The Blue Coat School is a co education Church of England academy for 11- to 18-year-olds, located in the town of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
The school caters for pupils aged 11–18, offering A-level and GCSE courses. It is one of the few schools in the country to hold Leading Edge Partnership programme and science college status. Prior to becoming leading edge, Blue Coat had been a beacon school. This means the school has social responsibility to help develop other secondary schools in the area, as well as themselves.
The motto of the school is from the Latin: Semper Quaereamus Virtutem – "Let us always seek virtue".
History
Thomas Henshaw, who died in 1810, left the sum of £40,000 (£ as of ) for the endowment of the Blue Coat School. The estate was tied up in litigation for many years but was eventually released. As no provision had been made for the cost of the building, a public meeting was held in Oldham in September 1825, when offers of land were received, and a public appeal was launched for funds to build the school. From the design of the architect Richard Lane, a start was made in 1829 when the foundation stone was laid, and the school was opened in 1834. Throughout the remainder of the 19th century, the school continued to maintain and instruct between 100 and 130 boys.
In July 1952, the trustees decided that, as the number of boarders in residence was gradually decreasing, Blue Coat should be closed as a residential school and the building converted for use as a secondary modern day school. This plan was effected, and the school became co-educational accommodating approximately 400 students.
The Oldham Henshaw and Church of England Educational Trust, constituted in 1950, had as one of its aims the building and maintenance of new secondary schools, and one of its objectives was to provide a Special Agreement secondary school by extending and reorganising the Blue Coat into a comprehensive school. This plan was realised in September 1966 when the Blue Coat School became fully comprehensive. It is now a nine form entry voluntary aided comprehensive school admitting 218 boys and girls each year, with a sixth form, the majority of whom go on to Higher Education. Voluntary aided status means that the governors of the school are responsible for the upkeep of all buildings and have to rely on the financial support and generosity of parents and friends of the school.
Current information Recent government grants have enabled the school to venture into a multimillion-pound building scheme. So far additions have been a wheelchair lift to increase disabled access; and the reconstruction and further reconstruction of the school's main entrance. In 1994 the school completed a major fund-raising campaign, enabling it to build a new science department building, which was completed in 1995. Completed in 2005, the new multimillion-pound sports hall opened on the east side of the school grounds, and due to this increase in PE space, the school has converted the old girls' gym into the new whole-school restaurant, also this building was extended with a second floor mezzanine for the 6th form students. With the whole school catered for in the restaurant, the house block which contained the old canteens was closed down. This has now been turned from a dated 1960s 6 classroom building into a 12 classroom 21st century building now housing year 7, 8 & 9 rather than the 3 houses. Also, the building near the entrance gates has been refurbished and had structural work done, forming a new building for more music activities, such as those who have music lessons (vocal, strings, brass and more) to improve musical abilities.
The Blue Coat school serves a broad catchment area, providing an education for those who live in the areas of Oldham, Manchester, Tameside and Rochdale. Physically, the school is located within easy walking distance of Oldham Town Centre. Currently, there are around 1100 pupils in the main school, with an additional 300 in the sixth form. There are also over 150 members of staff, teaching or otherwise.
During a school year, there are three communions (Christmas, Easter and end of year) and the assemblies during the school time have a strong Christian theme. Reflecting the strong Christian ethos of the school, Religious Studies continues to be compulsory taught subject for pupils at GCSE level.
As is the case in most English secondary schools, in years seven to nine, pupils study a broad range of subjects in Key Stage 3, before taking Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) in the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Science in year 9. These examinations test the competency of both the pupils' understanding of each subject as well as the standard of their teaching. Years ten and eleven Key Stage 4 involves work which leads to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications. Pupils must take the core subjects of Mathematics, English (Language and Literature), Science (Double or Triple), and R.S (Religious Studies). In addition to these, pupils are given the option of four more subjects, one being a language and another being a Humanity, plus two extras which could be Drama Studies, Computer Science, Art (Fine Art, Photography or Textiles), Social Science, Child Development, Music, Physical Education, Business Studies, or one of several Design and Technology courses (GCSE Design & Technology, GCSE Food & Nutrition, or Construction (Level 1/2 vocational course)). They will also choose a reserve subject, in case they cannot get in a class of one of the subjects or there isn't enough people to make a class. The reserve subject will then replace this subject.
After finishing GCSEs, Pupils can choose to stay at the sixth form for years twelve and thirteen. Alternatively they could choose another sixth form college, such as Oldham Sixth Form College in Oldham or Ashton Sixth Form College in Ashton-under-Lyne. Should pupils stay on at Blue Coat in year 12, they will be required to choose 3 subjects to study for A-level. The school currently offers around 30 different and diverse courses. Students will have the option of keeping all of their subjects through A2, doing three A2-levels in year 13. The intensity of sixth-form is high, with a large amount of coursework expected in each subject, as well as exams at the end of each year. This is in-line with the narrower and more focused nature of the A-level qualifications. Having completed sixth form, students have several options. These include going to university, finding work or taking a gap year.
The most recent Ofsted inspection was in 2011. The school received an outstanding report overall, receiving an excellent rating for teaching in several areas and for management and leadership. The Blue Coat School has the most successful state Sixth Form Centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, from A/AS Level Results in 2007. The school has traditionally excelled in the league tables under measures of absolute GCSE and A-Level attainment. However the achievement gap between Bluecoat and other local schools is less-stark under the new contextual value added measures of absolute educational progress, introduced by the UK government. In fact in 2008, Grange School in the town, achieved a higher level 2 CVA score than Blue Coat overall, despite having only a 28% GCSE pass rate compared with Bluecoat's 81%. Although it is to be cautioned that small differences in overall CVA scores may not be statistically significant, it is still interesting that schools with such differing GCSE performance overall could have such similar CVA scores.
Pastoral care
Blue Coat School uses a house system for all students within the school. When students join the school they are allocated to one of three houses - Birley Hall, Lord Mothersill and Rountree Wrigley - all named after former governors at the school. Students whose elder family members have studied at the school are usually put within the same houses as those relatives; in some cases both parents and children have at different times been members of the same house. There are nine "forms" in the School between years seven and eleven, and each house looks after three. The names of the forms are Birley, Hall, Birley Hall, Lord, Mothersill, Lord Mothersill, Rountree, Wrigley, and Rountree Wrigley, with their year number added onto the name of the form to get their exact form name e.g. Birley in year 7 is Birley 7, Rountree in year 11 is Rountree 11. In the sixth form, there are eight forms within each year.
Each house used to have a head and deputy, but despite still being allocated to houses, the students are now looked after in year groups. Each year group now has a Director of Learning. They look after pastoral care and discipline for students within that year. The school has House Coordinators to arrange and coordinate house events to ensure the school still retains its house system and to enable the students to retain their house identity.
The students have a fifteen-minute break after two one-hour lessons, and a 50-minute lunch break after a further two one-hour lessons, followed by assembly and a final one-hour lesson.
The Year Eleven and Sixth Form students are expected to offer guidance and leadership to students in the lower years of the School. Older students are more likely to take an active part in the houses' religious celebrations around Christmas and Easter.
The Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13) has an Assistant Head Teacher in overall charge supported by separate Heads of year. These take over the main pastoral responsibilities from the house heads for students within that year group. They also take on greater responsibilities for that year group such as preparing the student for external exams and guiding students on their future after leaving the School. With the help of the sixth form tutors, they also help to write the references for the students on application forms for higher education and jobs after leaving the school. Every year group has their own social facilities.
Senior Students Since 2008, at the end of their lower 6th year (year 12), student's in the sixth form are able to apply for a position as a senior student. These positions include the house captains as well as the head boy and head girl. They are responsible for taking a leading role in school life and representing the school at various community events. Senior students lead preparations for the Year 13 leavers prom, and also suggest charities the sixth form, subsequently decided through a ballot process, donate to. In 2008 this included the Head Boy Ryan Wan and Head Girl Olivia Price appearing on TV during The Royal British Legion's "Festival of Remembrance".
Annual events Founder's Day - The commemoration of the school's founder Thomas Henshaw. This is usually held towards the end of July and involves the school's pupils parading in front of the residents of Oldham as they march down to the parish church. Here, there is a service which recognises the achievements of the founder, with a wreath laid at "the Old Blues' Grave". The assembled school then proceeds back to the grounds of the school where a wreath is laid in front of Henshaw's statue. Speech Night - Usually held on the second Friday in November, this recognises the achievements of pupils over the past academic year. Notable feature of the ceremony are the speech by the headteacher and the many awards given to pupils for the previous year's work. Over previous years, the ceremony has taken place at Manchester Cathedral and Oldham's Queen Elizabeth Hall.