Birchwood Community 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) ...

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 ...

with academy status, located in the

Birchwood Birchwood is a town in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 (as at the 2001 census). Although physically and administratively part of Warrington, the civil parish council has named itself a town council. Hi ...

area of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Previously a community school administered by

Warrington Borough Council Warrington Borough Council is the local authority of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services in ...

, Birchwood Community High School converted to academy status on 1 July 2013. However, the school continues to coordinate with Warrington Borough Council regarding its admissions. Birchwood Community High School offers

GCSEs 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 ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the sixth form (named Birchwood College) have the option to study from a range of

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 ...

s and further BTECs. Their pastoral system is made up of four Houses:

Fides Fides or FIDES may refer to: *Faith, trust, loyalty, or fidelity, or a religious belief * Fides (cycling team), an Italian professional cycling team in 1961 *Fides (deity), goddess of trust in Roman mythology * Fides (reliability), guide allowing ...

Libertas Libertas (Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the Late Republic, featured on coins supporting the populares faction, and later those of the assassins of Jul ...

, Veneratio and Dedicatio – the Latin names of their core values of belief, independence, respect and commitment. Each House is made up of forms from across all five year groups to form a pastoral family. They have weekly assemblies together and compete in the regular House competitions to strive to be awarded the accolade of House of the Year in the summer term and win the House Cup.

History

Birchwood Community High School was opened in September 1985, by the first headteacher Sheila Yates. The aim back then was to be a focal point for the area of

. Birchwood has grown from 180 pupils and 14 staff in 1985 to 1016 pupils and over 200 staff in 2021.

Notable former pupils

* David Brooks, footballer *

Josh Brownhill Joshua Brownhill (born 19 December 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Burnley. He has previously played for Preston, Barnsley and Bristol City. Early life Brownhill was born in Warrington, Cheshire. ...

, footballer *

James Chester James Grant Chester (born 23 January 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and is a free agent. Chester began his career with Manchester United but made only one appearance for the club. He had spells on loan at Peter ...

, footballer * Brianna Ghey, TikTok creator, killed February 2023 * Stephen Jordan, footballer *

George Sampson George William Sampson (born 29 June 1993) is an English street dancer, television presenter, singer, and actor. He won the second series of ''Britain's Got Talent'' on 31 May 2008 at the age of 14. He is an official ambassador of the United ...

, actor and dancer *

Jordan Thorniley Jordan Luke Thorniley (born 24 November 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Oxford United F.C., Oxford United. Club career Everton Thorniley began playing football at Rope and Anchor JFC Warrington, for whom ...

, footballer

References

External links

Birchwood Community High School official website
{{authority control Secondary schools in Warrington Academies in Warrington Educational institutions established in 1985 1985 establishments in England