St Edmund's Catholic School, Portsmouth : a brief study in the organisation and management of the school

Abstract

For the purpose of this assignment I had the opportunity to visit St Edmund's Roman Catholic School in Portsmouth between November 1 and 12, 1993. The Headmaster, Mr. B. Wright, the Deputy Headteachers, Mr. KD. Farley, Mrs. MT. Sheridan and Mr. RJ. Steele, as well as all the Staff and students kindly welcomed me into their school to observe how it is organised and run so that I can evaluate the system vis a vis our school situation in Malta. In these two weeks at the school I got some insight into how the school is organised and managed; its aims and objectives; the curriculum; pastoral care; health and safety; the resources available and finance; the relations with pupils and staff, parents and the community; staff development; discipline and other day to day matters relating to the running of the school. In this assignment I hope to give a general idea of the school at work as I saw it function. Without possessing previous practical experience in school administration and management, it was not quite possible to gather all the necessary data. Besides, through simple observation and interviewing people, one cannot help causing some disruptions to the usual school routine, minor though they be, considering the fact that the Senior Management Team as well as the other Staff are very busy with their various responsibilities. Therefore, I am supplementing my observation, to a large extent, with material and information the School publishes, and which was kindly made available to me. These include the Staff Handbook, the School Curriculum Development Plan 1992-1994, Key Stage 4 Curriculum Booklet 1993-1995, and the School Prospectus. Samples of these publications are included at the end of this study in the Appendix.