We are delighted with our success in gaining Accreditation of the International School Award at the highest level from September 2016.

The assessor’s comments praised the outstanding international dimension of Our Lady’s:

International activities will inspire students to collaborate with people from other countries to develop solutions to global problems and inequalities

This year we want to show new parents what a day is like in our school so that they can experience first hand the outstanding teaching and leaning that takes place. For this reason we have changed our Open Day format from a Saturday to allowing visitors to view the school during a typical working day. The tours will take place in the mornings of Monday 12th September through to Thursday 15th September and will consist of a guided tour and a meeting with our Head Boy and Girl (pictured).

We hope that this new style of Open Day will give a more realistic impression of what life is like in our school and show what a dynamic and exciting place it is to learn and grow.

Parents are asked to make an appointment with Mrs. Barber on 01695 725 635 so that we can arrange for our tour guides to be available.

We are pleased to announce that the school has gained Inclusion Quality Mark - Flagship Status. This is a huge achievement that reflects the hard work and dedication of the staff. It is a reflection of our desire to ensure that our community leaves no one behind and provides a safe and productive space to learn.

The report can be found below.

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Our Lady’s is delighted with another year of excellent results.  Our students of 2016 have excelled in their achievements.  The school has seen a further increase in the number of students achieving 5 A* to C including English & Mathematics, a 10% increase on last year.  Added to this, the English Baccalaureate continues to improve.  Students at Our Lady’s continue to make better progress than is seen nationally. This year has continued our success in terms of our higher grade passes; several students achieving over 10 A/A* passes. 

Jonathan Smart, Headteacher, is delighted to congratulate students and staff on their excellent performance and wish students of 2016 every success as they continue their studies post 16. Kath Gresty, Chair of Governors, commented that “despite the continued changes in examinations and qualifications, with their increased level of difficulty, the academic excellence of our school is clear in this set of results.  Another well done to our class of 2016 and the staff for their dedication and hard work.  The governing body is extremely proud of you all”.

It is with great pleasure that the school acknowledges some of its students’ outstanding performances.  Joseph Howard, Chief Executive of the Year 11 Senior Leadership Team, achieved 15 GCSE passes, the highest result, with 12 A*/A grades.  Other notable results were: Niamh Andrews, Chloe Lever, Hannah McCoy and Kieran Murray all achieving 14 GCSE passes with 8 and above A/A* grades.  Both Chloe Davies and Adrija Briune achieved 13 GCSE higher grade passes with 10 subjects at A/A*.  Added to this, they also achieved AS success in Religious Education.  Alexandra Sonija achieved 14 higher grade passes with 5 at A/A* including A* in GCSE Russian.

Several subjects achieved 100% higher grade passes: BTEC Art, Engineering, ICT, Japanese and Russian.  We are delighted that over 70% of our students achieved the required national standard of higher grade passes in English Language and Literature.  Added to this, 70% of our students achieved higher grade passes in Mathematics, a significant improvement on last year.  Such results are a testimony to the students’ hard work, dedication and high aspirations.

Details available below.

Headteacher
Jonathan Smart

It is with great delight that I will be taking over the headship of Our Lady Queen of Peace from September 2016, leading an outstanding staff in providing the very best opportunities so that your children can excel. Our Lady’s is a very special community. It is built on a deep respect for everyone and a passion for believing that each young person is unique and will be nurtured, supported and challenged to fully develop and achieve the very best that they can be.

This has been a year of wonderful experiences for many of our young people; you will be reading about some of the most recent events in our latest edition of The Link. In the coming year I look forward to continuing to build a strong partnership with you as parents and carers, as we provide exciting new experiences for your children and work together to ensure the very best examination results.

We wish Mr Smart all the very best as we say goodbye for now and thank him for all his exceptional commitment and work for children and families in Skelmersdale. He knows he will always find a
genuine, warm welcome back in the heart of Our Lady’s.

With best wishes to you all for a wonderful summer break!

This year we hosted needed to stage the concerts over two nights because we had so much talent to show off. Just as well as both evenings were a sell out.

Photos can be found HERE 

Learners hosted a charity concert to support fundraising for Ghana.

It was performed by students past and present who all gave up their time for such an important event. It was great to see some old faces from two years ago and the song selections featured some old favourites.

As always, thanks to the Music Department for supporting this event.

Links to the Facebook gallery HERE

Another well presented and entertaining show from our students.  All years took part and were fabulous. Thanks to Poornema our internationl exchange teacher from Mauritius who choreographed the final dance based on traditional indian dance.

Photos can be found HERE

From March 1st 2016 we will no longer accept payments via cheque. The fastest and most secure way of making payments to school is via the online payment system https://www.scopay.com/olqp

Please contact school if you have not been setup or you have forgotten your username and password. Payments via cash or credit/debit card will still be accepted.

Mr Seddon and Mr Hart returned from Chandranath Girl's High School in Bangladesh with a wealth of new experiences and ideas for further collaberations between our schools. They visited several other local schools and explored the beautiful country. Photos of the trip can be found on our Facebook page.

We had a lovely musical evening raising money for charity. Well done to all the students who gave a warm and festive note to the proceedings. Pictures of the evening can be found HERE.

We are delighted with the outcome of our recent Archdiocese (Section 48) Inspection for which we received an OUTSTANDING.

You can read the full report HERE

A fantastic show from all students. This was an inclusive show with contributions from our local Primary schools and from all years in Our Ladys. A special mention to the Dance Leaders who have been visiting the Primary schools hand working in school to choreograph the dances.

Photos can be found HERE

Mr Seddon has wanted to spruce up the Engineering Department since his appointment and these murals are the first stage. Created with the help of students from Year 7 they depict activities taking place in the department combined with key words taken from the world of Engineering. Photos HERE.

We held our annual presentation evening with recipients representing last years leavers and current pupils of Our Lady's. The prestigious Governors award was presented to Lauren Shields. See all images from the evening HERE.

Our Lady’s is delighted with another year of excellent results. For Value Added our students of 2015 have achieved way beyond the National Average. Similarly, the school has seen an impressive increase in the English Baccalaureate by 10% on last year. An amazing 98% of students achieved at least one higher grade pass, with 76% achieving 5 A*-C (including English and Mathematics 51%). 97% of our students achieved at least 5 A*-G grades, a remarkable success.

This year has been another success in terms of our higher grade passes; several students achieving 15 A/A* passes. In pursuit of excellence, some students also studied AS level subjects to support transition to Further Education. AS level Religious Education has 100% pass rate, 53% achieving A/B. In Further Mathematics many students achieved an A-C grade. At GCSE, 52% of the cohort achieved at least one A*/A grade with 15% of students achieving 5 or more A*/A grades.

Jonathan Smart, Headteacher, would like to congratulate students and staff on their excellent performance and wish students of 2015 every success as they continue their studies post 16. Kath Gresty, Chair of Governors, commented that “the commitment of the students and staff shows just what the children of our community are capable of achieving despite the massive overhaul of examinations and qualifications. Well done to everyone! The governing body is extremely proud of all of you”.

It is with great pleasure that the school acknowledges some of its students’ outstanding performances. Emily Barber, Deputy Head Girl, achieved 15 GCSEs, the highest result, with an amazing 11 A* grades and 3 A grades; she also attained an A grade in both AS RE and Further Mathematics. It is Emily’s intention to pursue a career in medicine.

Head Girl, Lauren Shields, also achieved outstanding results with 15 GCSEs overall including 10 A* and 5 A grades with an AS qualification in RE (grade A) and Further Mathematics. Other notable results were James Blenkinsop, Deputy Head Boy, with 12 A*/A GCSE grades and AS RE grade B. Kate Tomaselli achieved 11 A*/A grades including 3 A* and AS RE grade B. Wiktoria Gerka also attained 10 A*/A grades and an A in AS RE.

Further commendations for higher grade passes are: Katie Ainscough (13), Antonia Blythe (13), Ryan Geraghty (13), Leah Hegarty (13), Abigail Barton (12), John Deegan (12), Abbi Dimmock (12), Samantha Heaton (12), Solomon McKenna (12), Emily Bashforth (12), Laura Mercer (12), Thomas O’Byrne (12), Daniel Phillips (12), Daniel Kay (12), Amy Seagraves (12), Khaled Harb (12), Lucy Hume (12). Exposing our students to such academic challenge prepares them for future success at ‘A’level and beyond.

Several subjects achieved 100% higher grade passes: Music, Engineering, PE, Art and Polish. An impressive 71% of students achieved a higher grade pass in English, 85% higher grade in English Literature. In Science, the Physics, Chemistry and Biology pass mark was maintained at 90%. Such results are a testimony to the students’ hard work, dedication and high aspirations.

Headteacher, Jonathan Smart,