Considering our future

Exploring a merger with a strong local Catholic trust

St John's Catholic Primary School has been at the heart of Catholic education in its community for many years.

We are passionate about ensuring that all our children achieve the best opportunities in life, rooted in Gospel values and fulfilling our mission; ‘Together, in Jesus, we Love, Learn, Create and Celebrate!’

We are proud of our strong relationships with other Catholic schools, our parish community, and the wider local area, all supported by the Archdiocese. We continually look to the future, striving to ensure our children are well prepared for the next stage of their learning journey and for life beyond school.

As you may have seen in the press recently, the Archbishop of Liverpool has also been looking at the future, and launched a new approach for all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese called “A Family in Christ: Our Future Together.”

The strategy reflects the words of Pope Leo XIV, recognising that each school shines with its own distinct strengths, while also acknowledging that, collectively, more can be done to further strengthen Catholic education within our communities.

As part of this strategy, all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese will become academies and join a Catholic multi-academy trust. In many ways, this is not entirely new. The Government has indicated that all schools should be part of strong trusts, and there are already a number of Catholic academies within the Archdiocese.

There has long been an awareness that this direction of travel was likely - particularly as many other dioceses have already introduced similar approaches.

One of the key developments shared by the Archbishop is the proposed process for bringing this strategy to life. The Archdiocese indicated that this will likely take place over the next four to five years, with schools joining one of three trusts in phases, or waves.

Our school has been identified to join Pope Francis Catholic Multi Academy Trust in Wave 1.

We believe St Gregory’s has a great deal to offer within this wider Catholic educational mission, and we are proud of the strong relationships we hold with families, parish, and the local community. By joining a trust, we will be able to build on this work more effectively, while continuing to maintain our own distinct identity and ethos.

As part of this process, we would value your thoughts, comments and questions to help inform this process.

That is why we have created this special microsite to enable everyone from staff, parents/carers, grandparents, neighbours, parishioners and local educationalists – in fact, anyone with an interest in our school to give their views.

So please do read the content of this site and share your views via the link on the HAVE YOUR SAY page. We look forward to hearing from you!

As Pope Francis said ‘Unity happens when we walk together’.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Claire Smith
Headteacher

Mr A Rimmer
Chair of Governors

Welcome

About Pope Francis Catholic Multi Academy Trust

Pope Francis CMAT is a family of Catholic schools, established by the Archbishop of Liverpool to serve children, families and communities through the mission of the Church.

The Trust currently have four secondary schools (including an associate member) and four primary schools with a number of schools set to join the Trust this year.