Oaklands Catholic School

Oaklands Catholic School and Sixth Form College

Motto	United by the Cross
Established	1966
Type	Academy
Religion	Roman Catholic
Headteacher	Matthew Quinn MA,Bed(Hons),DipQS,NPQH
Chair of Governors	Andrew Hastilow
Location	Stakes Hill Road Waterlooville PO7 7BW England Coordinates: 50°52′06″N 1°01′18″W / 50.86836°N 1.02158°W / 50.86836; -1.02158
Local authority	Hampshire
DfE URN	137345 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Staff	71 full time, 11 part time
Students	1296
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Houses	St Catherine, St Clare, St Dominic, St Margaret, St Martin, St Stephen, St Teresa, St Vincent.
Website	www.oaklands.hants.sch.uk

Oaklands Catholic School/Academy is a Roman Catholic voluntary (Aided) coeducational school and sixth form college with academy status located in Waterlooville, Hampshire.^[1] It opened in 1966, although its history can be traced back to 1902. Around 1300 students attend the school with over 150 in the Sixth Form. The school's primary input of pupils is St. Peter's Catholic Primary, which is only a few hundred yards away.

Oaklands has been a specialist humanities college since September 2005.

Senior management

The Senior Leadership team is led by Mr Matthew Quinn MA the Head Teacher since 2007. Deputy Head Teachers: Dr Anette Howson, Mrs Julie Oldroyd, Asst Head Teachers: Mr Richard. Cunningham, and Mrs Belinda Ludlam (Head of Sixth Form Learning) and the School Business Manager Mrs J McCall, who also acts as Company Secretary to the Academy Trust Company.

The Chair of Governors and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Academy is Mr Andrew Hastilow who has been Chair since September 2013 succeeding Captain Paul Quinn OBE who was Chair of Governors from September 2000 and Chair of the Board of Directors from September 2011. The Vice Chairs are Mr Aldo Navato and Commander Marc Evans.

The Members of the Company are: Mr A Hastilow; Dr D Grey and Msgr McGrath VG.

Buildings

The school consists of 7 different blocks, mainly separated into different subject groups. There have been an extensive site improvement programme seeing the replacement of prefabricated buildings with purpose designed brick-built buildings. The three new blocks consist of a new music block, Humanities block (Formerly C block, now John Paul II block) and Sixth Form Block. Each of these blocks has been built in a similar style, often incorporating a cross in different coloured bricks. 2012 has seen a major refurbishment of the Maths/Science block with Maths moving to A Block and the labs being update in 3 phases (Phase 2 to complete in Summer 2012).

The extensive grounds incorporate many mature oak trees, giving the site its name.

The White House, which houses admin and RE, is a beautiful paladian structure built for General Napier.

Ofsted

The school received a 'good with many outstanding features' Ofsted report in 2008.^[2]

Music

The music department, led by Miss E Flood, offers not only GCSE and A level music, but also private instrument tuition in a large number of instruments ranging from piano, flute and oboe to electric guitar, saxophone and double bass. There are currently three school bands, the Oaklands band, the Concert band, and the Big band.

Alumni

There are currently three Members of Parliament (MPs) who are alumni of Oaklands School:

• Jon Cruddas, elected in 2010 as the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham
• Penelope Mordaunt, elected in 2010 as the Conservative MP for Portsmouth North
• Caroline Dinenage, elected in 2010 as the Conservative MP for Gosport

Uniform

The school uniform was redesigned for the September 2009 academic year, now fully implemented. The uniform, which is a different colour scheme from the previous one, now includes a blazer made from recycled plastic bottles, a new striped tie and a choice of long or short-sleeved jumper.

The expense of the uniform caused controversy in 2009,^[3] as a large girl's uniform will cost £97 without PE kit. A press release was submitted on the school website^[4] claiming many of the facts written by the newspaper articles are incorrect, and that many of the products are available for less in different stores.

Non-branded items (trousers skirts etc.) can all be bought from main supermarkets.

There is an extensive used uniform scheme run by the Oaklands Parents Association.

For parents struggling to meet the cost of the uniform there is help available from the Governors Fund.

References

External links

• School history