- The Coleshill School
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The Coleshill School - A Maths and Computing College Motto 'Deo Non Fortuna'
'Through God, Not Chance'Established 1520 Type Community School Religion Church of England Head Teacher Mark Rhatigan Executive Head Carol Reid Chairman Mr Chris Bain Specialism Maths & Computing Location Coventry Road
Coleshill
Warwickshire
B46 3EX
England
Local authority Warwickshire DfE URN 125746 Ofsted Reports Students 994 Gender Mixed Ages 11–18 Former name Coleshill Grammar School Website The Coleshill School Coordinates: 52°29′07″N 1°42′15″W / 52.4854°N 1.7043°W
The Coleshill School is a Maths and Computing College in Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, founded in 1520.[1] It is situated to the south of Coleshill, to the east of the B4117, just north of the M6 Toll.
Contents
Admissions
It is a mixed comprehensive school of about 1,000 pupils. In September 2004, The Coleshill School obtained its "Maths and Computing College" status, which has been incorporated in some variations of its name. This new status has enabled increased funding for the school in order to develop its mathematics and ICT facilities.
History
It was formerly Coleshill Grammar School.
Facilities
Notable facilities within the school include:[2]
- Three fully equipped computer rooms for the teaching of ICT
- Many further computer rooms for individual departments. These include English, Science, Maths, Geography, Music, the school library and the school sixth form
- Thirty-five rooms equipped with data projectors for use with the staff's tablet-PCs.
- Seven well-equipped science laboratories
- Individual blocks for Art and Design, Music/Drama (including a drama studio and recording studio), and sixth form.
- Sports facilities which include two gyms, six tennis courts, and eight hectares of playing field.
Sixth Form
As well as catering for pupils aged 11–16 for secondary education, The Coleshill School also operates a successful sixth form centre, where it recruits mainly from its Year 11 school leavers; but also from other local schools in the area. Both A-level and BTEC qualifications are offered.
The Coleshill School has its own centre dedicated to sixth formers. It consists of several class-rooms, a large computer room and a sixth form common room.
The sixth form is an integral part of the school, and it is often seen as the school's best feature. In a 2006 Ofsted report, it was noted that "The effectiveness and efficiency of the sixth form are good with some outstanding features, such as the contribution the students make to the life of the school".[3]
Such contributions include the Anti-bullying Committee (ABC) which involves itself with the prevention and treatment of bullying. There are also in-school employment opportunities for sixth formers. Currently, a number of students are in paid part-time employment as midday supervisors. Website developers and cleaners are also some of the other employment opportunities available to sixth formers. It is therefore evident that sixth formers do indeed make a contribution "to the life of the school".
However, the education league tables of UK colleges indicates that sixth formers from The Coleshill School achieve, on average, fewer academic points than other schools both locally and nationally.[4] In the Warwickshire area, The Coleshill School ranks 18th out of 26 schools with regard to A-level performance.[5]
Staffing and teaching
The 2006 Ofsted report indicates both positive and negative results with regards to teaching. Teaching is described as "satisfactory", with elaboration given as "There is a significant amount of good teaching, but a few lessons are unsatisfactory".[3]
On 14 April 2009, it was announced that Headteacher Kate Kearney would step down from Headteacher position at the end of the 2009 spring term. This is reported to be so that she can seek a fresh career challenge, and it has been stated that Kate Kearney believes the decision to be "in the best interests of the school".[6] The announcement came days after regulator Ofsted announced the decision to place the school in Special Measures.
The current Executive Headteacher is Carol Reid.
2009 implementation of Special Measures [7]
After a recent Ofsted inspection in March 2009, its report indicated that it is the opinion of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector that this school requires Special Measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education. There are four stated areas of improvement that Ofsted has noted; these are:
- Ensure all teachers maximise the achievement, learning and progress of all pupils in lessons and consistently provide high quality written feedback when assessing pupils' work.
- Ensure there is consistency and coherence in the way that assessment information is used throughout the school to set realistic but challenging targets.
- Monitor pupils' progress rigorously and systematically and make sure that individual pupils know exactly how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve their work in all subjects.
- Increase the rigour and accuracy of self-evaluation and improvement planning at all levels of leadership.
The full report will be available from the Ofsted [8] website from 21 April 2009 onwards.
On Friday 16 July 2010, it was announced through the school website that the school was out of special measures. The report is available from the school website.
Extra-curricular activities
The opportunities for extra-curricular activities are encouraged by the school, and this is reflected in the recent events undertaken by pupils and students.
Within the last two years, school visits have been made to France, Spain, Poland, Italy and Namibia.[2]
As well as these visits abroad, the school also offers more numerous trips and acitivites within the country. These include sports, choir, drama, dance, skiing trips, and residential visits.[2]
Notable extra-curricular pupil recognition
There have been numerous instances where pupils and students from The Coleshill School have performed well in extra-curricular activities. These include:
- In 2006, some of the older pupils and students participated in a World Challenge event in Namibia, which involved a four-week expedition helping the local communities and schools. A video containing photographs of the event can be found by searching YouTube for "coleshill Namibia".
- In 2006, Year 10 pupils from The Coleshill School achieved both first and second place in a website competition run by BCS. Steve Cutler, David Edwards and Matt Letts won first prize for their school website - the prize being an RM laptop for the school - whilst Michael Conboy and Dan Hodgkinson achieved the runners-up award for their jokes site.[9]
- In 2007, two A-level students from The Coleshill School scooped top prizes in Warwickshire's Schools Sports Awards. Nathan Woodward - the No. 1 ranked Under-19s 400m hurdler in Europe and World School Games bronze medallist - was voted the sports person of the year among secondary school students, whilst Holly Scott earned the female award after finishing first with sailing partner Anna MacKenzie from Cumbria in The Mirror World Championships 2007 in South Africa - the first female champions.[10]
- In 2008, A-level student Suzy Windridge helped organise activities for "Fair Trade Fortnight", educating pupils about the benefits of fair trade. £100 was raised for the organisation in just one twenty minute break-time.[11]
- In 2008, notable Coleshill-based rock band A-PEX came second in the school talent contest "Coleshill's Got Talent". A-PEX are now a professional touring band.
Academic performance
It gets below average GCSE results but above average A-level results.
Alumni
Coleshill Grammar School
- Charles George Bonner VC
- Ernest Gold CB DSO OBE, meteorologist, President from 1934-6 of the Royal Meteorological Society
- Sally Jones, tennis player and TV presenter
- Alan Merrick, footballer
- Andrew Pindar CBE, Chairman since 2006 of Becta
References
- ^ http://www.northwarks.gov.uk/downloads/Warwickshire_Web.pdf
- ^ a b c The Coleshill School | Powered by hays.com - Specialist Recruitment
- ^ a b http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?inspectionNumber=281992&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\125\\s5_125746_20060208.pdf
- ^ BBC NEWS | Education | League Tables | Secondary schools in Warwickshire
- ^ BBC NEWS | Education | League Tables | Secondary schools in Warwickshire
- ^ Coleshill School to appoint new headteacher : Warwickshire News - Warwickshire Web
- ^ http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7357/ofstedletter.gif
- ^ The Coleshill School - A Maths and Computing College - Ofsted
- ^ http://coventry.bcs.org/schlcomp.htm
- ^ South Warwickshire School Sport Partnership
- ^ Fairtrade Fortnight at The Coleshill School | People & Planet
External links
Categories:- Educational institutions established in the 1520s
- Coleshill, Warwickshire
- Comprehensive schools in Warwickshire
- Mathematics and Computing Colleges in England
- North Warwickshire
- 1520 establishments in England
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