A Leader in Catholic Education - An Interview with our Headteacher, Darren Gidman

Darren Gidman has been at the helm of St John Bosco Arts College since 2016 and is proud to be the headteacher of a thriving secondary school in Croxteth.

He said: “It is a great privilege to work at St John Bosco Arts College. We have great staff and great students and we are a real family which supports one another because we’ve all got the same interests at heart. We want students to achieve well and develop into well rounded individuals."

“We’re proud to belong to our Salesian family and I feel really energised working here.”

The school has recently transformed its vision and mission and brought it inline with how the school community has evolved over the years.

Darren explained: “To help us define our mission statement, we set up a working party with representation from right across the school. It offered us an opportunity to reenergise the school community and face the future with renewed vigour.

“Our shared values of love, faith, community, respect and hope are very important to us. The reason why we put love at the start is because St John Bosco said, ‘It is not enough to love the young; they must know that they are loved’ which is why love is at the centre of all that we do.”

Darren added: “We have thought about everything carefully and had lots of meetings talking about who we are, what do we identify as and what encapsulates the spirit of this school. The tagline which sums things up ‘Together we inspire each other to flourish in faith, hope and love’ is interesting because it can mean academic flourish as well as the personal development of all.”

As a leader in the catholic education system, Darren is extremely honoured to be associated with St John Bosco Arts College.

He said: “I feel like I am fulfilling my own personal vocation, living out my Catholic faith with a sense of belonging that is inspired by the teaching of St John Bosco and the Salesian charism of the school. You feel the care and nurture from the get-go, from the way that you are treated at reception, to the way you see can see what is going on around the school as it is open plan - you can sense that it is a special place.

“We are proud to work with schools from across the Archdiocese through the teacher development partnership which supports teacher recruitment through schools direct. It helps to develop system leaders, such as archdiocesan subject leaders and archdiocesan leaders of education, and further develop collaborative support across Catholic schools. I think it’s important that schools work closely together as it helps students reach their potential, which to me is everything.”