The Cathedral School, excellent academic results and an exceptional co-curricular programme fosters the growth of intellectual curiosity, offering enormous breadth of opportunity. High-quality pastoral care and the school’s Christian ethos gives students the opportunity to reach their full potential in a vibrant, fun and supportive environment.
The Cathedral School was acknowledged by Estyn as excellent in all five inspection areas in September 2018.
Throughout the difficult period of lockdown, the school’s aim was to provide continuity of learning and high-quality pastoral care for every pupil. Teaching and learning for all pupils never stopped, just moved online. The school believes that learning and wellbeing go hand in hand, and this should not be compromised, regardless of the circumstances.
Having re-written the timetable for the entire school for March 23, flexibility was key to ensure an effective remote learning programme. The school began from the principle that pupils should be able to hear their teacher’s voice or see their face. It kept track of pupil learning, identified progress and had mechanisms in place to support children who were struggling each week. Pupils were able to raise any wellbeing concerns via the secure ‘Worry Berry.’ Daily lessons were taught online via Microsoft Teams to ensure high standards of safeguarding were upheld.
These were recorded and stored on the school network. Teachers were available throughout the day, pastoral tutor time continued with face-toface Teams meetings and the learning support team continued to work with individuals. The innovative Step Up programmes ensured that Year 11 and 13 students were well prepared for the next stage of their academic career, even though their examinations had been cancelled.
All round education is at the heart of everything that the school does and this continued during remote learning. Almost three quarters of peripatetic music lessons took place virtually, with individual and ensemble concerts performances. The sports department held weekly workouts, set up a school virtual running club, raising money for 2 Wish Upon A Star and ran virtual sports days.
The Cathedral School was identified as sector-leading by Estyn for work in helping pupils to develop self-confidence, acquire a broad range of important life skills and to become well-informed and active citizens.
And, this didn’t stop during lockdown. Pupils continued to support their local communities, from chairing the Children’s Commissioner for Wales youth advisory panel during the coronavirus and me survey, writing letters to Cartref care home as part of an intergenerational project, developing a bilingual chatbot to help those with concerns and setting up a pupil mentor scheme for younger pupils.
With 800 pupils aged three to 18, The Cathedral School is one of the top performing co-educational schools in Wales at A-Level and GCSE with pupils progressing to the most selective and sought after universities.
High levels of inclusion in music, sport and the Duke of Edinburgh Award are a reflection of the school’s commitment to breadth as well as depth. Standards of music performance are unmatched and the school is equally proud of its sporting tradition. At The Cathedral School, every pupil’s skill, interest, talent and potential are nurtured.
School transport is offered along six routes from Castleton, Cowbridge,
Caerphilly, Colwinston, Llantrisant and Lisvane. Working parents are helped by wrap-around care from 8am to 6pm and a holiday club.
Financial support via means tested bursaries is available at Year Seven and 12 entry, with scholarships in a range of disciplines from academic to sport and music.
■ Visit one of the open days to see what makes The Cathedral School such a dynamic and high achieving place of learning. The Whole School
Open Morning takes place on Saturday, October 3. Book a place at www.cathedral-school.co.uk/ opendays
■ For further information, visit www.cathedral-school.co.uk or contact the registrar Deborah Whitehouse on 029 2083 8504 or registrar@cathedral-school.co.uk ■ Find out more about the remote learning programme at www. cathedral-school.co.uk/remotelearning