A guide to St Benedict's College, Colchester

St Benedict's College is located in Colchester, Essex. It is a secondary school which accepts students who are aged between 11 and 16. It serves Roman Catholic, and other Christian families in the community. It is a relatively small school with over 800 students every year. An Ofsted report for the school has stated that its teaching standards are excellent.

About the school

St Benedict's College is a community with values that are strongly based on the Gospel values. The aim of the school's environment is to provide a Christian community where the students can develop a close relationship with God while being given the necessary knowledge. The school specialises in business and enterprise, and in modern foreign languages. It also contains a curriculum with a broad range of subjects. St Benedict's College has been awarded the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial award for young people for its emphasis on the achievements of its students.

Admission criteria

The admission criteria are applied when the number of applications exceed the number of available slots of the school. The children applying must be baptised Catholics, and must have been raised by a Catholic. Their Parish must state that they are practising Catholics, and that their nearest available Catholic school must be St Benedict's College. Aside from these criteria, a preference will be given to applicants who have an older brother or sister already enrolled in the school.

Curriculum

A broad range of subjects is taught in St Benedict's College. This includes the traditional English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography subjects. Since St Benedict's is a Roman Catholic school, religious education is included in their curriculum. In addition to these subjects, the curriculum also includes technology, creative and performing arts, physical education and personal, social and health education. The school is known as a business and enterprise, and modern foreign languages school. Business skills are taught to students in year nine and above. The students in year seven have the option to choose a language that they want to study. The main languages taught in the school are German, Spanish and French. Aside from these, the school also places an importance on extra-curricular activities to give the students an interactive and fun environment. Some of these activities include sports competitions with other local schools, visits to the local theatres, language trips to France and Germany, Geography field trips, talent shows, and musical productions.