Bournville School

Infobox UK school
name = Bournville School


size =
latitude = 52.4247
longitude = -1.9544
dms =
motto = "Where learning leads to great opportunities."
motto_pl =
established = 1953
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Comprehensive
High Performing Specialist School
religion = Secular
president =
head_label =
head = Mrs Barbara Easton
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label =
chair =
founder =
founder_pl =
specialist = Sixth Form Centre
Music College
Business and Enterprise College
specialist_pl =
street = Griffins Brook Lane
city = Birmingham
county =
country = ENG
postcode = B30 1QJ
LEA =
ofsted = 103515
staff =
enrollment = 1,250
gender = Co-educational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 19
houses = Previously: Belmont, Griffin, Manor and Woodlands "
(Now disestablished)"

colours = Navy blue (and Black or Grey)
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.bournvilleschool.org/
website_name = Bournville School Website

Bournville School and sixth form centre is a coeducational, state comprehensive school, with Specialist Business and Enterprise College and Music College status, for students aged 11-19 years, located on Griffins Brook Lane, Bournville, Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Since 2002 Bournville has been classed as a High Performing specialist school and there are around 1,200 children currently on the roll, including a thriving sixth form of around 200 students.

Before Bournville became a Comprehensive School in the 1970s it was previously two sibling grammar schools "Bournville Girls Grammar School" and "Bournville Grammar-Technical School For Boys", previously known as "Bournville Boys Technical School". The technical school for boys, the city’s first technical school, was opened by Mrs Lawrence Cadbury on 10 October 1955. The technical school later combined with the girls' grammar school on the same site, and its current full title is "Bournville School and Sixth Form Centre: a Business, Enterprise and Music College."

History

Beginnings

Originally designed and built as two separate schools, the first to be opened was Bournville Girls' Grammar School on a greenfield site adjacent to the A38 Bristol Road South, just south of Bournville village in the autumn of 1953, housed in a modern 'state-of-the-art' school building.

Two years later, in October 1955, Bournville Boys' Technical School was also opened at the top end of the same site, backing on to Hay Green Lane, together with the separate and brand new two-storey dining room facility and a purpose built technical block (containing two engineering metalwork shops, two woodwork shops, and a pottery/ceramic workshop) both located between the two school buildings. The twin schools shared the main playing field with timetables arranged so that activities of the two schools did not clash. The tennis courts were under the control of the Girls' Grammar school and were not available to the boys school, unless by special arrangement at the weekends. The school's first Head Boy was Roger Cartwright, a resident of Rubery, while the first Headmaster was Mr. W.P. Jennings, with Mr. R.P. Gaskell as Deputy Headmaster (and subsequently Acting Headmaster on the retirement of Mr. Jennings) and Head of Geography Department. The last Headmaster of the former Boys School was Dr. A.A. Burrows, who introduced a Combined Cadet Force.

The establishment of Technical Grammar schools was a government initiative in the post war years under the Tripartite Educational System, originally mapped out in the Education Act 1944 to encourage the development of skilled senior and middle management engineers, scientists and technicians that were by then desperately needed by UK industry and science, to replace those lost during World War II. The new specialist schools were intended to form a bridge between the academic and classical learning practised by traditional grammar schools and the the more practical and vocational training that formed the basis of the secondary modern schools.

The new school's timetable ensured that through years seven to nine the traditional academic subjects were fully covered, while in years ten onwards academic studies reduced and more time was spent on the more technical subjects of chemistry, physics, woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing. Despite encouragement by the government, few cities were prepared to undertake the expense of establishing the new technical grammars, however Birmingham did grasp the nettle and formed six of the new style schools. Bournville was one of the first in the UK and established one of the highest levels of entry qualification. The boys' school forged close ties with local industrial and scientific concerns and, in return for cash sponsorship of materials and occasional teaching support by their specialists and foremen, those engineering businesses benefited by a first call on the highly qualified pupils when they left school. Its annual speech days were held in the concert hall of "Cadbury Brothers", Bournville and smelt strongly of cocoa as a result; "Cadbury's" being the largest single employer in the immediate area.

The Boys School was organised along 'Public School' lines with four houses, i.e. Belmont, Griffin, Manor and Woodlands and each of the three forms were divided equally between the four houses. Later this was rationalised with Griffin House being disbanded, leaving Belmont, Manor and Woodlands that also became the names of three forms in each year, from first to fifth. Each house's achievements in inter-house sports competitions were recorded annually on special wooden boards in the main hall: Belmont (yellow), Griffin (blue), Manor (red) and Woodlands (green). The first and only head of Griffin House was Mr. R.P. Gaskell, then Deputy Headmaster. The original "house" system was disestablished when the schools combined and became comprehensive and mixed.

Discipline in the Boys School was maintained by a prefect system, with senior prefects identified by a double band on the blazer sleeves and ordinary prefects with a single band on blazer sleeves, especially at lunchtimes. There was also a Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy selected and appointed by the Head and senior staff. Corporal punishment at the Boys School was the norm during the 1950's/1960's, with the cane being administered by the then Headmaster. Form teachers would administer beatings with a 'slipper' for minor infractions.

egregation

During the early years there were no female teachers at the boys' school and only two male teachers at the girls' school. Great efforts were made by the teachers of both schools to keep the boys and girls from becoming distracted by interacting with each other. Lunchtime timetables were arranged so that the girls had the first two sittings and the boys were not allowed into the dining room building until it had been vacated. Sports activities on the sports field took place at different times and even at the end of the school day the girls' grammar school was dismissed fifteen minutes earlier. The only joint activities during the 1950s were occasional joint theatrical and musical productions and an after school ballroom dancing society in the boys' school hall, all of which were closely supervised by the teachers.

The situation began to relax in 1962 and 1963 when the girls' school started to host joint Friday night dances that featured live music from local rock and roll bands made popular since the advent of The Beatles and the beat music revolution in pop music. One of the bands who played at the school during this period was 'Denny Laine and the Diplomats'. Denny Laine went on to chart stardom as a member of The Moody Blues and Paul McCartney's Wings. Diplomats' drummer Bev Bevan was later a member of chart topping bands The Move and Electric Light Orchestra.

Dances were also later held regularly at the Boys School under the name "Club Griffin" during the late sixties/early seventies, being organised by the then P.E. teacher, later Head Teacher of the combined senior school and the then Deputy Headmaster/later Acting Headmaster and also Head of the Geography Department, assisted by various members of the Boys school sixth form. The most notable bands included Robert Plant and his Band of Joy (later forming part of Led Zeppelin) and Simon Dupree and The Big Sound among other later well known groups, such as The Idle Race who featured Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne who would later become members of The Move, Electric Light Orchestra and in the case of Jeff Lynne one of the Traveling Wilburys and George Harrison's producer. Another nationally known band was Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band and, coincidentally, a former Boys' school pupil would later play bass guitar for this band during the 1980s.

port and recognition

Boys of all ages were required to wear a school uniform cap when travelling to or from school and on school trips. The caps were initially plain dark blue with a school badge. Once awarded house colours for sporting excellence a new cap was worn that featured quartered piping of a colour representing the house (Red, yellow, blue or green). Any boy additionally awarded school sporting colours had a metallic silver-coloured braided tassel added to the cap, that dangled down from the central button. Changes to caps were also reflected in different striped school ties. Team sports played were Rugby and Basketball during winter months and Cricket in the summer. School teams competed in the Birmingham grammar school leagues at all age groups and were highly successful. The girls' grammar played Netball and Hockey in winter and Tennis in the summer. The Boys school athletics days were held on the "Cadbury" employee sports track, adjacent to the main chocolate factory.

To help maintain general fitness both schools held an annual cross country race from the school site, around the streets and parks of Bournville to a finish line at Rowheath Pavilion; this was later held around Manor Farm Park - which gave its name to one of the Boys School houses. Entry was compulsory for all pupils, who also had to complete at least three after-school practise runs over the full course in the weeks preceding the race, with teachers placed on every corner to ensure nobody dropped out or took shortcuts. On the day the girls race took place in the morning, with the boys race following in the afternoon.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s several imaginative school sports trophies were actually designed and made by the pupils in the on site engineering metalwork, woodwork and ceramics workshops and awarded annually at the Speech Day ceremony, held at the Cadbury concert hall.

When the bell rings

After school there were a large number of school clubs and societies organised and run by both teachers and senior pupils and everybody was encouraged to join at least one or more. Every night of the week the extra-curricular activities took place in classrooms all over both schools. There was a historical society, chess club, ballroom dancing society, geography club, film society, drama club, choral society, science club, astronomy society and the poetry club. The girls' grammar additionally had knitting and sewing clubs, cookery club, a small string orchestra and a ballet society.

Two schools become one

Entry to both schools in the early years had been by Eleven plus examination with both schools only selecting those pupils that had achieved the highest scores in the area's feeder schools. However in the late 1960s a Labour government led educational reform, through several ministerial directives and eventually the "Education Act 1968", that was accepted and implemented by Birmingham's local education authority, scrapped the 11+ examination and with it the segregated three-tiered strata of grammar, technical grammar and secondary modern schools.

Bournville Technical Grammar had barely managed to deliver ten years worth of school leavers into the Birmingham employment market when the brave new experiment had come to an end, something close to 850 boys and hardly enough to even begin an assessment of the success or failure by the short-lived system. Even at its height less than five percent of UK children were educated at Technical Grammar schools, with twenty percent at traditional Grammar schools and seventy five percent at Secondary Moderns.

The Bournville schools combined and became a joint comprehensive, switching to coeducational mixed education in 1971. The twin schools' teaching faculties combined under a single management structure with a single head teacher. The original Girls Grammar school building became the 'lower school' facility and the Boys Grammar at the top end of the site became 'upper school'. The combined School has continued to maintain a reputation for excellence in the Selly Oak, Bournville and Northfield catchment areas. In recent years only first choice pupils have been able to be granted a placement due to the pressure of demand by parents.

The former Boys School is now the upper school called The Charlotte Bronte Building, and the former Girls school is now the lower school called The Edward Elgar Building. What was previously the Craft Block (for metalwork, pottery, and woodwork) is now called The William Morris Building, while the Dining Hall is called The Keynes Building or The Bournville Business Centre.

The school today

September 2008 will mark the school's 55th anniversary. Bournville School is now a Specialist Business and Enterprise College and took on the second specialism of Music College as recently as 2007. They have established a relatively new Sixth Form Centre that benefits from its own separate common room and study areas.

The number of pupils attending the school is currently recorded as being 1,243.

The school has managed to maintain an attractive site with good quality buildings coupled with extensive playing fields and sports facilities.

Since 2004 the school has been classed as a High Performing Specialist School, due to the progress the students have made over the five years of compulsory education in years seven to eleven. Formal evaluation of the recent Sixth Form results has shown that they have established and maintained excellent teaching standards that have led to equally high levels of progress. The school is proud that most of its students have chosen to stay at the school for the on site Sixth Form to complete their studies.

In Spring 2008 long serving head teacher Ruth Harker announced her departure from the Bournville school after a 12 year tenure. Harker returned to Shenley Court school, only recently designated as an academy, where she had previously served as Deputy Head. Harker stated how sad it had been for her to witness Shenley's recent downward spiral and this was her reason for returning to introduce improvements. There is currently conjecture at Bournville School that Bournville's current head teacher, Barbara Easton, is considering reintroducing uniform blazers and making their wear mandatory.

OFSTED assessment

"Strong leadership and management have set a high priority on providing a safe learning environment which contributes to students’ good personal development and well being." - Ofsted Report 19 June 2007.

chool badge

The school's badge depicts a Griffin (or Gryphon) "segreant", wearing a mortarboard cap and brandishing a rolled Academic degree and draws its imagery from the school's proximity to the nearby traditional watercourse of Griffin's Brook, sadly now piped underground for most of its length. Griffin was also the name of one of the original Boys School's four houses.

Noteable Year Groups

Year 11 Class of 2008 often touted as one of the most intelligent and successful Year Group, following the incredible success of the Year 9 sat(s) examinations. The Year Group managed to achieve the best results and have also achieved the best GCSE examination results throughout the schools history especially in English, Mathematics, and Philosophy. However it is often commented that examinations in England and Wales are progressively getting easier for students.

Notable alumni

*Ian Lavender, actor, who notably played Private "Stupid Boy" Pike in the long running BBC TV comedy series "Dad's Army", original names: "Arthur" Ian.
* Jeffrey Skidmore, one of the country’s foremost choral conductors: [ [http://www.ex-cathedra.org/jeffreyskidmore.php Jeffrey Skidmore] ]
*Mike Skinner, better known as The Streets

References

* [http://www.bournvilleschool.org/ Bournville School Official Website]
* [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=103515&inspectionNumber=286686&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\103\\s5_103515_20070706.xml 2007 OFSTED Report on Bournville School]