ST EDMUND'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
Mrs Erika Kirwan
Headteacher
OLA (OUR LADY'S ABINGDON)
Head
Mr Daniel Gibbons
The school is a thriving, multicultural community where boys and girls from different backgrounds get along together extremely well.
At St Edmund’s we believe that parents are the first and most important educators of their children. The staff and governors of St Edmund’s School, therefore foster and encourage an open and supportive partnership between home, school and parish so that together we can help each child to develop in a happy, secure and caring atmosphere.
St Edmund’s School aims to provide an inclusive community where everyone is valued for their own individual talents and personality. We work hard to foster a secure and stimulating environment which excites, challenges and motivates each child, enabling them to reach their full potential. We provide a school where children, staff, parents and community can come together to learn, to share and to grow in the spirit of Christianity. At St Edmund's School, teachers have high expectations of pupils’ work and behaviour and pupils respond well to these expectations.
OLA is a Catholic independent school for girls and boys aged 7 to 18.
What are the qualities that mark OLA out from other schools? Principal among these is our supportive and nurturing ethos. The school was founded in 1860 by the Sisters of Mercy and has been a beacon of Oxfordshire education ever since. True to the spirit of our founders, we care very much for the individual child, looking to draw out the talents each one has. We believe in forming the whole person, stretching pupils academically but also fostering their enthusiasms, whether these be sporting, musical, dramatic or any of the myriad other possibilities open to them at OLA.
The motto of our school, age quod agis – ‘whatever you do, do it well’ – sums up this approach. Pupils are taught to develop their talents, not just for their own benefit but for the benefit of the wider community. As a result, they leave the school as well-rounded, thoughtful individuals, imbued with the key quality of emotional intelligence so valued in today’s employment world.