Catherine Baldwin retires from Boston Spa鈥檚 St John鈥檚 Catholic Specialist School, Dec 2020
Boston Spa鈥檚 St John鈥檚 Catholic Specialist School share “A MUCH-LOVED West Yorkshire Assistant Headteacher is retiring from her post at a specialist school for the deaf after more than 36 years.
Catherine Baldwin has taught at Boston Spa鈥檚 St John鈥檚 Catholic Specialist School, formerly St John鈥檚 Catholic School for the Deaf, since 1983. She joined the school as an English and Textiles teacher before being made Head of English at the school in 1989.
The school supports deaf and hearing children and young people with communication difficulties on both a day and weekly-boarding basis. Children from all over the North of England attend the school.
As part of her role, Catherine spent time in the Netherlands where she completed a Diploma in the Maternal Reflective Method, an approach used for teaching language development in deaf young people. Catherine later shared responsibility for the wider curriculum before more recently becoming Assistant Head Teacher for Curriculum.
She said: 鈥淚 knew from the moment I set foot in St John鈥檚 for my first interview that I wanted to work here. It is a school with a very special ethos and it really is a wonderful place to teach.
鈥淥ur children and young people achieve marvellous outcomes and it is wonderful that so many of them return year after year, or keep regularly in touch.
鈥淪ince I began teaching, there have been changes in the curriculum, of course, but one thing that has always been a real strength at St John鈥檚 is our focus on offering qualifications for a range of abilities, interests and future careers, from traditional GCSEs and academic subjects through to more vocational qualifications.
鈥淭he children we teach have also changed. Previously all of the children we taught were deaf, but the school has evolved around children鈥檚 needs and now we also support hearing children with communication difficulties, including autism, and now our pupils are both deaf and hearing.
鈥淭he approach we use, including the environment and our methods of teaching, focus on the emotional well-being and personal development of each individual child and that makes St John鈥檚 a really welcoming and nurturing school environment for both hearing and deaf children.
鈥淚鈥檝e loved my time here and will absolutely be coming back to visit 鈥� especially for our famous Christmas Fairs!鈥�
Catherine retires at the end of this term and will enjoy time with her family and 鈥渄oing all those things I haven鈥檛 had time to!鈥�.
St John鈥檚 Headteacher Ann Bradbury said: 鈥淐atherine will be very much missed by everyone at St John鈥檚, both pupils and staff. Her skills and expertise have helped us shape our curriculum over the years to ensure we always offer the very best range of subjects to meet our pupils鈥� needs. It has been a huge pleasure to work with her for so many years and we wish her all the very best for a restful retirement.鈥�”
