We are welcoming girls!
St Ambrose Preparatory School became co-educational in January 2021, welcoming girls and boys from age 3-11.
Following much deliberation over the past few years, this carefully considered decision by the Trustees, Government and Senior Leadership team now enables the sisters of current pupils – as well as other girls – to experience our rich and diverse curriculum, our caring and nurturing environment and benefits of being part of our wonderful community.
Being co-educational will not only create a family based school, but will enable us to equip our next generation of young people with the skills to thrive and develop in our diverse society.
This is an exciting new chapter in our school’s history.
Teaching and learning
Our curriculum is broad, balanced and invigorating, rooted in a tradition of excellence from Pre Prep to Prep 4. We provide a nurturing environment where each pupil strives to meet their best academic standard. Showing commitment, confidence and compassion in all that they do. Through small classes and inspirational teachers quality learning is at the forefront of all that we do.
Extra-curricular
Our comprehensive delivery of education at St Ambrose enables all pupils to showcase their talents from music to coding. This is enhanced by the range of extracurricular activities.
From Rugby to dance club, to Associated Board music examinations, whatever interests a pupil, there is an opportunity to demonstrate their talents.
All activities will be available to both boys and girls, though we recognise that girls’ interests may differ from the boys’ and our extra-curricular programme will continued to be extended in line with these interests.
Ethos and values
At St Ambrose, we provide a Christian school community where all pupils feel safe and welcomed.
At our school, we encourage the children to grow in faith and knowledge, to strive for the very highest standards of behaviour and work, whilst learning to be tolerant, open-minded and self-disciplined. Our pupils learn to live as happy, caring members of a community where their unique talents are celebrated and where they learn to care for the needs of others.
The school values and nurtures a close partnership with parents and encourages the forming of meaningful links with the wider community.
—
FAQ’s
What changes has St Ambrose Preparatory School decided to make?
From January 2021 we will be welcoming girls into the school. This will initially be from Early Years through to Year 4 (ages three to nine).
How many girls will be welcomed to the school?
At this stage it is difficult to predict the numbers that will join the school. Initially there may be more girls in one particular year group than others, however, we are committed to not increasing our maximum class sizes.
Why has the school made this decision? And why now?
Following much deliberation during several years, the Governors and Senior Leadership Team in discussion with the Trustees, have been looking toward the future. We strongly believe that with men and women working and socialising together, we need to equip the next generation of young people with the skills to thrive and developing our diverse society. Being part of a co-educational community can promote respect and understanding and enable the pupils to express themselves in a mixed environment. We believe this change will enable the sisters of current pupils to experience the benefits from being part of our community. This promotes a ‘family-based’ school and also provides practical benefits: having children in one place may support parents in terms of time, logistics and quality of life when traveling to/from school. This plan has evolved during several years of consideration. We are extremely fortunate in having such a supportive parent body and are committed to honest communication and the announcement has been made at this time because the Department for Education approved the transition at the end of last month (September 2020)and we wanted to share this news as soon as possible.
How will this change affect my son’s current school life?
We are committed to becoming fully co-educational while maintaining our high standards of education, pastoral care, extra-curricular activities and ensuring we have the facilities we need.
- Class sizes: maximum class sizes will not be increased and the school will retain its one class per year group.
- Teaching: it has always been important to us to continue to improve our academic standards and provide a first-class education with our pupils at the heart of all we do. The quality, vocation and inspiration of all our teachers are not dependent on the gender of pupils. We strongly believe the arrival of girls will strengthen our community by creating healthy competition and enabling boys and girls to learn from each other.
- Subjects: we will continue to provide a rich, diverse curriculum which is engaging for all our pupils. The curriculum is continually evolving to provide a wealth of opportunities and enriched by educational visits and field trips. The advantage of co-education is that we can again review and extend our current provision even further.
- Entrance exam preparation: from our Early Years Department, through to the final year, the boys are progressively prepared for 11+ and Entrance Examinations in order to gain places in to highly selective grammar and senior independent schools of their choice. In the past five years, 93% of our boys have passed an entrance exam for at least one of the following schools: St Ambrose College, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Sale Grammar, Manchester Grammar or Cheadle Hulme. This is an achievement we are extremely proud of and committed to continually improve. The girls will be prepared for all their entrance exams including Loreto Grammar School, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls and Sale Grammar. The Trafford Grammar Schools CEM Consortium (TGSCC) syllabus will be taught separately in Years 4/5 to ensure the girls have the optimum opportunity for success in the examinations.
- Uniform: there will be no change to your son’s uniform.
Will there be changes to the current teaching staff and extra-curricular activities?
All class teachers and the Head have taught and led in co-educational schools and our staff are looking forward to the exciting future. We will continue to recruit specialist teaching staff as needed and increase staffing levels as the numbers increase across the school. With a wealth of extra-curricular activities and school clubs already, we are committed to developing stimulating activities for both boys and girls for the future. This is a carefully considered decision taken over time which we hope will equip the next generation of young people with the skills to thrive and develop in our diverse society by being part of a co-educational community which promotes respect and understanding.
How does this change fit a Edmund Rice School?
Blessed Edmund Rice is at the heart of our school. We are committed to retaining the ethos of our founder and the ‘eight essentials’ apply to all people.
- Evangelising the Modern World
- Promoting the Spiritual
- Building a Christian Community
- Compassion for those in Need
- Concern for the Whole Person
- Striving for Excellence
- Education as a Christian Calling
- Education for Justice
