Contact Us
If for any reason you need to get into contact with the school the details are as follows:
Bury Church of England High School |
tel: |
0161 797 6236 |
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For directions to the school click here. |
Our Mission
The Governors and staff of Bury Church of England High School are committed to the provision of a high quality education within a Christian context.
We want to help our pupils become fulfilled, self-motivated, independent, responsible, worshipping and caring members of society. We want them to set themselves high standards and aim for excellence in all they do. We want to help them to develop an enthusiasm for learning and to go on learning, developing and growing to become completely the people they have the potential to become.
At the heart of this commitment is the notion of the uniqueness and infinite worth of the individual, that every person’s being is valuable in the eyes of God.
We also believe that if each child feels valued as an individual with an important contribution to make then, in turn, each pupil will learn to value others.
We are determined to work to enable the school to:
- pursue its commitment to Christian values and principles, to be a worshipping community and to continue learning as it looks to Jesus Christ and faces the challenge of the Gospel in its life and work,
- sustain a broad and balanced curriculum which meets the needs of pupils, promotes their spiritual, moral, cultural, intellectual, emotional and physical development, encourages them in a healthy and safe lifestyle and prepares them for economic wellbeing and the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life,
- provide a positive environment in which all pupils, irrespective of ability, age,gender, ethnic or social background, may have equal opportunities to achieve their potential and to enjoy doing so,
- foster and maintain an ethos which is supportive to all members of the school community and enables them to use their talents to the full, encourages positive attitudes towards others and ensures that all feel valued, cared for and secure.
- promote strong collaboration with parents, the Church and the wider community to enable us to provide the best possible learning opportunities for our pupils and to serve and draw strength from our partners in society.
Humanities Specialist Status
In 2005 Bury Church of England High School was awarded Specialist Status in Humanities with the focus on Geography, History and RE. The school is the only Humanities College in Bury, and at the time of the award was one of only two in Greater Manchester.
As a Specialist College we receive extra government funding to pioneer new teaching and learning methods in the Humanities departments which will then benefit pupils within and well beyond the school.
The requirements of the Specialist Status programme involve the Humanities subjects disseminating good practice across the curriculum in order to deliver whole school improvement and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Strong links with partner schools and the wider community are also key elements of the Specialist Status agenda.
As part of this programme the school has hosted GCSE revision sessions for other secondary schools in the Authority and provided in-service training in ICT. The Geography department in 2006 designed and delivered a one week cross-curricula course at St. Stephen’s C of E Primary School on the Amazon Rainforest. In 2007, the pattern was repeated with the Department delivering a themed week on Indian Culture at St. Thomas’s Primary School. The Department has become one of only three schools in the North West to be awarded the Secondary Geography Quality Mark (SGQM) by the Geographical Association for it’s commitment to ensuring lively and effective learning in geography. The GA also awarded Miss Sumner the department’s HoD, the status of Chartered Geographer for her work in developing new resources and teaching and learning strategies. A subject OFSTED inspection in February 2008 classed the Department as ‘Outstanding’.
The History department have promoted strong links with Bury Museum seconding museum staff to assist in the classroom. Pupils have been involved in classifying museum artefacts and putting together resource packs for use in the classroom. The Department have also created a World War II audio diary which involved pupils visiting local residential/ retirement homes to record experiences of their more elderly residents. Recent projects have included the production of a DVD based on the growth and decline of the Textile Industry in Bury. The department also organised an evening presentation on the theme of ‘Tracing your family tree’.
Members of thee RE department are in the process of developing a series of morning assemblies which can be delivered in local primary schools. They are also working on developing links with other partner schools to create greater religious and racial harmony.
Awards
International Schools Award 2011-2014
We were delighted to be awarded the prestigious full International Schools Award from the British Council in recognition of our commitment to the Global Dimension of education. The award, assessed over a 12 month period, was very rigorous and staff and pupils have all worked hard to ensure it was achieved. The award recognises that an international ethos is embedded throughout the school and that the majority of pupils within the school have been impacted by and involved in international work. The curriculum based projects were run across a range of subjects over the full 12 month period and included Multi-Faith work, world music, Aboriginal art, visits to Berlin and Namibia, science and geography projects, citizenship work and charity work.
The International School Award aims to promote a celebration of diversity and to create a framework for anti racist and equal opportunities strategies. When a school has partner schools in other countries, this can have the effect of bringing the school together and increasing its sense of ethos and identity. That is because the staff and pupils of the school think much more about how others see them, and wish to be seen in a positive light (welcoming, open-minded, ready to collaborate and share!)
The International School Award promotes partnerships both within the UK and with other countries which can give a real focus to discussions in the school about who we are and how others see us), what it is to be British (and how other countries see us) and what it means to be a global citizen.
A Global Dimension approach to the curriculum can add relevance and real life to topics and really engage students. It incorporates news items and current affairs –crucially bringing in the different viewpoints and opinions from the people affected.
It makes creative and 'real' use of ICT and puts languages into an exciting context, and it opens up global issues through history, geography, and science. It also strongly support work on rights, sustainability, and the future. The award allowed also allowed us develop a number of successful international partnerships with schools in 5 countries:
- The languages department have developed excellent links with a French partner school and run successful pen-pal schemes and blogs which have allowed interaction with pupils and staff.
- The Geography department developed a link with a Marvin Ridge School in North Carolina and shared local projects and letters.
- Through Mr Redmond we have developed a link with Mavuluma school in Namibia which a number of our pupils and staff visited this summer to undertake voluntary work.
- Addtionally we have a successful link with Ntabenkonyana school in South Africa and Mrs Harbottle visited at Easter to do some teaching.
- Mr Mensah has also developed a link with the Mystical Rose Academy in Ghana and we have been pleased to support them in their work.
Secondary Geography Quality Mark Centre of Excellence
The Geography Association says this about the award,
“The CoE award recognises the contribution of those schools in disseminating quality approaches to the teaching of geography to colleagues. In these schools geography is led by enthusiastic curriculum leaders who are able to inspire their colleagues. They endorse the views expressed in the Geographical Association’s manifesto, A Different View, and value the important contribution that geography makes to the curriculum throughout the school.”
We are delighted that the department has again been recognised by the Geographical Association for its hard work and commitment to delivering an up to date and relevant curriculum at Key Stage 3. The Centre of Excellence award is especially pleasing as there are so few schools across the country that hold the award. It really is a testament to the extra curricular work that the department does within the local community and with our local partner primary and secondary schools.
Secondary Geography Quality Mark
The Key Stage 3 Secondary Geography Quality Mark is a framework which has been developed by the Geographical Association to enable subject leaders to raise the standards of geography in school, supporting the teaching of quality geography and promoting department leadership and management.
The overarching strength of the Quality Mark is its capacity to act as an effective 'lever of change' for the development of geography in the schools that take part.
Undertaking the Quality Mark engages all staff in the department in a process of reflection about how well the department is achieving its aims and where its priorities lie. The template is based on the whole school Self-Evaluation Form (SEF), well-honed by Ofsted, thus matching the generic SEF which each head teacher goes through annually in reviewing the school's work. Nothing could be more relevant to a subject leader's consideration of how to act next, to improve his or her department.
The whole team takes part in an ongoing process of curriculum review, identifying priorities for departmental CPD, sharing good practice around a framework for encouraging creative and critical thinking about curriculum making and developing a dynamic, relevant KS3.
