Interview With The Headteacher

The Public Exam Results are impressive and have been for many years (several years’ worth of data by subject can be found elsewhere on our website). Our results enable our young people can access the best universities in the country. The focus of our school is not about exam results – we measure our success by whether our students get to study the course of their choice at the university of their choice – and by this measure also, we are hugely successful.

There are a number of factors which contribute towards our success, the most significant of which is our dedicated staff of experts in their subject areas. Teachers come to work at St Michael’s because they want to teach their subject at the highest level – they love their subject and have a desire to share it with young people. We have a very low turnover of teachers and this stability gives our school a great advantage in continuity of delivery and experience.
In addition, our students (whether ‘home-grown’ St Michael’s or new to the Sixth Form) are ambitious for themselves and this is the prevailing mood of the Sixth Form. Those who choose to enrol in Sixth Form at St Michael’s know that they will be expected to work hard to achieve their best, but they also know that they will be supported and encouraged along the way.

Armed with excellent A Level results, our students go on to a wide range of courses and institutions. Each year we see students succeed in gaining places at the most prestigious universities such as Oxford and Cambridge and on those courses which are traditionally the most difficult to get into (such as medicine). What is important is that our students follow their own aspirations – we guide and support them but we do not make the decisions for them. The vast majority go off to study academic subjects at university, but we also cater for those with creative ambitions – each year we have students going off to study Art (or other creative subjects) where we are equally successful in enabling students to take the next step towards their dream careers.

We provide a tremendous amount of support in helping our students choose and apply for their university courses. This help is delivered via the Tutorial Programme – a series of talks, assemblies and sessions with tutors designed to support our students in choosing the right course for them, navigating the university admissions process (UCAS) and writing their personal statements. In addition, our expert subject teachers are great sources of advice and information about choices and options in their own subjects.
We are remarkably successful in enabling our students to gain entry to the more competitive courses and institutions. We recognise that some courses require specialist preparation and guidance and this is why we have a member of staff dedicated to providing this support – Mr Ward is our university links coordinator and each year he puts together a support programme that benefits all students and particularly those who have extra hoops to jump through such as those who wish to apply to Oxford and Cambridge – and those aiming for medicine.

We are a diverse Sixth Form – like many London schools we have a range of ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds as well as faith and gender. Despite our diversity – there are elements which bind us together – a significant one is our sense of purpose. I would say that whilst there is no ‘typical’ student – there is a shared sense and drive for achieving great things. Our students want to do well, they are ambitious and hardworking – and this sets the pace and atmosphere of the Sixth Form.

Yes. St Michael’s has 96 students in our Year 11 – but grows considerably in Year 12, sometimes up to 150 students in total. The exact numbers vary from year to year, but the vast majority of our Year 11 stay on for Sixth Form and are joined by up to 60 students who studied elsewhere for GCSEs. St Michael’s is a very welcoming place and new students soon feel at home and join in all activities. Our experience is that the students mix exceptionally well – with friendship groups reforming based on shared subjects and external interests. No distinction is made between those students who join in Year 12 and those who joined the school in Year 7 – a clear indication of this is the fact that a great number of our Head Girls, Deputy Head Girls (or Head Boys) have been students who only joined us in Year 12 from other schools!

No. St Michael’s is a girls’ school only up until Year 11. Our Sixth Form is co-educational and we welcome applications from boys and girls. Because most of our Year 11 students stay on into the Sixth Form, we do have larger numbers of girls – but our external students tend to be roughly 50:50 so we have about 30 boys in each of Year 12 and Year 13. Our boys do just as well as our girls and play a full part in school life – often contributing by in significant ways to the school (for example by becoming Head Boy).

No. Although the majority of our students are Catholic, we have students who are active in other religious faiths – such as Islam, Judaism and Hinduism – and students of no faith. Our Catholic students coming through from Year 11 are very interested in and benefit from mixing with students from other backgrounds – recently a group of our Muslim Sixth Formers gave an assembly to the whole school on what it means to be a British Muslim.

All our students have one lesson a week of RE – this is a requirement of all Catholic schools and it applies to all students irrespective of their religion. These lessons are not examined and they are both dynamic and interesting – many involve lively discussion about issues relevant to young people’s role in society - students of all backgrounds participate and share their viewpoints. Modules include such topics as ‘Science and Religion’, ‘Extremism’ and ‘Buddhism’. At our whole-school Masses (religious services) all students join us for our celebrations and we ask that those who are not Catholic are respectful of those for whom the Mass is a religious experience. St Michael’s is a school where religious observance is respected by everyone and where we are open and discuss our spiritual identity.

The classroom experience in Sixth Form is very different. The concepts covered at A Level are considerably more challenging and students questioning their teachers is a big part of the learning process. The lessons therefore are more generally structured as conversations and debates which makes them both challenging and enjoyable. The teachers at St Michael’s particularly enjoy teaching their subjects at A Level – students who have been at the school from Year 7 say that they only really begin to know their teachers when they get to the Sixth Form!

St Michael’s is a school Sixth Form and so the experience will be different from attending a Sixth Form college. Students are required to attend registration every morning but enjoy more autonomy during the school day, with independent study periods. Once students have proven that they are working well, they are given certain privileges – such as having an afternoon at home rather than in school.
Although Sixth Form students generally benefit from working independently, we keep a close eye on our students’ progress at St Michael’s – we believe this is key to helping more students achieve their ambitions. Support programmes are put in place if someone is falling behind (so expect to be challenged if you don’t do your homework!). The one freedom we never give our students – is the freedom to fail.

No. If you visit the school you will see the younger students in their distinctive purple uniform – but our Sixth Form have never had a uniform. We have a Sixth Form Dress Code to ensure that clothing is respectable and appropriate. Most of our students go for comfort and typically wear jeans and tee-shirts.

St Michael’s students typically benefit from a large number of school trips, particularly in the Sixth Form. Naturally, the pandemic has limited our trips calendar over the last two years – but we are starting to put them back in place. Which trips you get involved in will naturally depend upon your subject choices – but to give you a flavour we have trips to Spain and France (MFL), Berlin (History), Field Trips to Wales (Geography) and CERN (Physics). There are also a great number of day trips to student conferences in London and some trips which are not part of a Curriculum area such as the annual trip to Kenya, to Lourdes and the Ski Trip.