AdmissionsFAQs for New Families

Will I get lost around the school?

Holy Family is probably a much larger school than your primary school however we do everything we can to make sure that you don’t get lost. In the first week of Year 7 you are brought to and from every lesson by your subject teacher. By the end of the first week you will have a good idea where everything is. If you still get lost there is always someone around that you can ask.

I am the only child coming to Holy Family from my primary school, will I make friends?

Holy Family is a very friendly school and there will be lots of other children that will be in the same position, so please don’t be worried. We will make sure that everyone has someone that they can be friends with and from my experience the majority of children have friends by the end of the first week. If this does not happen and you are feeling alone please let us know and we can help you.

Will I be put in a class with my friends?

At Holy Family we try and mix all the Year 7s together so you may be in the same class as your friends but you may not. This however has never proved to be a problem as making new friends is one of the best things about starting a new school.

Are the teachers strict at Holy Family and do they shout?

All secondary schools teachers can be strict but if students follow the rules you should not see any difference. Some teachers do shout but that might be because there are a lot more children and bigger spaces so to get a group of children’s attention in the playground, for instance, they may shout.

What subjects do you do at Holy Family?

At Holy Family we do many more subjects than you are probably used to at primary school. Here are the subjects that you will be studying: 

• Religious Education
• Maths
• English
• Science
• History
• Geography
• French/Spanish
• PE
• Product Design – Food Technology, Textiles & Resistant Materials
• Drama
• Art
• Music

As you can see we have a lot of subjects to get through so for this reason we have a 2 week timetable, this will be explained more at a later date.

What is a typical day like at Holy Family?

A day at Holy Family consists of 5 lessons that last 1 hour. We start school at 8:40am and finish at 3:10pm except for Fridays where students finish school at 2:20pm. There is a morning break at 11am for 20 minutes and lunch which is 50 minutes starts at 1:20. Lunch at Holy Family is probably an hour later than you are used to at your primary school so you should make sure you have some breakfast or you can buy snacks at break time from the canteen. We also have a breakfast club each morning from 8.10am, where you can pick up your free bagel! 

Do you get any rewards for doing good work at Holy Family?

We love when students do good work at Holy Family and we will always reward our students. Our system is to award with achievement points and the more you collect the better the reward! 

Is there bullying at Holy Family?

Holy Family is like every school in the country; there will always be some kind of bullying. BUT, what we at Holy Family do, and what we do well, is when we know about the bullying we act straight away and deal with it appropriately. WE DO NOT tolerate bullies and they will be dealt with and punished according to the rules of Holy Family.