Loreto Catholic Sixth Form College in Hulme, Manchester, has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education for: “educational provision in an urban context: raising achievement and aspiration”.  The prize will be awarded by Her Majesty the Queen in the presence of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, to the Principal Ann Clynch at a Buckingham Palace award ceremony on 16 February 2006.

Belonging to the wider Loreto family with its worldwide network of schools and colleges, Loreto is located in the heart of inner-city Manchester.  It exists primarily to serve the needs of young Catholics in the 16-18 age range. The mission of the college builds upon the work of Mary Ward, the sixteenth century founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the order of nuns who started Loreto in 1851. The values of Mary Ward - freedom, justice, sincerity, truth and joy – permeate the life and work of Loreto.

The Queen’s Anniversary Award recognises the work of Loreto in raising the achievements of its students. Loreto was required to demonstrate outstanding pass rates, excellent league table points scores and exceptional value-added scores. The Principal, Ann Clynch was particularly pleased to see that the Award also valued Loreto’s work in raising student aspirations. The extremely high progression of Loreto students to university was identified, as was the number of Loreto students gaining places at Oxford, Cambridge and the research intensive universities.

 As the college’s first lay principal, Ann Clynch attributes Loreto’s success to the fact that every student is given the opportunity to fulfil their true potential:  “Students who have the ability to get to Oxford and Cambridge are given all the support they need. Our students with severe learning difficulties are encouraged to become independent travellers and are enabled to move on to paid employment.  Both sets of students sit side by side as equals whether it’s in tutorials or in the cafeteria”. 

 Loreto students achieve way beyond expectations.   The college accepts students onto A level courses with the bare minimum of 4 grade Cs at GCSE. These students then go on to achieve amongst the highest results in the country.  Andrea Pritchard, Assistant Principal puts the success down to the individual focus and Catholic inheritance: “The student is put first and is always encouraged to achieve the best that they possibly can. Students come to us from a wide range of backgrounds and with very different abilities – Loreto’s catholicity brings everyone together.’’