St John Baptist High School is one of three Church in Wales High Schools in the Principality of Wales, all of which are in the Diocese of Llandaff. As a Voluntary Aided School, the governors are the employers of all the staff at the school with the exception of the Catering Staff who are employed by the L.E.A. The school is a maintained school and receives its Delegated Budget from Rhondda-Cynon-Taff County Borough Council as the maintaining authority.
The Church in Wales has provided and supported a large number of schools throughout Wales since the early 19th Century and currently has 178 Church in Wales schools, including 3 Secondary and 175 Primary schools. As a Voluntary Aided School and reflecting the obligations in the School Trust Deed, the school provides Religious Education and Worship distinctive of the teaching and practices of the Church in Wales.
The Parish of Aberdare has always had a strong interest in the provision of education and the link between the Parish and the school remains strong while the school also benefits from the support of other neighbouring parishes and the Diocese.
Location:
Aberdare is easily accessible by road, located approximately 20 miles north of the Capital City of Cardiff, 25 miles east of the City of Swansea and only 5 miles from the Heads of the Valleys link road which provides access to the Midlands. It has regular rail and bus services to the main town and occupies a position in a wide, pleasant open valley near the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The school is based in its own grounds, which were formerly the Glandare Estate. It is situated on a single site with extensive green and wooded grounds which surround the school buildings and has its own playing fields attached to the site. It is immediately adjacent to the Dare Valley Country Park and the Aberdare Public Park. The school is situated in the Glandare area of Aberdare which is an area that has been extensively developed to provide modern housing. The area offers plenty of affordable and attractive housing for anyone settling into the area.
Catchments Area:
The school serves a wide catchment area, which although centred in Aberdare and the upper part of the Cynon Valley, effectively covers the Northern half of the Diocese of Llandaff. This incorporates large parts of the borough council of Rhondda-Cynon-Taff, but also extends to the immediate adjoining areas of the county boroughs of Merthyr Tydfil, Neath and Port Talbot, South Powys and Caerphilly. From parishes in these areas, parents exercise their right to have their children educated in a church school.
The wide catchment area means that a large proportion of pupils who attend the school travel on school transport provided by their respective local authorities. This does not, however, restrict pupils involvement in extra curricular activities since the parents are supportive and will ensure that their children can take part in school activities.
Faith Commitment:
As a Voluntary Aided School it endeavours to reflect the obligations contained in the School Trust Deed. The school achieves this by providing Religious Education and Worship distinctive of the teaching and practices of the Church in Wales.
The Instrument of Government for the school contains the following ethos statement:
Recognising its historic foundation, the school will preserve and develop its religious character in accordance with the principles of the Church.
The school aims to serve its community by providing an education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith, and promotes Christian values through the experience it offers to all pupils.
The Governors, accordingly, require, as a minimum faith commitment by all appointed to their service, as teachers, that they be tolerant of the Christian faith and be prepared to support the schools aims and ethos. For the Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher(s) the Governors require that they be committed and practising Anglicans.
All staff are required to participate in and support the collective worship on and (when and where authorised by the Governors) off the school premises, including church, assemblies and form prayers. The schools worship (as is also its Religious Education) is in conformity with the teachings, doctrines, discipline and practices of the Church in Wales.
The Mission Statement
The school sets out to help pupils to find and develop within the fellowship of the Church, a faith by which to live and an inner spiritual life that provides proper moral values for themselves and which are shown in their dealings and responses to others.
The aims of the school are set out in the Brochure for Parents and are incorporated into various school policy documents.
Links with the Church:
In seeking to achieve these aims, the school has fostered close links with the clergy in the parishes from which children are admitted to the school and from the wider area within the Diocese. The clergy will lead school worship at whole school celebrations of Holy Eucharist and at other important festivals. The clergy provide support and leadership for the weekly year Eucharist services held at the school. They also visit the school to support the work of the Religious Education Department and to provide greater knowledge and insight into church activities, the sacraments and artefacts and contribute to the teaching. On occasions clergy will lead assemblies or special services e.g. the Vigil for Peace. They also respond to our requests for pastoral help and guidance for individual pupils or groups of pupils who may feel the need for such care.
Clergy also actively encourage pupils to take part in Diocesan Activities linked to the Youth Chaplaincy and will accompany and lead group visits to the two Cathedrals at Llandaff and St. Davids.
The School Governors:
Under current School Governance Regulations the Governors number 21 including the Headteacher.
This number includes Foundation Governors appointed by the Diocesan Schools Committee (two of whom are parent governors); two governors nominated by the Local Education Authority; two teacher governors (elected by the teaching staff);a staff governor (elected by the non teaching staff). The Clerk to the Governors has been appointed from the school staff and is the School Business Manager.
The late Autumn of 2000 saw a major change in the composition of the Governing Body. New foundation governors were appointed to serve with a small number of very interested, supportive and active governors who had previously served on the Governing Body.
The newly reconstituted Governing body brought to the school a wider range of experience and a new positive perspective to their role as Governors. The composition also reflected the Voluntary Aided Status of the school since several of the Foundation Governors are members of the clergy representing parishes within the catchment area. Other parents and local authority governors are active members of their own churches and within their parishes. In fact, all but one of the governors are members of the Church.
Although, initially, very interested and supportive, many were inexperienced in the role as Governor but they have all sought to achieve greater expertise, understanding and contribution to the work and life of the school.
From within their membership they have well established committees which serve the full Governing Body and fulfil the role of critical friends.The committees include Curriculum and Special Needs; Finance and Personnel; Performance Management; Discipline and Admissions. Most committees meet at least twice per term to discuss, in detail, those issues within their brief.
Admissions and Roll:
The school is a five form entry, co-educational 11-18 school. The school has grown steadily since its establishment. The published admissions number for the school is 132 although the local authority has, since 1994, recognised that the school is effectively a five form entry school.
Each year there have been more applications for admission than there have been places available. The expressions of preference exceed, quite significantly, the available places, although these numbers are reduced by the time applications are submitted. The clearly defined criteria for admission and the degrees of priority given to those criteria in the schools Information for Parents Booklet, mean that there are parents who do not apply for admission as they recognise that an application is likely to be unsuccessful.
