Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School

Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School

Motto	Christian education with care
Established	1714
Type	Voluntary aided Comprehensive
Religion	Church of England
Specialism	Music
Location	Coventry West Midlands England
Local authority	Coventry City Council
DfE URN	103745
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1400 (approx.)
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Website	www.bluecoatschool.com

Coordinates: 52°24′01″N 1°29′33″W / 52.4003°N 1.4925°W / 52.4003; -1.4925

The Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School and Music College is a comprehensive school in Coventry, England located in the Lower Stoke area of the city. It is a Cross Of Nails school, with links to a school in Bethlehem. The school motto reads "Christian Education With Care".

History

The original Blue Coat school was founded in 1714 as a school for girls and was located close to Holy Trinity church in the city centre. The original uniform included caped dresses and white hats. A new school was opened on the present site in 1964 under headmaster William J Grimes, who ran the school until his retirement. Stephen Timbrell was the headteacher from 1999, when he took over from Dr. R Lewin, until May 12, 2008, when he died of pancreatic cancer.^[1] Dr Roberts is the current head teacher; she took up her role in September 2009.

Current enrolment is around 1460 pupils, and the school has recently become one of very few specialist Music Colleges in the country. The school has ties with Coventry Cathedral, and holds several church services there every year, including the annual prizegiving ceremony for outstanding pupils.

Year and school councils

At the start of the school year, each form elects several representatives to serve on the year council. Two or three of these year council representatives are elected to serve on the school council. The year councils discuss issues regarding school life and pass their findings to the school council, who consider them. The school council has a budget to facilitate resolution of these issues as long as they support the Christian ethos of the school.

Choir

The school has an 8-part choir, typically performing choral works ranging from the early works of Thomas Tallis through Joseph Haydn's Insanae et Vanae Curae to the recent works of composers such as John Tavener. The choir visits cathedrals around the country annually, where it sings services for the week whilst the resident choir is away. These have included Chester, York, Blackburn, Salisbury, and Liverpool. The choir has sung mass in St Mark's Basilica, Venice. In the summer of 2007 the choir visited Wells Cathedral, and has been invited back this coming July. In the summer of 2010, the choir revisited Wells Cathedral on its Summer tour, and whilst there, they recorded a CD which is able to be bought from the school.

The choir receives additional support from members of the public who bolster the ranks when support is required, providing a more balanced bass and tenor sound.

The choir has been entering the BBC Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year competition for the last three years, and has come close to winning several times, with the Choir winning the competition in the 2008 finals.^[2][3] The choir is a regular on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Daily Service.

Dramatic productions

The School has an annual dramatic production, which is open to all students. The school's latest head of drama, Matthew Connor-Hemming, has directed five productions, Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle and four musicals, Oliver!, Calamity Jane, Les Misérables, and most recently, The Wizard of Oz. Head of Music Norman Owen directed the music for both of this productions. . Dr Patrick Kincaid, an English teacher, has also directed two Shakespeare plays, As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing. An all-female cast of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Andrew Kyle, is due to be shown on the 20th and the 22nd of October 2011.

Acceleration

For the past few years the school has taken part in an acceleration scheme that allows gifted students to take certain subjects GCSE exams a year early. This can be done for Maths, Science, Geography, Modern Foreign Languages, History and Music.

Development

The school has built a new music centre with new funds given to the school after it was given music college status. A floodlit astroturf pitch has also been constructed. A theatre was constructed in the school, and has been open since January 2009. The latest production, 'The Snow Queen' was meant to be performed at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year but was delayed until the start of the 2009-2010 academic year due to flooding in the theatre.

Uniform

The current Bluecoat School uniform consists of-

For Boys: white shirt (all year), black/grey trousers (all year), Bluecoat tie (4+ stripes), black socks, black shoes (not trainers).

For Girls: yellow blouse with Bluecoat tie (4+ stripes)(Winter), check white/blue blouse (Summer), blue trousers (all year), black shoes (no heel).

As of the new academic year in 2009, Year 7 and below pupils are required to wear a Navy Blue Tie with a small Blue Coat logo on.

Notes and references

1. ^ "Canon Stephen Timbrell 17 March 1950 - 12 May 2008". Coventry Diocese. 12 May 2008. http://www.coventry.anglican.org/news/pressreleases/opt/1/item/311. Retrieved 2008-05-15. 
2. ^ "Songs of Praise School Choirs Contest – winners announced". BBC. 20 March 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/03_march/20/choirs.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-17. 
3. ^ "School Choirs of the Year 2008". Songs of Praise. BBC. 17 March 2008. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/03_march/20/choirs.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-17. 

External links

• Blue Coat Website
• Ofsted Reports
• Coventry cancer jab girl died of 'natural causes'. BBC. 30 April 2010.