Great Sankey High School
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Great Sankey High School (GSHS) 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
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 ...
,
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 ...
, England. It is a member of the Omega Multi-Academy Trust (OMAT). The school was first built in the 1970s and extensions have included a
mathematics 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 ...
&
humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
block and theatre. The school also has a linking
leisure centre A leisure centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (also called aquatic centres), Singapore and Canada is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people ...
and arts theatre. GSHS has been awarded, and retained, an
Artsmark Gold Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools and education settings, awarded by Arts Council England. The Artsmark award provides a clear framework for teachers and education professionals to plan, develop and evaluate their arts and cu ...
award, the highest award for the Arts. GSHS is partnered with
South Peninsula High School South Peninsula High School is a secondary school in Diep River, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The school celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2010, after opening in 1950. South Peninsula High School accepts many students from historically ...
in
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa. In 2010, GSHS was classified as an Outstanding school 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 ...
."Ofsted Report 2010"
www.greatsankey.org.
The school converted to academy status in January 2013. In October 2017, the school was reclassified by Ofsted as a Good school.


Extensions

A new purpose-built
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-lev ...
college was opened on the school site in September 2011 by Alan Yates (former Headteacher) and
Simon Moran Simon James Moran is a concert promoter in the United Kingdom, managing director of SJM Concerts, director of the Academy Music Group of venues and owner of the Warrington Wolves Rugby League team. He is in charge of major London venues includin ...
(Managing Director of SJM Concerts). In December 2019, the new PE hall was opened by current headteacher John Shannon on the site of what used to be the neighbouring primary school, Barrow Hall Primary School, along with a diner in use for the Year 7s that was completed in January 2019. The new science block containing 11 laboratories that was built on the same construction site was opened in February 2020

The plans for taking the school’s grounds were confirmed by previous headteacher, Paula Crawley, when Barrow Hall Primary School relocated to a close area


Uniform

The uniform is a white shirt, black trousers or skirt, black blazer with school badge attached and correct tie, differing per house team. The compulsory P.E kit is a black polo shirt for all, a black and white rugby shirt for boys, and either black shorts or black tracksuit bottoms, and optional socks


Specialisms

In 2004, the school was awarded Specialist school, specialist schools status in the field of
Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
and has since increased the provision of Engineering throughout the curriculum. The school also operates a Young Apprentice scheme, where Year 10 students have the opportunity to Start a two-year course and earn an NVQ level 2 with the school. In a partnership with the
RAC RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Center, ...
, the school has built an RAC automotive engineering skills centre. This allows students studying engineering and automotive engineering, access to Facilities that few other engineering colleges possess, whilst also providing facilities for other schools and businesses in the local community. The school has a VEX robotics team called BHCVEX as part of the Engineering department. The team first initiated in 2010 when the team also won their first trophy in a regional competition using the Standard VEX Protobot and Tumbler kit. In 2012 the team participated in the VEX robotics UK national competition and won the competition, qualifying them for the world finals in California, However due to insufficient funds the team could not attend. Sack attack is the 2012-2013 season game, different from the 2011-2012 Gateway game. BHCVEX were finalists in the North West regional in the 2012-2013 season, which qualified them for the 2013 UK national competition where they won the tournament in alliance with two other teams from
East Barnet School East Barnet School is a secondary school with academy status at Chestnut Grove in East Barnet, London, England. It has a specialism in technology, and is a Leadership Partner School. History There has been a school on the current site since ...
qualifying the team for the world championships in
Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...
.


Sport

The school has many teams participating in sports such as
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
,
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
,
hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
,
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
,
badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...
,
athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...
, and
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...


On 24 August 2019, Great Sankey High School’s Year 7 Rugby team won the Champion Schools Final against Standish, Greater Manchester, Standish High School at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
.


Music

The school has two main bands that perform regularly in the local area and abroad, in locations such as Italy, France, Spain and Germany and have played in the UK in London (Covent Garden) and Warrington train station (where they played for the
Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...
). In the past, the Concert Band has achieved a silver medal at international level competing against some of the best school and college bands from all around the world. More recently, the Concert Band has achieved a gold award at the regional series of the National Concert Band Festival (2008), held at GSHS, and were invited to play at the 2009 national finals in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
where they achieved a highly commended bronze award. The Swing Band (run by Mr Bryan) competed in Warwick at the national finals last year after gaining a gold medal at the regional series in 2007. Both bands performed by formal invitation on the Fantasy Festival Stage at
Disneyland Park Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
,
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, in summer 2008, 2012 and 2014. GSHS also has a choir (Sankey Singers un by Mrs Meredith. Sankey Singers have performed for the past two years in the regional rounds of the National Festival of Music for Youth, in 2012, they performed in the second stage of the festival, in Birmingham. They also joined the Swing Band for their 2014 performance in Disneyland. The music department also hold an open music event, The Great 'S' Factor, each year and several smaller casual bands, performing a wide variety of music.


House system

The school implemented a
house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...
in the academic year beginning September 2007 to ease the strain on the heads of years, who previously had been allocated one year of students and had to manage all these students throughout their 5 year attendance at Great Sankey High School. It was decided that each house would have two forms from each year, and there would be twelve forms for each year group. Each head of house would then only have to manage 10 forms instead of 12, and each would only have to manage two year 11 forms at one time, instead of a head of year looking after all year 11 forms. Learners gain House Points for attending extra-curricular activities and going above and beyond the call of duty in lessons. Members of each house can be identified by their ties, featuring their house colours. The new ties, which were designed by learners, are being implemented from September 2009. Students are issued with house coloured planners and attend "House Assemblies". Sports day and other interhouse competitions are regularly organised each term, and at the end of the year, the top achievers from each house win a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Each year, two year eleven students are chosen as House Captains and help in the running and organization of their house. Introduced in September 2014, two year ten students get the opportunity to become Deputy House Captains. In December 2019, the school announced that its House Office Team by bringing in one Head for Newton House, six new deputy heads for all houses and three new house officers for Austen, Parks and Thompson Houses. This took place after the holidays, in January 2020, moving the team into temporary places for each house until a bigger area for the House Office Team is accommodated

The school has six houses, each with their own colours, named after people who have been influential and excelled at what they have done: * Jane Austen, (Jane) AUSTEN, Light blue (won: 2) * (Roger) BANNISTER, Dark blue (won: 1) * (Sir Isaac) NEWTON, Red (won: 2) * (Rosa) PARKS, Purple (won: 3) * (George) STEPHENSON, Yellow (won: 3) * (Baroness Tanni) Grey-THOMPSON, Orange (won: 1) The houses also partner up based on alphabetical order. Austen and a Bannister are partner houses, along with Newton and Parks, and Stephenson and Thompson Houses. In May 2021, the house system was largely scrapped and was replaced by the year system. However, it still exists for competition purposes.


Year system

The school implemented a year system in May 2021. 4 of the previous 6 head of houses became head of Year 7, 8, 9 and 10. At the time Year 11 had already left after finishing their exams. The other 2 head of years became head of KS3 and KS4. In September 2021, the new head of the new Year 7's was chosen. The House Captains continued as previously. Each year group has their own colour which are represented on their ties: * Year 7, Red * Year 8, Dark blue * Year 9, Purple * Year 10, Yellow * Year 11, Orange Year 7 and 8 share a year office, Year 9 have their own year office and Year 10 and 11 share a year office. Form groups are now identified with the following YearGroup/House1or2 (e.g. 7/B1, 7/B2)


Notable former pupils

* Shafilea Ahmed – murder victim *
Kathleen Dawson Kathleen Mary Dawson (born 3 October 1997) is a Scottish backstroke swimmer. She won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay in a world record time. She is also the European champion at the 2020 Budapest Champions ...
– backstroke swimmer and gold medal-winner at
2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
* Adam Davies - Welsh international goalkeeper currently at
Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
*
Ben Evans Benjamin Ross Evans (born 31 July 1975) is a former international Wales rugby union player. A prop, he has played for Ospreys, Cardiff Blues and Calvisano. He has played for Jersey and Moseley RFC. After spending time playing amateur rugby for ...
– rugby league player for
London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
,
Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...
,
Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...
,
Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The cl ...
and
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
*
Rhys Evans Rhys Karl Evans (born 27 January 1982) is an English former professional footballer and goalkeeper coach. He played as a goalkeeper, who won two England under-21 caps. Born in Swindon, Wiltshire, he began his career with Chelsea, where he stay ...
– rugby league player for Warrington Wolves and
Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...
*
Andrew Gower Andrew Gower (born 8 November 1989) is an English actor. A staple in British television and theatre, he is best known for his recurring role as Cutler in '' Being Human'' and his turn as Prince Charles Stuart in ''Outlander''. Gower won the Sp ...
– actor *
Gareth O'Brien Gareth "Gaz" O'Brien (born 31 October 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Leigh Leopards in the Betfred Super League. He previously played for the Warrington Wolves and the Salford Red Devils in ...
– rugby league player for Warrington Wolves and
Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...
*
Gemma Prescott Gemma Louise Prescott (born 25 September 1983 in Truro) is a British Paralympian track and field athlete competing in F32 throwing events. Prescott represented England in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, taking the bronze medal in the SP shot put. S ...
– Paralympic athlete in F32 throwing events


References


External links

*
Great Sankey High School DFES information and data
{{authority control Secondary schools in Warrington Academies in Warrington Specialist engineering colleges in England