Two more town schools join the specialist club (From Warrington Guardian)

Two more town schools join the specialist club

A FURTHER two secondary schools have joined Warrington's 'specialist' family of schools, bringing the total tally to 75 per cent.

Penketh High School and St Gregory's Catholic High School have been granted specialist status for arts and humanities respectively.

Barry Fishwick, head teacher at Penketh High School, said: "We are absolutely delighted that we are to become a specialist school for the arts. It is a tremendous reward for our commitment to moving the school forward and developing opportunities for the pupils.

"As a school we believe that the arts are vital to creative learning and this status allows us to continue to develop and embrace one of our key specialisms."

Steve Clarke, head teacher of St Gregory's Catholic High School, said: "The whole school community is delighted to have received this status.

"This is a landmark development for the school and we are delighted we have been given this opportunity to share our knowledge and expertise with other schools and the wider community."

Clr Maureen Banner, borough council executive board member for education, said: "This is a tremendous achievement and I would like to congratulate both schools.

"We have dedicated teams of people throughout our schools seeking to continue to improve and develop the education they provide for our young people. It is thanks to these people that we are constantly achieving outstanding results - both St Gregory's and Penketh High are excellent examples of that."

Today's announcement means that Warrington's nine specialist schools join a national total of 2,174 secondary schools who now hold specialist status.

The status enables them to develop centres of excellence and work within a family of named schools to raise standards across the system.

l Other specialists schools in Warrington include: Cardinal Newman Catholic High School (maths and computing), Great Sankey High School (engineering), Birchwood Community High School (business and enterprise), Padgate Community High School (technology), Lymm High School (languages), Bridgewater High School (arts) and William Beamont High School (sports).