The McAuley Catholic High School
Encyclopedia
The McAuley Catholic High School is a coeducation
al Catholic
Day School
in Doncaster
, South Yorkshire
, England
. The School takes its name from Catherine McAuley
, founder of the Sisters of Mercy
, the order which ran the School until the late 1980s.
As a school for the children of Roman Catholics, it was originally a girls private school until the move in the 1970s, when the School became coeducational. The school has a long-standing tradition of academic excellence, music & drama, pastoral and religious life.
The Convent Collegiate School can trace back its original foundation to 1887, but the current school was founded in 1981 by the amalgamation of the Catherine McAuley Grammar School (founded 1970 - now the Upper School) and St Peter’s School (founded 1956 - now the Lower School).
In 2003 the school recognised its long-standing tradition of music and drama by becoming a Specialist School for Performing Arts.
, the Catholic religious order that she founded.
Born at a time of anti-Catholic bigotry in Ireland
, Catherine McAuley
was deeply touched by the faith of her father who welcomed the poor of Dublin to his door, cared for them and taught them the Catholic faith. James McAuley died when Catherine was a child, and her mother some years later, yet despite the anti-Catholic feelings of the relatives who took Catherine and her brother and sister into their care, Catherine held on to the faith of her father.
When he was 40 she inherited a fortune from a childless couple she had befriended. With the inheritance she bought a property in a smart area of Dublin, where she was determined to bring the needs of the poor to the attention of her wealthy neighbours. With a few like-minded women Catherine engaged in the practical work of housing poor women and children and educating them through academic schooling and training in practical skills.
Eventually Catherine and the other women who had joined in her work became a formal religious order taking the name Sisters of Mercy
. They were among the first nuns to go out from their convent to visit and care for the poor. Soon other houses of mercy were founded throughout Ireland, and Catherine then founded the first convents to be built in England since the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.
The work of the Sisterhood of Mercy spread rapidly throughout the world after Catherine's death, and her passion for education as a means of improving quality of life was always at the centre of the Sisters’ activities, so that schools as far apart as Australia and North America bear the name of Catherine McAuley
.
The new Head Teacher (from September 2009) is Mr. Paul Gray.
was established in 1887, and the original catholic school was founded. After decades of work in the area, The Convent Collegiate School on Rutland street closed (Now Hill House St Mary's Preparatory School)and the sisters had a vision for Catholic education in Doncaster which led to their sacrificial investment in the land and buildings that now house the Upper School and the Convent of Mercy on Warning Tongue Lane. It was only natural that Catherine McAuley’s name should honour the new school that was built in 1970.
As of recently, the school has no houses.
allowing around a hundred children of all ages to take part in a variety of Outdoor Activities, including Coasteering
, Sailing
, Climbing
, Canoeing
, Kayaking
, Canyoneering, Cycling
and even Sea Fishing.
The trip is almost unique in still being run directly by the school, drawing on a number of staff, governors and alumni who have outdoor activities qualifications along with several volunteers.
The Children are organised into groups which aim to give a mix of ages and genders, whilst not separating small groups of friends, each group contains a Yr 11 pupil as a Deputy Leader and Sixth Form pupil as a Leader, who provide an extra level of both logistical and pastoral support to the children beyond that offered by the normal staff.
As of 2010 the trip is in its 27th year and continues to be run by Martin Taylor (also a math teacher, when not organising the trip) who conceived the idea during discussion with several older pupils whilst running the school's canoe club.
(a number of trips to develop skills and enjoy whitewater paddling are run during the winter months, dependent on the weather).
Uniquely, the club offers UKCC level 1 and 2 coach training to older and more experienced pupils, meaning that pupils actively help to continue the club.
Whilst existent from the early 1970's, for a number of years the club had been dormant following the sale of the school minibus due to cost concerns, but since a reconsideration of transport solutions in 2008 it has been completely revitalised, and has acquired a fleet of 20 sea kayaks, along with a range of whitewater and general purpose kayaks, and a range of wetsuits and equipment for all sizes.
Help us treat each person in our school community with respect
and to work together in an atmosphere of peace and justice.
Teach us to recognize unique and God-given gifts in every person,
and to work to ensure that everybody becomes the best person they can be in all they do.
We ask this in the name of Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Recently The McAuley Catholic High School has added the Newman Prayer to the list of prayers the school now say the prayer of Cardinal Newman.
evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is
over, and our work is done. Then in His mercy may He give us a safe
lodging, and a holy rest and peace at the last. Amen
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Day School
Day school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
in Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The School takes its name from Catherine McAuley
Catherine McAuley
The Venerable Mother Catherine Elizabeth McAuley was an Irish nun, who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831...
, founder of the Sisters of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy
The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....
, the order which ran the School until the late 1980s.
As a school for the children of Roman Catholics, it was originally a girls private school until the move in the 1970s, when the School became coeducational. The school has a long-standing tradition of academic excellence, music & drama, pastoral and religious life.
The Convent Collegiate School can trace back its original foundation to 1887, but the current school was founded in 1981 by the amalgamation of the Catherine McAuley Grammar School (founded 1970 - now the Upper School) and St Peter’s School (founded 1956 - now the Lower School).
In 2003 the school recognised its long-standing tradition of music and drama by becoming a Specialist School for Performing Arts.
Sisters of Mercy and Mother McAuley
The school is named after the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley. Her legacy lives on in centres of education and work with the poor worldwide which are associated with the Sisters of MercySisters of Mercy
The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....
, the Catholic religious order that she founded.
Born at a time of anti-Catholic bigotry in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Catherine McAuley
Catherine McAuley
The Venerable Mother Catherine Elizabeth McAuley was an Irish nun, who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831...
was deeply touched by the faith of her father who welcomed the poor of Dublin to his door, cared for them and taught them the Catholic faith. James McAuley died when Catherine was a child, and her mother some years later, yet despite the anti-Catholic feelings of the relatives who took Catherine and her brother and sister into their care, Catherine held on to the faith of her father.
When he was 40 she inherited a fortune from a childless couple she had befriended. With the inheritance she bought a property in a smart area of Dublin, where she was determined to bring the needs of the poor to the attention of her wealthy neighbours. With a few like-minded women Catherine engaged in the practical work of housing poor women and children and educating them through academic schooling and training in practical skills.
Eventually Catherine and the other women who had joined in her work became a formal religious order taking the name Sisters of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy
The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....
. They were among the first nuns to go out from their convent to visit and care for the poor. Soon other houses of mercy were founded throughout Ireland, and Catherine then founded the first convents to be built in England since the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.
The work of the Sisterhood of Mercy spread rapidly throughout the world after Catherine's death, and her passion for education as a means of improving quality of life was always at the centre of the Sisters’ activities, so that schools as far apart as Australia and North America bear the name of Catherine McAuley
Catherine McAuley
The Venerable Mother Catherine Elizabeth McAuley was an Irish nun, who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831...
.
The new Head Teacher (from September 2009) is Mr. Paul Gray.
The Mercian Convent, Doncaster
In Doncaster, a convent of the Sisters of MercySisters of Mercy
The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....
was established in 1887, and the original catholic school was founded. After decades of work in the area, The Convent Collegiate School on Rutland street closed (Now Hill House St Mary's Preparatory School)and the sisters had a vision for Catholic education in Doncaster which led to their sacrificial investment in the land and buildings that now house the Upper School and the Convent of Mercy on Warning Tongue Lane. It was only natural that Catherine McAuley’s name should honour the new school that was built in 1970.
Motto
The school's original motto was Nisi Dominus Frustra - 'Unless the Lord is with us, our labour is vain. (Psalm cxxvii, 1. Vulgate)' in recent years the motto has changed to "I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10)Houses
The school had four houses, representing the patron Saints of the United Kingdom: St. George's, St. Patrick's, St. David's and St. Andrew's.As of recently, the school has no houses.
Anglesey Residential
The School has an annual residential trip to AngleseyAnglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
allowing around a hundred children of all ages to take part in a variety of Outdoor Activities, including Coasteering
Coasteering
Coasteering is a physical activity that encompasses movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming, without the aid of boats, surf boards or other craft. It is difficult to define the precise boundaries between, for example, rockpooling and ocean swimming...
, Sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, Climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
, Canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
, Kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...
, Canyoneering, Cycling
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
and even Sea Fishing.
The trip is almost unique in still being run directly by the school, drawing on a number of staff, governors and alumni who have outdoor activities qualifications along with several volunteers.
The Children are organised into groups which aim to give a mix of ages and genders, whilst not separating small groups of friends, each group contains a Yr 11 pupil as a Deputy Leader and Sixth Form pupil as a Leader, who provide an extra level of both logistical and pastoral support to the children beyond that offered by the normal staff.
As of 2010 the trip is in its 27th year and continues to be run by Martin Taylor (also a math teacher, when not organising the trip) who conceived the idea during discussion with several older pupils whilst running the school's canoe club.
Canoe Club
Building on the skillsets used in running the Anglesey trip, there is a successful school canoe club which has expertise in both sea kayak expedition paddling (including a yearly expedition to the Shetland Islands) and whitewater kayakingWhitewater kayaking
Whitewater kayaking is the sport of paddling a kayak on a moving body of water, typically a whitewater river. Whitewater kayaking can range from simple, carefree gently moving water, to demanding, dangerous whitewater. River rapids are graded like ski runs according to the difficulty, danger or...
(a number of trips to develop skills and enjoy whitewater paddling are run during the winter months, dependent on the weather).
Uniquely, the club offers UKCC level 1 and 2 coach training to older and more experienced pupils, meaning that pupils actively help to continue the club.
Whilst existent from the early 1970's, for a number of years the club had been dormant following the sale of the school minibus due to cost concerns, but since a reconsideration of transport solutions in 2008 it has been completely revitalised, and has acquired a fleet of 20 sea kayaks, along with a range of whitewater and general purpose kayaks, and a range of wetsuits and equipment for all sizes.
School Prayer
Almighty God,Help us treat each person in our school community with respect
and to work together in an atmosphere of peace and justice.
Teach us to recognize unique and God-given gifts in every person,
and to work to ensure that everybody becomes the best person they can be in all they do.
We ask this in the name of Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Recently The McAuley Catholic High School has added the Newman Prayer to the list of prayers the school now say the prayer of Cardinal Newman.
Prayer Of Cardinal Newman
May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and theevening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is
over, and our work is done. Then in His mercy may He give us a safe
lodging, and a holy rest and peace at the last. Amen
Notable alumni
- Kevin KeeganKevin KeeganJoseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
- International footballer / coach. Born in Armthorpe near Doncaster.Kevin Keegan attended St.Peters High School in the early 1960's. St. Peters was renamed "The Catherine McAuley Upper School" approximately 4 years later following a change in the administration.