Blessed George Napier
Catholic School

BGN is a Catholic School which seeks to appreciate and develop the talents and skills of each individual.  Inspired by the life of Christ and his teaching BGN School, in active partnership with home, parish and the wider community, endeavours to prepare our students to face the future with confidence and to take up the challenge of the Gospel. 

Our Catholic faith teaches us that every human being is unique and loved, each with their own individual gifts and talents. There is nothing more rewarding than to see our young people develop their skills and grow in confidence as they prepare to take their next steps in life when they leave us.  We hope and believe they will always keep a little part of BGN in their hearts.

Putting ‘Christ at the centre’ means coming together in prayer - daily for morning prayer, weekly for our whole school and year group assemblies and form masses, and at regular times throughout the year for whole school masses.  These are occasions where pupils and staff celebrate together and are always joyful.

Our last Diocesan Inspection stated: "The overall effectiveness of the school in developing students’ experience of the richness of the Catholic way of life is outstanding…  Students are encouraged to develop their considerable gifts and talents and to be of service to others.  This aspect of school life is often inspirational…  Pupils speak very highly of all the staff who are approachable and compassionate… Students receive outstanding support that ensures the vast majority of them make excellent progress and reach their potential". 

We are a high achieving school, with many experienced teachers who have aspirations for every student.  Our students thrive because they are known, valued, challenged, and supported. In 2019, Blessed George Napier School was ranked in the top 20% of schools nationally for GCSE progress and was fourth in Oxfordshire.  Our students continue to be successful and this year 79% of our students achieved at least five grades at 9-4 and 67% achieved a pass in both English and Mathematics.

We are very proud of the success of our Sixth Form students.  We offer a wide variety of subjects at A Level and our retention rate is well above the national and county average. This year our students have gone on to study at university in subjects as varied as medicine, teaching, law, physics, automotive engineering and fashion.  We increasingly have students who apply for higher level apprenticeships, and we endeavour to support them in this.

We have a very experienced and dedicated pastoral team who work to support all our students to become confident young people.

Ofsted commented: “The nurturing environment created by leaders encourages this inclusive and positive atmosphere: pupils say ‘we get on well’… Senior leaders demonstrated full and passionate commitment to the values on which the school is founded.  They want the best for every pupil and seek to promote the well-being of all.”

There are numerous opportunities for students to take part in extra-curricular activities.  We have a wide variety of sports clubs and run the North Oxfordshire Schools Sports Partnership, giving our students the opportunity to become sports leaders where they learn to organise and lead events for younger students from our local primary schools.  We have an active Duke of Edinburgh programme and our students support and take part in many charity events.  We are aiming to gain the Cafod ‘Live Simply Award’, which encourages students to think carefully about how we can reduce our impact on the environment.  For those who like music, we have our wonderful youth choir who have been on tour abroad, and our Drama department who perform various genres of production; our most recent being ‘Anything Goes’.  We also hold a Christmas concert and a very popular end of term talent show which is organised by our Pupil Leadership Team.  A highlight of the Sixth Form experience at BGN is the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. This happens in the May half-term where our students help care for pilgrims from parishes across the Diocese.

BGN is a thriving school where laughter is often heard and respect for each individual is regularly demonstrated.  Our Catholic faith is the source from which we draw our strength and the root of all our success.

May God continue to bless this very special school.

Ms Niamh Dolan - Headteacher
Mr Fraser Long - Catholic Senior Executive Leader                                           
Mr Paul Concannon - Chair of Board of Directors