Gateacre School is a secondary school 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 ...

located in

Belle Vale Belle Vale is a district of south-east Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward that covers both Belle Vale and Netherley. Description The Belle Vale area shares borders with Huyton, Netherley, Gateacre and Childwall ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, England. The school is

co-educational 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 ...

with both

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

and

female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

pupils from years 7 to 11 and throughout the

History

The school was built in two phases, a lower building in 1957 (by architects Weightman and Bullen of Liverpool) and was followed by a much larger 'Main Building' which was completed in 1961 (by architect George Whitfield). The buildings on the school remained relatively unchanged for 40 years until a Music Building and a Sixth Form and Food Technology building were added to the previous 'lower yard' and bike shed area in 2002. During the construction of the school, the playing field area needed to be levelled out. This proved difficult due to the nature of the ground, and it was decided by Liverpool Education committee that the most cost-effective method of leveling out the playing field area was controlled tipping. This led to a large difference in ground height of the field compared to the school buildings, with pupils required to walk up a set of steps equivalent to 2 storeys. This decision also meant that the land could not be built on in the future. This eventually led to the school's need to move locations under the Building Schools for the future government scheme as the only available ground on the Grange Lane site was the ground the current school footprint was held on, and a new school was required before the old one could be demolished. Gateacre Community Comprehensive School was the first comprehensive school to open in Liverpool. It was also the first of a number of Liverpool schools to house George Whitfield's design for main building (Anfield Comprehensive and New Heys following). It was also the last remaining example of Whitfield's 'Main building'. In 2005 Gateacre received joint in Arts & Humanities. The Specialist school status as an

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 ...

allowed the school extra funding for arts related utilities and projects . The three main areas of arts being performing, visual and media. The other specialism was as a

Humanities College Humanities Colleges are a type of specialist school introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanities ...

the lead subjects being English and Religious Studies. During the school year ending August 2014 Gateacre School achieved 29% 5 A-C GCSEs including English and maths putting it in the lowest 20% of schools in the country with similar characteristics (OFSTED Dashboard for Gateacre School). In August 2015 Gateacre School achieved 32% of students gaining 5 GCSEs A-C including English and maths.

New building

In 2011 the school relocated from Gateacre to the neighbouring area of

. The new building would cost over £35 million and plans have been made to include high tech features such as solar panels,

wind turbines A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wi ...

and a

cyber cafe Cyber may refer to: Computing and the Internet * ''Cyber-'', from cybernetics, a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory and purposive systems Crime and security * Cyber crime, crime that involves computers and networks ** Conventio ...

. The new building can now be easily identified opposite Belle Vale Shopping Centre. The school website has listed what the building will include: * A 300-seater purpose-built

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

to provide a showcase for

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, film and dance performances * A

recording studio and film studio,

practice rooms, composition suite and

orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ...

area. * A 4-court

sports hall The following is a list of indoor arenas. Africa Asia Europe North America Canada United States Oceania South America See also *Arena *Stadium *Sport venue *Lists of stadiums The following are lists of stadiums t ...

, with lifestyle fitness suite, dance and activity studio and teaching area * Outdoor hard-courts,

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s fields, time-trial and

assault course An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

. * Complete

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

coverage over the entire building for anytime, anywhere computer access. * Flexible classrooms which can be configured into different areas to enable individual tuition, small group-work, whole class activities and mass presentations. * A suite of 10

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physici ...

and outdoor science garden for learning in all sciences. *Practical technology areas, graphics and electronics studios and outdoor vocational workshop. *An open plan arts studio area providing accommodation for fine arts,

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

and

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s design.

Notable alumni

Katy Carmichael Katy Jane Carmichael (born 5 March 1970) is an English actress, director and producer. She is most known for her roles Twist Morgan in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'', Lucy Barlow in the ITV soap '' Coronation Street'', and Melissa Ryan in '' ...

, actress, director and producer *

Rebecca Ferguson Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström (born 19 October 1983) is a Swedish actress. She began her acting career with the Swedish soap opera ''Nya tider'' (1999–2000) and went on to star in the slasher film ''Drowning Ghost'' (2004). She came to in ...

, singer * Philip A. Gale, chemist and academic * David Johnson (footballer) *

Ray Quinn Raymond Arthur Quinn (born 25 August 1988) is an English actor, singer, dancer and carpet layer. He is best known for his role as Anthony Murray in ''Brookside'' from 2000 to 2003. He achieved more public recognition when he auditioned for the ...

, actor, singer, dancer * Lee Sandales, BAFTA award-winning set decorator

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in Liverpool Educational institutions established in 1957 1957 establishments in England Community schools in Liverpool