Beechen Cliff School

Beechen Cliff School

Established	1896
Type	Academy
Headmaster	Andrew Davies
Chair of Governors	C J Oldham
Specialism	Technology
Location	Alexandra Park Bath BA2 4RE England
Local authority	Bath and North East Somerset Council
DfE URN	136520
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1,145
Gender	Boys (Coeducational sixth form)
Ages	11–18
Colours
Publication	The Torch
Former name	City of Bath Boys' School
Website	beechencliff.org.uk

Coordinates: 51°22′20″N 2°21′36″W / 51.3723°N 2.3600°W / 51.3723; -2.3600

Beechen Cliff School is a boys' secondary school in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in 1896, it has 1,145 students aged 11 to 18.

There are around 830 boys in years 7 to 11 and a co-educational sixth form of over 200 students. The school is located just south of the city centre near Alexandra Park, up a hill from Bear Flat on the A367, a major route from the south of the city into Bath.

History

List of headmasters

The school began in 1896 as Bath City Secondary School in the Guildhall.^[1][2]

Grammar school

It moved from the Guildhall Technical College^[3] to its present site at Beechen Cliff in 1932 when it was renamed the City of Bath Boys' School.

Comprehensive

It changed to its present name in 1970 when the City of Bath reorganised secondary education. The grammar school was amalgamated with Oldfield Boys' School, a local secondary modern school originally founded in 1903, to form a comprehensive school.

On 7 August 1988, on a school climbing expedition in the Briançon region of the French Alps, the 57-year-old headmaster Donald Stephens fell 300 feet (91 m) to his death. Fifteen pupils and three members of staff were on the expedition, training for a walk up Mount Kenya, and witnessed the tragic incident. A library has been established in his memory.

Grant-maintained status legal battle

View of Bath from Beechen Cliff

A review of Bath secondary provision by Avon County Council in the 1980s led to proposals for the school to be closed and replaced with a sixth form college on the same site serving the whole city. Partisans of the school, however, took advantage of new legislation to obtain grant-maintained status for the school, taking it out of local authority control, which the then Government permitted despite a policy that schools would not be allowed to use grant-maintained (GM) status as a way of avoiding closure. Avon County Council took the school to the High Court in February 1990, to prevent it gaining GM status so sustaining its Bath schools reorganisation plan, and on 24 February Mr Justice Hutchison ruled in favour of the council, and asked the Secretary of State to reconsider his decision. On 30 March, Secretary of State for Education and Science, John MacGregor, overruled the court's decision and said the school could be GM funded. In a vote, 55% of parents wanted to be GM funded.^[4]

At an appeal at the High Court on 15 May, Lord Justice Mustill backed John MacGregor's decision and Avon County Council lost its appeal to the school going GM funded. The Director of Education at Avon, Dr Christopher Saville, said he was 'very disappointed'.

Specialist school

Beechen Cliff School acquired the specialist school status of Technology College in 1997, and with the demise of grant-maintained status became a Foundation school with similar characteristics.

Uniform

The school uniform consists of a blazer, trousers, shirt and a blue, red and yellow striped tie.

Beechen Cliff School main building, with sixth form and technology buildings on the right

Notable alumni

• Freddie Burns, Rugby Union player at Gloucester Rugby^[5]
• Adam Campbell, actor^[6]
• Jason Dodd, Director of Southampton F.C. youth academy^[7]
• Jason Gardener,^[8] sprint athlete
• David Lassman, author, arts journalist and scriptwriter^[9]
• Andrew Lincoln, actor^[10][11]
• Charlie McDonnell, musician and vlogger^[12]
• Sir John Sawers, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Ambassador to the United Nations 2007-9^[13]
• Curt Smith, musician (Tears for Fears)^[14][11]
• Tony Spreadbury, rugby union referee^[15]
• Paul Tisdale, manager of Exeter City football club^[16]
• Graham Watson, Liberal Democrat MEP and leader of the Liberal Democrats in Europe^[11]
• Amy Williams, won a gold medal in the skeleton at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the first British individual Winter Olympics gold medal since 1980^[17]

City of Bath Boy's Grammar School

• Roy Ascott, artist and President of the Planetary Collegium^[18]
• Roger Bannister, first man to run a mile in less than 4 minutes^[19][20][11]
• Dr David Fishlock OBE, Science Editor from 1967-91 of the Financial Times, and science author^[21]
• Raymond Leppard CBE, musician and conductor^[22]
• Rt Rev Christopher Morgan, Bishop of Colchester since 2001^[23]
• Robert Orledge, scholar of early twentieth century French music^[24]
• Arnold Ridley, Dad's Army actor and playwright^[25]
• Sir Richard J. Roberts, 1993 Nobel Laureate^[26]

References

1. ^ "Plan for sites adjoining the Guildhall (Technical Schools) 14 March 1891". Central Library Collection. Bath in Time. http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image.php?id=421071&idx=16&fromsearch=true. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
2. ^ "Guildhall. General View c.1895". Central Library Collection. Bath in Time. http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image.php?id=141681&idx=8&fromsearch=true. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
3. ^ "Technical College. When housed in the Guildhall 1929". Central Library Collection. Bath in Time. http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image.php?id=140709&idx=7&fromsearch=true. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
4. ^ Paul Meredith (1992). Government, schools, and the law. Routledge. pp. 169–177. ISBN 0415036585. http://books.google.com/?id=rt0NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=%22city+of+bath+case%22+%22beechen+cliff+school%22&q=%22city%20of%20bath%20case%22%20%22beechen%20cliff%20school%22. 
5. ^ "Beechen teams on winning run". This is Bath. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Beechen-teams-winning-run/story-11316500-detail/story.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
6. ^ "Bath actor to play Ringo in Beatles remake". This is Bath. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Bath-actor-play-Ringo-Beatles-remake/story-11335198-detail/story.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
7. ^ "Bath City Football Club". Proud of Twerton. http://www.proudoftwerton.com/article_bath_city_fc.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
8. ^ "My best teacher: Jason Gardener". Times Educational Supplement magazine. 2004-07-23. http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=397976. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 
9. ^ "David Lassman". Interceder. http://interceder.net/topic/David-Lassman. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
10. ^ "Andrew Lincoln". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0511088/bio. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
11. ^ ^{a b c d} "Fame and fortune for former students at Beechen Cliff". This is Bath. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Fame-fortune-students-Beechen-Cliff/story-11330286-detail/story.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
12. ^ "Charlie's up to more good". This is Bath. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Charlie-s-good/story-11337342-detail/story.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
13. ^ Evans, Michael (16 June 2009). "Outsider Sir John Sawers appointed new head of MI6". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6511372.ece. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
14. ^ "All About Curt Smith – Bio". Tears for Fears. http://www.tearsforfears.net/all-about-curt-smith-bio/. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
15. ^ "Spreadbury takes the whistle for Beechen win". This is Bath. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Spreadbury-takes-whistle-Beechen-win/story-11342738-detail/story.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
16. ^ "Beechen to host dinner". The Bath Chronicle. 2008-07-17. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-16874704.html. 
17. ^ "Amy Williams wins historic gold medal at Winter Olympics". Bath Chronicle. 20 February 2010. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/sport/Sensational-start-puts-Williams-sight-Olympic-gold/article-1849853-detail/article.html. Retrieved 2010-02-21. 
18. ^ "Ascott, Professor Roy". Art and Mind. http://www.artandmind.org/pages/Biog/AscotRoy.htm. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
19. ^ "Roger Bannister 4 minute mile edition May 8, 1954". Bath in Time — Bath Central Library Collection Date unknown. http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image.php?id=443213&idx=15&fromsearch=true. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 
20. ^ "roger bannister". UNITED KINGDOM ATHLETICS — Date unknown. http://www.uka.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/sir-roger-bannister/. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
21. ^ "David Fishlock: science journalist". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6846381.ece. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
22. ^ "Who we are". Sand City Opera Company. http://sandcityoperacompany.com/who.htm. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
23. ^ Who's Who 2008: London, A & C Black ISBN 9780713672576
24. ^ "Robert Orledge". Eric Satie. http://www.satie-archives.com/web/robert.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
25. ^ "Town vs Gown: Royal High School vs Beechen Cliff School in Bath". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3511497/Town-vs-Gown-Royal-High-School-vs-Beechen-Cliff-School-in-Bath.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
26. ^ "Richard J. Roberts Autobiography". The Nobel Foundation. 1993-01-01. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1993/roberts-autobio.html. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 

External links

• Official website
• Old Sulians' Association Association for former pupils of Beechen Cliff and the City of Bath Boys' Grammar School.