The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre

The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre

Motto	Learning for life, achievement for all
Established	1956
Type	Foundation comprehensive
Headteacher	Mrs Julie Reilly[1]
Chair of governors	W. Talbot[1]
Location	Stourport Road Bewdley Worcestershire DY12 1BL England Coordinates: 52°22′18″N 2°18′20″W / 52.3717°N 2.3056°W / 52.3717; -2.3056
Local authority	Worcestershire County Council
DfE URN	135035 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	990
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Colours	Black and blue
Website	www.bewdley.worcs.sch.uk

The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre is a foundation comprehensive school in Bewdley, serving north-west Worcestershire, England. Its campus is very close to the River Severn. In late 2009, The Bewdley School was awarded Specialist Art College status. The Bewdley School is one of the highest performing schools in Country, and was recognised by the Education Minister in March 2013 for its "outstanding consistent improvement". The Bewdley School is currently in the top 15% of all schools nationally.^[2]

The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre is a member of the Stourport SCITT (school centered initial teacher training) group, a collection of outstanding 'model' schools used to train new teachers in partnership with Birmingham City University.

In January 2016, OFSTED reconfirmed during a short inspection that The Bewdley School was 'Good with Outstanding features', following on from a longer section five report in 2012. ^[3]

History

The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre has its origins in the Bewdley County Secondary School which opened in April 1956. In 1972 the area adopted a three-tier system, and the school became Bewdley High School. When the area returned to a two-tier system in 2007, the High School was amalgamated with the two local middle schools to form the Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre, with Mrs Reilly as the new headteacher.^[1][4]

Present day

The Bewdley School is a part of ContinU, a trust set up to offer a wider range of courses across a number of schools.^[5][6] Bewdley school works with:

• Baxter College
• Haybridge High School and Sixth Form
• Hagley RC High School
• Stourminster and Blakebrook special needs schools
• The Stourport High School and Sixth Form Centre
• King Charles I School and Sixth Form Centre
• Wolverley CE Secondary School

In September 2009, The Bewdley School gained Specialist Art college status. This specialism was later awarded the Arts Mark Gold Award for excellent practice amongst the department.^[7]

Results

In September 2010, The Bewdley School received an OFSTED inspection report for PHSE as part of the new Ofsted system. Every section of the report that required a grade was judged as being "Good" (Grade 2, with 1 being Outstanding, 3 satisfactory and 4 inadequate). The report included "Students are friendly, polite and well behaved. They are confident, able to work independently and show respect for the views of others. They feel safe and secure and are able to develop skills of reflection. Many have positive attitudes to PSHE education and enjoy their learning.". The overall quality of PHSE education, leadership and management of PHSE education, achievement in PHSE education, and PHSE in the curriculum was all judged as being "Good, if not better".^[8]

In January 2012, The Bewdley School was inspected by OFSTED which graded the school "Good" in every category. The report included "Teaching is good with some outstanding practice".^[9]

In August 2012, The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre achieved 81% of students gaining 5+ A* to C Grades, with 73% including English and Maths. 27% achieved the new English baccalaureate qualification. These results placed the school in the top 8 in the county.^[10]

School involvement and campus renovation

The Bewdley School is made up of six teaching blocks. The school was listed as one of the schools to be rebuilt through the Building Schools for the Future project which was scrapped in 2010. However, the school has seen many new buildings and improvements since the scrapping of the scheme. The schools largest building block (E) was newly constructed by Yorkon in 2007, and cost around £3.5 million to build.^[11] In 2014, the school was awarded a second building grant to build a new state of the art science building, costing £2.5 million making the school one of the newest builds in the district.

In 2010, The Bewdley School raised £4,000 for Haitian refugees.^[12] The School received a notable amount of publicity for this act. Student from Bewdley School took part in the 2010 STeM Challenge and submitted 2 teams, both of which made it through to the national finals.^[13]

In 2010, The Bewdley School received their biggest year seven intake since the opening of the school. The Bewdley School only has four main feeder primary schools: Bewdley Primary School, St. Anne's C of E Primary School, Upper Arley Primary School, and Far Forest CE Primary School. Despite this, 46 of the new year seven students came from 27 different primary schools out of the catchment area.

Notable former pupils

• Kayleigh Pearson, model
• Nathan Freke, professional racing driver

References