Unity College is a mixed 11-16

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is r ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, England.

History

Former school

Towneley High School originally opened in 1941. During its history it had been a technical school, an all-boys school, and latterly a mixed 11-16 community school. It was the first Lancashire school to be awarded by Investors in People.

Early history

The college initially occupied the former Towneley High School, but moved to a state of the art new £33m building in September 2010 as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The school was named by a local pupil, Heather Ashworth, who won a competition launched by the local radio station

2BR Two Boroughs Radio (known on air as 2BR) was an Independent Local Radio station serving East and Central Lancashire, England. It was owned and operated by Global and broadcast from studios at Clayton-le-Moors near Accrington. 2BR was merged ...

. The new school's first head teacher, Sally Cryer, had previously been head at Towneley. The school is located in

Towneley Park Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, co ...

, and the county council's decision to site the new building, on playing-fields close to the old school, rather than reusing the existing site, was contentious. Despite plans to turn the old site into parkland, objections from local residents prompted the borough council's refusal to sell the land, triggering a 2007 public inquiry that subsequently backed the plans. The 20 January 2011 edition of '' Question Time'' was broadcast from Unity College, with some pupils in the audience.

Attainment

In 2007, the school's value-added measure was 971 (national average 1000), which placed it in the bottom 5% nationally for adding value between the end of Key Stage 2 and the end of Key Stage 4. In 2009 the college had increased its attainment to 29% 5 A*-C passes including English and Maths. The college has also improved its 5A*-C measure from below 30% to 64% in just three years.

Notable former pupils

* Ross Sykes, professional footballer * Luke Jordan, English footballer

Towneley High School

* Dr Christine Braddock DBE, Chief Executive of Birmingham Metropolitan College and

High Sheriff of the West Midlands The Office of High Sheriff of the West Midlands is the ceremonial position of High Sheriff appointed to the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, a metropolitan county in central England. The appointment is made by the British monarch by Pricking ...

(2013–14). * Alice (Anne) Nutter, Chumbawamba musician and writer. * David Readman, singer. *

Stella Reid Stella Reid (born 3 October 1964) is an English nanny, author and television personality, known publicly as one of the stars of the reality television series ''Nanny 911''. She is co-author of ''The Nanny Chronicles of Hollywood'', ''Nanny 911: ...

, TV nanny.

References

Schools in Burnley Educational institutions established in 2006 Secondary schools in Lancashire Foundation schools in Lancashire 2006 establishments in England {{Lancashire-school-stub