Prestwich Arts College

Prestwich Arts College
Established 1936
Type Community school
Headteacher Mr Christopher Hornby
Location Heys Road
Prestwich
Greater Manchester
M25 1JZ
England Coordinates: 53°32′05″N 2°16′39″W / 53.5347°N 2.2776°W
Local authority Bury
DfE number 351/4028
DfE URN 105362 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–16
Website www.prestwich.bury.sch.uk

Prestwich Arts College is a comprehensive school in Prestwich, Bury, England. The current head teacher is Chris Hornby. He has been the head teacher since Easter 2013. Geoff Barlow retired after many years at the school at Easter 2013, passing over to Mr. Hornby

History

The school opened as Heys Road School for Boys in 1936 and was used for treating wounded soldiers during the Second World War.The new block was opened in 1981, and includes an extensive Sports Hall, Science rooms and Art and Woodwork rooms. In 2002, a new humanities block was opened. The school later became Prestwich Community High School and, upon receiving specialist arts status in 2004, Prestwich Arts College. And in 2010 it became Prestwich Arts and Media College.

Throughout 2006, along with several other schools in the wider Bury borough, it had been under a sustained threat of closure. It is believed that there will be 2,000 fewer high school students in Bury by 2015, so Bury Council wanted to close two high schools in the area. On 18 July 2007, the threat of closure was thrown out by the School's Organisation Committee.

Since then the number of students at the school has grown, and in 2010 it received a major refurbishment, including a recently completed new dining hall and a major auditorium to support its Performing Arts status.

Ofsted describes the school in its November 2009 Inspection Report as:

Prestwich Arts College is a smaller than average school that is growing in popularity. It attracts students from both the local area as well as from the inner city areas of Manchester and Salford. There are more boys than girls. Around 38% of students are from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds, the largest group being of Pakistani origin. Around a quarter of students speak English as an additional language. The proportion of students who take free school meals is twice the national average. The number of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities is slightly higher than average. A relatively high number of students join the school at other times than the start of Year 7. The school has secured a number of awards including Investors in People, the Financial Management Standard, Artsmark Gold and Healthy Schools. It has been a specialist arts college since 2004.[1]

Uniform

The uniform is a powder blue shirt with a clip on tie, consisting of school colours. A black blazer is worn which shows the school's badge and since 2012, a house braid. Plain black trousers or skirts are worn with this.

Notable former pupils

References

  1. ↑ Inspection Report, Prestwich Arts College Ofsted, 2009, pg 3
  2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bramah. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links