Whitchurch High (Foundation) School is a popular co-educational maintained comprehensive school with almost 2,400 pupils on roll. Our intake is drawn from our seven link primary partner schools based in northern Cardiff. These are Birchgrove, Coryton, Gabalfa, Hawthorn, Llanishen Fach, Rhiwbina and Whitchurch Primary. The school is based on two sites in the suburb of Whitchurch. Years 7, 8 and 9 are based on the lower school site off Manor Way, with Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 students on the upper school site in the Village.
As a Foundation School the Governors are the Admissions Authority and therefore directly manage all mainstream admissions. This means that parents and carers can apply directly to Whitchurch High School to secure a place. All applications for mainstream admissions must be completed using the Whitchurch High School (Foundation) School Form. Please see the Admissions section on the school website for more details or contact the school direct.
We would be delighted to receive your application and look forward to hearing from you. We are an inclusive school and have the largest SEN Specialist Resource Base (SRB) in the City located on both sites which admits up to seventy pupils from throughout the city. Cardiff Council separately administers all admissions for the SRB in partnership with the school. We are a forward looking innovative school in which well proven, traditional values are allied to the best of modern teaching methods, including the extensive use of ICT. We aim to provide the very best learning environment and opportunities, inside and outside of the classroom, to allow each individual student to thrive and succeed. Our sixth form is one of the largest school sixth forms in the UK with nearly 450 students studying a range of courses. Our students regularly go on to secure places at Oxbridge and first class universities.
In 2014 the school achieved its highest sixth form results in our history at A2 and A/S; placing the school in the top 10% of schools in the country for value added. We are able to offer wide range of courses with individually designed programmes for students of all levels of abilities, including the More Able and Talented and those with Special Educational Needs. Excellent examination results ensure that a very high proportion of our students move on to University. All students from year 10 onwards follow the Welsh Baccalaureate as part of the schools commitment to the Welsh Assembly’s flagship qualification. This reinforces the school’s mission statement of “Learning for Life in a successful, inclusive and caring community.” Staff are dedicated to helping each child achieve his or her potential and to this end we work closely in partnership with parents. The needs of each individual student are reviewed at regular intervals throughout their time with us. One of our fundamental aims is to develop responsible students who possess the qualities and skills which equip them for further study or employment. We celebrate personal successes at every opportunity.
We value our Welsh heritage and that our school is located in the Capital City of Wales. We wish our students to become global citizens and active participants in the worldwide community and provide many formal and informal opportunities to be so. We need to ever strengthen our global links to learn from and celebrate with each other, wherever we live. We enjoy strong International relationships such as with our friends from Norway where every year we welcome exchange students who spend the year with us. In recent years we have widened our circle beyond our European connections and linked with Macassar High School in Cape Town, South Africa and the wider community there. The school was honoured to have been recognised as a flagship link school for the 2012 London Olympics and recently for being one of a few schools invited to participate in the 2014 NATO Summit. Individuals are encouraged to think about their role in society and to consider the needs of others. Charity work and community involvement therefore feature strongly, motivating our students to become responsible citizens of the twenty first century. We have a strong effective student council, which is fully involved in the running of the school. We are very proud of Whitchurch High School’s outstanding reputation. I hope we have the opportunity to meet with you in the future.