Bridgewater High School is a
coeducational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
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) ...
, located over two sites in
Appleton, Warrington, Cheshire
Appleton is a civil parish and suburb of Warrington, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.
Geography and landmarks
The A49 road runs from neighbouring Stockton Heath up the hill into Appleton and links Warrin ...
. The current principal is Keiron Powell, with Tracey Hatton as Head Teacher.
History
The school was formed in 1987 by the amalgamation of Appleton Hall County Grammar School and Stockton Heath County High School. Appleton Hall became the new school's Lower Site, while Stockton Heath (known locally as Broomfields after the attached leisure centre) became the Upper Site.
The school previously held specialist
Arts College
An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England i ...
status with additional specialisms in
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
and
Maths
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
. It consistently achieves good
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 ...
results. The most recent OFSTED inspection judged the school to be Outstanding.
The school converted to
academy status on 1 December 2014, and is now part of the
multi-academy trust
Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) or school trust is an academy trust that operates more than one academy school. Academy schools are state-funded schools in England which are directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local autho ...
TCAT (The Challenge Academy Trust).
Uniform
The uniform is a white shirt, grey trousers or skirt, navy blazer with school badge attached and correct tie, differing per year group. Optionally, a navy blue cardigan or sweatshirt can also be worn. The compulsory
P.E kit is a blue polo shirt and blue shorts for gymnastics, cross country and football, and royal blue rugby shorts and a blue and red long sleeved top for rugby. Girls may wear gymnastics shorts or skirts for netball.
Timetable
The timetable at Bridgewater has been changed recently now form time is in the morning, as opposed to in the afternoon. However, form time is only on a Monday and Wednesday. The school works off a two-week timetable to accommodate top set languages classes that are taught French and German as opposed to just French among other things. The school day begins at 08:45 with all students needing to be on site by 08:40 this is followed by form time and two lessons or two lessons. After this there is break which lasts 15 minutes followed by a further two lessons after this year 7 and pupils on early lunch have a 45-minute lunch while all other pupils have a 35-minute lunch. After this pupils attend their final lesson concluding the school day at 15:00 however many excellent after school clubs are run which finish at 16:00.
Banding system
The pupils are split into two bands, Stockton and Appleton. In years 7, 8 and 9 pupils typically have lessons with other members of their band.
In the GCSE years (10 & 11), two additional bands are introduced (independently of the original two), L and K. Pupils are split between the two bands for compulsory lessons (P.E and PSHE), but GCSE lessons are independent of this.
In these two years, the original Stockton and Appleton are observed only for assemblies and pastoral periods.
Pupils of Appleton and Stockton are indicated by the pattern of stripes on their ties. Stockton has one repeated stripe, whilst Appleton has two stripes close together, then repeated along the tie. The stripes are different colours depending what year the pupil is in. The ties are moved down each year, so that a year seven pupil will be wearing the same colour tie for the following years. This allows staff to easily identify what year a pupil is in.
Links and exchanges
In the past, the school has been linked with Soweto High School which is situated in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, with an exchange between pupils and teachers taking place.
The school continues to take part in pupil exchanges to
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
, and Germany.
References
External links
Bridgewater High School
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Secondary schools in Warrington
Academies in Warrington