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.

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.

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.