Buile Hill High School
Buile Hill High School is an educational secondary school, in Salford, in the north-west of England on the A576 Eccles Old Road.
History
The school is over 100 years old in some parts, with the school itself owning a playing field with a nearby college, Pendleton College, which is across the field to the north. It was formerly Salford Grammar School until 1973, when its sixth form along with Pendleton High School for Girls was moved to Pendleton College, which is next door. The building had opened on 12 January 1956, being officially opened on 21 March 1956 by the Mayor of Salford, G. H. Goulden.
Admissions
The school has a strong arts and drama department and received an Artsmark Gold Award in May 2006. It is one of the few schools in the area with a fully working theatre and performance space.
The school was rebuilt on the adjacent field and completed in 2008. The new buildings were funded through the Private Finance Initiative.
Academic performance
GCSE figure for 2007 show a marked rise from 26% of students gaining 5 A* to C the previous year, to 52% in 2007. Coupled with rise there has been significant success in its Key Stage 3 performance for this Year. The school's contextual value added now stands at 999 - 1000 being the country's national average.
The school underwent an OFSTED inspection in October 2007 which described the school as satisfactory overall with elements of good.[1]
It got very low GCSE results in 2008, well under the Government's minimum for comprehensives.
Headteacher controversy
The school's headteacher left the school in the summer of 2006 and was replaced by a 'super head'. The new headteacher, Mr. P. Fitzpatrick, was paid a larger-than-usual salary of £100,000 per year, and was contracted for two years to improve the school's results and ready the school for the move into its new buildings in 2008. However, the 'super head' failed to achieve the results that the council had been looking for, and in 2007 he was removed by "mutual agreement" after just two terms.[2] In 2007 the school's results on the standard measure (% of pupils reaching 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C) jumped from 26% to 52%.[3] He was replaced by Mrs W. O'Neill, previously the deputy head of Albion High School, Salford
Notable past pupils
- Wes Butters - TV and radio presenter.
- Gillian Doherty - author and editor of educational books for children.
- Paul Lockitt - award-winning radio newsreader, who was named commercial radio's Newsreader of the Year at the Independent Radio Awards in 2005 for the second year running.
- Danny Matthews - radio presenter and producer working for Piccadilly Radio, Key 103 and Century Radio
Salford Grammar School
- John Caine, author
- Rt Rev Neville Chamberlain, Bishop of Brechin from 1997–2005
- Albert Finney is a five times Academy Award-nominated English actor
- Michael Fidler, Conservative MP for Bury and Radcliffe from 1970–74
- David Glencross CBE, Chief Executive of the Independent Television Commission from 1991–96
- Prof Norman Haycocks, Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham from 1946–73
- Mark Hendrick is the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Preston since 2000
- Rt Rev Thomas Henshaw, RC Bishop of Salford from 1925–38
- Dr David Hessayon OBE, gardener, Chairman of the British Agrochemicals Association from 1980–81
- Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order
- Dr Ralph Kohn, pharmacist
- Mike Leigh, film director who joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an assistant director in 1967. He later achieved lasting fame for plays such as Nuts in May and for his films including the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and five Academy Award nominations. His latest film (2005) was Vera Drake
- Eddie Maguire scriptwriter who wrote "Ray's A Laugh" (with Ted Ray) for the BBC among other successes
- Tony Mercer became interested in stage lighting at school and gradually got into artistic direction. He now lives in Moscow but returned to Salford recently to direct the latest dance spectacular the Sleeping Beauty at the Lowry
- Abraham Moss, Mayor of Manchester from 1953–54, and former President of the YHA
- John Pitt-Brooke CB, Director-General Secretariat at the Ministry of Defence since 2006
- James Porter CBE, Director General of the Commonwealth Institute from 1978–91
- Tom Price, Labour MP for Westhoughton from 1951–73
- David Quinn is a British bird artist. He won the 1987 "Bird Illustrator of the Year Award" of the British Birds magazine
- John Maurice Shaftesley OBE, journalist
- Ernest Sinnott, Chairman of the South Eastern Electricity Board from 1966–74, and President of the International Project Finance Association (IPFA) from 1956–57
- Capt Richard Spencer, Conservative MP for St Helens from 1931–35
- Prof Leslie Wagner CBE, Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University from 1994–2003, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of North London from 1992–93
References
External links