Unsworth Academy (formerly Castlebrook 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 in Unsworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England.

History

The school opened in September 1971 and was originally called Unsworth Comprehensive School. Its initial enrollment was 146 pupils. In 1983, the school merged with Whitefield High School (aka Albert Road) and was renamed Castlebrook High School. Throughout 2006, along with several other schools in the wider Bury borough, it had been under a sustained threat of closure. It was believed that there will be 2,000 fewer high school pupils in Bury, so Bury Council wanted to close two high schools in the area. It was possible that Castlebrook would be amalgamated with nearby Philips High School, or that either Castlebrook or Philips will be closed. The school's

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 improved greatly over the next few years; with 61% of pupils achieving 5 A*-Cs in 2008, up to 76% in 2009 and to 80% in 2010, the highest the school has ever achieved. However, in 2016, the school was deemed inadequate by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

(The number of pupils attaining 5 GCSEs (including English and Maths) at grade A*-C in 2014 was below the national average. Previously a community school administered by

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council Bury Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of ten in Greater Manchester and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of E ...

, in February 2017 Castlebrook High School converted to academy status and was renamed Unsworth Academy. The school is now sponsored by the

Shaw Education Trust Shaw Trust is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which supports people with complex needs into good work. It was founded in the village of Shaw in Wiltshire in 1982. Shaw Trust surpluses are reinvested through its charitable S ...

A new building for the school was started in January 2018 and was completed in 2019.

Notable former pupils

Gemma Atkinson Gemma Louise Atkinson (born 16 November 1984) is an English influencer, actress, radio presenter and former glamour model. She played Lisa Hunter in ''Hollyoaks'' (2001–2005, 2022) and in three spin-off series, '' Hollyoaks: After Hours'' (20 ...

, former Hollyoaks actress and TV personality. *

Trevor Sinclair Trevor Lloyd Sinclair (born 2 March 1973) is an English football coach, professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was winger who notably played in the Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United and Manchester City. He a ...

, former

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and England footballer. * David Ball,

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

footballer. *

Warren Hegg Warren Kevin Hegg (born 23 February 1968) is an English former professional cricketer. He played County Cricket for Lancashire. Although primarily a wicket-keeper, Hegg was also a handy lower-order batsman, and made several first-class hundreds ...

, former England cricketer. *

Jodie Gibson Jodie Gibson (born 30 October 1992) is an English netball player. She was part of the England squad that won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. At a club level, she represents Saracens Mavericks and has previously played for Severn Stars, Manc ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Netball athlete. Gold medalist.

References

External links

Unsworth Academy official website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1971 Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury 1971 establishments in England Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury Shaw Education Trust