Manor College of Technology
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Manor College of Technology is an 11 - 16 Coeducational Comprehensive School, situated on the Southern outskirts of Hartlepool.
It is genuinely comprehensive and takes children from outlying villages and from both private and council housing estates. Currently, the College has 21% of its population eligible for free school meals. The School became a designated DfES Technology College in September 1998 and changed its name from Manor School to Manor College of Technology to reflect its new status. The College was recently redesignated and is now in its third phase as a Specialist College.
The College currently has 1040 students on roll and is increasing in size owing to parental preference. Since 1997 parents have appealed for places for their children and there are waiting lists for every year group. 280 first preferences have been received for the 208 places available in Year 7 in 2006. The College is increasingly popular because of its specialist Technology status, emphasis on examinations, high standards of discipline and full school uniform. The College is renowned for its success in extra-curricular activities and has a strong sports tradition. Furthermore, the College is an important centre for Creative and Performing Arts, has an outstanding Brass Band, Orchestra and Choir and produces annually a stage production, a formal carol service in a local church and two major concerts. The Junior Choir was the only state school choir to be invited to perform at the National Festival of Music at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in 1999. The Senior Chamber Choir performed in Notre Dame Cathedral during the Half Term Holiday in February 2005 and in The Yankee Stadium, The Lincoln Theatre and the Empire State Building during their Easter visit to New York (April 2006).
In 2003 the College was selected by the National Theatre to premiere a play which was performed by the students at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle on 29 March. The National Theatre Director described Manor as a "dynamic and thriving community with a dedicated and enthusiastic staff". The College repeated this success in 2004 with performances of ‘The Musicians’ that won rave reviews from audiences. The College received The Arts Council’s Arts Mark (Silver) in 2005 in recognition of its achievements in this area of the curriculum.
In 1994, Manor was awarded Technology Initiative School status and, in addition, following the College’s successful bid for Single Regeneration funds in 1995, the College was able to significantly upgrade its Design Technology and ICT facilities including the introduction of Video-Conferencing and improved INTERNET provision. Furthermore, following our successful bid to the DfES for Technology College Status, Manor pupils are able to access some of the most sophisticated and advanced equipment in U.K. schools. Manor staff each have their own tablet PC and the College’s wireless network combined with data projectors, interactive whiteboards and video-conferencing facilities creates exciting teaching and learning opportunities for our students.
In March 2003 the College was designated as a DfES ‘Associate School’ for ICT Development. The children can now use in excess of 400 PCs across the College. GNVQ ICT is a curriculum priority and we increased the number of ICT rooms to five in September 2003 specifically to deliver this important vocational course. The College is now one of very few Pilot Centres , nationally, for the new four award Diploma in Digital Applications ( DIDA ) Distance Learning has a key role to play in the future of education and we have invested heavily in setting up ‘MOLE’ – Manor On-Line Learning Experience. We are authoring our own curriculum material and the system automatically assesses pupil responses. Other Organisations are very interested in our work, and collaboration in order to produce high quality resources is underway.
In 2002 – 2003, Manor’s Director of e-Learning created a software package entitled “Vital Statistics” which is aimed specifically at GCSE Statistics candidates. This product, created and designed in partnership with a commercial software company, has attracted national and international attention with countries such as Malaysia, India, Singapore, Dubai and Syria showing an interest. Cambridge – Hitachi are marketing the product on behalf of Manor.
The College is working with the DfES, The Specialist Schools Trust, the Nuffield Foundation and the Learning and Skills Council to promote e-Learning initiatives. In November 2003, the College hosted a major National Conference which was attended by prestigious organisations such as the University of Cambridge and the Royal Statistical Society.
The DfES Innovation Unit are encouraging Manor College to become one of the Country’s ‘e-Learning Schools’. The College’s e-Learning initiatives and other curriculum innovations are gathered together under the title “Vital Education”. Furthermore, the College has established a Company called Vital Education Ltd which is a Charitable Trust aimed at generating funds to reinvest in education.
The College’s work in this area of the curriculum was commended by Rt. Hon. Peter Mandelson MP in the House of Commons in July 2003 and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Rt. Hon. Charles Clarke MP, endorsed Mr. Mandelson’s statement by applauding Manor’s work stating:
“Manor College are behaving in an entirely innovatory way in an outstanding application of Information Communications Technology with different partnerships outside the school which is focused on raising educational standards”.
Rt. Hon. Charles Clarke MP (formerly) Secretary of State for Education and Skills </blockquote Manor’s pre eminence in ICT, Maths & Statistics has resulted in the College being designated as the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust’s Regional Centre of Excellence and our Director of e-learning is the Trust’s National Co-ordinator for the Leading Maths Practitioners Initiative.[citation needed] A new £1 million e-learning – Technology Centre was constructed in 2005 and provides state of the art facilities for staff, students and the community. Teachers from all over the Country have received CPD in our new Centre. The College has a broad and balanced Curriculum in both Key Stages and in Key Stage 4 the students are able to select from a wide variety of free options including Double Award GCSEs in Health and Social Care, Leisure and Tourism and Art and Design. The College’s post-Dearing KS3 Curriculum was selected by QCA as an example of good practice and was included in a national publication which was distributed to every school in England and Wales. Manor is Hartlepool’s highest performing School and in 2004, 2005 and 2006 produced the best performances by any Hartlepool School since the LEA’s inception in 1996. In 2006 the College achieved 73% (5+A*- C) and our target for 2007 is 82%. The College has appeared in the DfES 100 Most Improved Schools List in three consecutive years reaching the top ten in 2005. In 2005 The Specialist Schools Trust ranked Manor as the 12th most improved Specialist School in the Country. Importantly. Manor’s Contextual Value Added score is ‘1’, on a scale of 1-100, placing the College among the highest performing schools in England. Manor is the only Specialist School in the entire Tees Valley to have membership of The SSAT’s three prestigious ‘clubs’; the 70% + Club, the Most Improved Club and the Most Value Added Club. Manor College was designated as a SSAT Mentor School in 2004-5 and the Headteacher is one of the Trust’s 30 Consultant Headteachers. At Manor we are committed to the development of Thinking Skills and all children have their individual learning styles assessed and staff are made aware of this crucial information. The newly formed ‘Accelerated Learning’ team are examining new teaching styles and are to disseminate good practice across the College. With effect from Sept., 2006 ‘Learn to Learn’ will be a key part of the KS3 Curriculum. A new development is the availability ‘on-line’ of the QCA’s Key Skills courses. This work reaffirms our child centred approach. At Manor College, every member of staff has high expectations of the children and the College’s Mission Statement is unequivocal:"children are the focus of our attention and their achievements are our reward".
The Pastoral System at Manor College was completely reviewed following the Statutory Staffing Restructure in January 2006 and now features five Year Leaders under the direction of the Deputy Headteacher ( Raising Achievement ) and the Director of Children’s Services ( formerly the Assistant Head – Pastoral). Year Leaders retain responsibility for their Year Groups but have a more clearly defined remit regarding academic monitoring.
Manor subscribes to the Government’s ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda and OFSTED described the College’s care for its students as ‘outstanding’. The College achieved The Healthy Schools Standard in 2005.
In 1997 the College instituted a Student Council which meets each half term with the Headteacher to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern. The College has a well developed Prefect system and the eight Senior Prefects meet with the Headteacher every fortnight in addition to having numerous diplomatic and representative responsibilities. The College Council is also Hartlepool’s Junior Rotary Club (INTERACT CLUB).
Manor College has been inspected on three occasions (in November 1994 , November 1999 and November 2005) and on each occasion the Registered Inspectors have been extremely complimentary. In 1999 the Inspection could not identify any key issues - the ultimate compliment from any OFSTED team . In 2005 Manor was judged to be OUTSTANDING (Grade 1) by HMI and OFSTED and is one of only five schools in the North East to achieve this standard.[citation needed]
From September 2006 there will be 73 (FTE) teachers at Manor College giving a very favourable Teacher / Student ratio of less than 1:15. The staff are the College’s most valuable resource and, as a result, a great deal of time and effort is expended in providing Staff Development programmes. The College has detailed policy documents and procedures relating to Performance Management, Induction and Staff Development . The College’s outstanding work in this area was recognised in March 1997 when the College received ‘Investors in People’ status. The College was re-accredited for the third time in December 2004.[citation needed]
Manor College enjoys excellent relations with its five main partner primary schools and the College has a thorough liaison programme which has proved to be very successful. This provision has been significantly enhanced as a result of Technology College Status and our Key Stage 2 and 3 Fast Tracking initiatives have received a lot of local and national interest from many organisations and educational establishments.
The teaching environment at Manor College has recently been enhanced with the completion of a Music and Science block and we have recently achieved Yamaha Music School status, one of only 50 schools in the country. Many of our pupils and their families now participate in various musical courses now on offer as a result this success. Sport has a high profile at Manor and a successful bid to the Football Association has enabled us to create a new changing complex which was completed in April 2003. The College has FA Charter Status and is a Regional Centre for the development of Boys and Girls Football. Hartlepool United’s School of Excellence is based at Manor College.
The College has a Senior Management Team of nine, including the Headteacher, a Deputy Headteacher, six Assistant Headteachers and the College Bursar. The College is the first secondary school in the North of England to receive the prestigious European Foundation for Quality Management’s (EFQM) Award for Excellence in the Public Sector. EFQM is the International Standard for client accountability, self evaluation and performance.
Manor College is renowned for its partnerships with the Universities of Durham and Sunderland and is hoping to secure DfES Training School status.
Manor College is benefiting substantially as a result of the DfES’s Excellence in Cities initiative and the Headteacher was the co-author of Hartlepool’s EIC Submission. Manor has a Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator, Six Learning Mentors (Assistant Year Leaders) and a fully equipped Link Learning Centre.
The Governing Body, under the chairmanship of Mr K Watson, a retired primary Headteacher and NAHT secretary are very enthusiastic and supportive and have considerable political, economic and educational expertise. Governors are regular and welcome visitors to the College.
Manor College is proud of its reputation for being able to give each child a large degree of individual attention. Pupil mentoring is a feature of the Year 11 calendar and almost every member of staff gives freely of their own time to help and advise children throughout their final year.
Manor College is increasingly popular[citation needed] and it is part of a very small LEA. The College endorses the LEA’s aim to continue to raise standards of achievement and to provide the best possible learning environment for the children and their teachers.
