Barr's Hill School is a mixed

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in Radford,

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, England.

Location

Barr's Hill is situated on a spacious green field site just north of Coventry city centre on the B4098 (former A51), south of the Coventry-Nuneaton Line. The site of the former Daimler factory is a few hundred metres to the north. The Bablake School is directly to the west, separated by Naul's Mill Park. The school is outside of but borders the parish of Radford. The school provides an extensive extended school's programme of classes and activities for the local community.

History

Grammar school

The area was heavily bombed in World War 2. It was an all-girls

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

until 1975 when boys became pupils there for the first time. It was founded in 1908 with an intake of 180 girls, the original school building being the former house of John Kemp Starley, the

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

of the bicycle.

Comprehensive

Barr's hill school carpark coventry 7o07

It became a comprehensive in 1975. In 2006 the school gained

specialist Specialist may refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), a military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist (arena football) * Specialist degree, in academia * Specialty (medicine) * Designated market maker, in the American stock market * ...

Engineering status and acts as a hub for the teaching of engineering in Coventry. Barr's Hill also gained

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

status. In 2010 Applied Learning was added as a combined specialism.

Academy

Previously administered by

Coventry City Council Coventry City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Coventry in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. The city is divided up into 18 Wards each with three councillors. Coventry ...

, in October 2015 Barr's Hill School was converted to academy status. The school is now part of the Futures Trust, however Barr's Hill continues to coordinate with Coventry City Council for admissions.

Academic performance

The progress made by students is among the best in Coventry. 44% of students gained 5 or more

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

s at grades A*-C with English and Maths and 87% gained 5 or more A*-C grades overall in 2013.

A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

results are amongst the best in the city.

Notable former pupils

Barr's Hill Grammar School

* Delia Derbyshire,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and electronic musician most famous for producing the 1963 realisation of the theme music to science-fiction TV series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', and associated with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. * Susan Hill, author of fiction and non-fiction. Novels include ''

The Woman in Black ''The Woman in Black'' is a 1983 gothic horror novel by English writer Susan Hill. The plot concerns a mysterious spectre that haunts a small English town. A television film based on the story, also called '' The Woman in Black'', was produced ...

'', ''The Mist in the Mirror'' and ''I'm the King of the Castle'' for which she received the

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

in 1971. *

Sara Parkin Sara Parkin (born 9 April 1946) is a Scottish nurse and political activist. She started her working life as a nurse in Edinburgh but rose to prominence as a green political activist during and after the 1989 European Parliament election, in whic ...

, environmental activist *

Alison Rose Alison Jane Rose (born 10 December 1961) is Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge. She is a former British diplomat and was the British ambassador to Belgium from 2014 until 2019. Early life and education Rose was born in Coventry and studi ...

, Principal of Newnham College Cambridge. Former British Ambassador to Belgium. * Jennifer Page, former Chief Executive of the

Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...

project, sacked after a disastrous opening. * Jane A. Langdale, Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford *

Ann Moss Jennifer Ann Moss, (''née'' Poole; 21 January 1938 – 13 August 2018) was a British scholar of French literature and Classical reception studies, classical reception, specialising in the French Renaissance. She was Professor (highest academi ...

, Professor of French, Durham University *

Julianne Regan Julie-Ann "Julianne" Regan (born 30 June 1962) is an English-Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. She achieved success in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the lead singer of the band All About Eve. AllMusic describes Regan as "certainly on ...

singer/songwriter. Lecturer at Bath Spa University.Julianne Regan
/ref> *

Rosalind Ridley Rosalind Ridley is a British psychologist and researcher who was head of the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) Comparative Cognition Research Team in the Department of Psychology, Cambridge, UK, until 2005. She was a fellow of Newnham Coll ...

, Neuropsychologist, Cambridge University (retired)

Barr's Hill School

Trish Adudu Patricia "Trish" Adudu is a British freelance journalist and television presenter. Career In the 1990s Adudu was a regular contributor, reporter and presenter for BBC GLR 94.9fm. When the Talk Radio UK launched in 1995, she appeared on a numbe ...

, a British freelance journalist, television presenter and DJ.

References

External links

EduBase
{{authority control Secondary schools in Coventry Educational institutions established in 1908 1908 establishments in England Academies in Coventry Specialist engineering colleges in England