Backwell School is a secondary

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

school in

Backwell Backwell is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of North Somerset, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. In 2011 it had a population of 4,589. The village lies about southwest of Bristol, south of the A370 to West ...

, Bristol, Somerset, England. It was considered to be one of the best-performing state schools in England, leading results at both GCSE and A level in the area and consistently being rated "Outstanding" by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

. It has now been rated "Good" by

. The school is a

National Teaching School National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, through which it leads the North Somerset Teaching Alliance, with Healthy School Plus and

International School International schools are private schools that promote education in an international environment or framework. Although there is no uniform definition or criteria, international schools are usually characterised by a multinational student body an ...

status. Since March 2011 the school has been a self-governing academy convert. It holds the Artsmark Gold award and includes a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. It has 1,738 pupils, of which 387 were in the school's sixth form in 2016, from the age of 11 (year 7) to the age of 18 (year 13). Backwell has previously been a

Beacon School Beacon Status was a progressive educational initiative that the United Kingdom implemented based on the idea that organizational learning could be advanced through a competitive process of identifying successful organizations and recruiting the ...

specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

performing and visual

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 En ...

and National Training School.

History

The original

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

at Backwell was founded by

Somerset County Council Somerset ( , ), archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to ...

in 1954 and later became a comprehensive school in 1976 when the tripartite education system was abolished in the area. The school's original building dates from 1954, when Britain was in the midst of a post-war school-building boom. The first Headmaster of The School, Mr W. C. M. Cox was in the 1946 New Year Honours (Mentioned in Dispatches) he was Flight Lieutenant W. C. M. Cox (133777), RAFVR. In 2009, 71% of GCSE pupils achieved at least five

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

passes above grade C including English and Maths. This is 21% above the national average that year. It is the highest performing state secondary school in North Somerset. In November 2008, Backwell School was rated as outstanding by

. It was inspected again in May 2013 (no. 413323) due to the school having converted to an academy two years previous. It was judged to be outstanding in all categories. On 11 September 2015 a small fire broke out in the Cotswold house building, causing minor damage to the block. All staff and pupils were safely evacuated.

Catchment area

The school's catchment area includes the villages of

Yatton Yatton is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located south-west of Bristol. Its population in 2011 was 7,552. The parish includes Clav ...

Claverham Yatton is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located south-west of Bristol. Its population in 2011 was 7,552. The parish includes Clav ...

, Cleeve and

Kingston Seymour Kingston Seymour is a small village and civil parish with royal status in Somerset, England. It is situated within the unitary authority of North Somerset, between Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare on the North Somerset Levels. The parish has a po ...

, although several hundred of the school's pupils come from locations outside of its official catchment area from locations such as

Nailsea Nailsea is a town in North Somerset, England, southwest of Bristol, and northeast of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea had a po ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. Admissions are managed by the

local education authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

– North Somerset Council.

School site

The site at Backwell is relatively large, featuring multiple large sports grounds to the North. Buildings vary extremely in design and age with the oldest part of the original school, known as 'Lower School' and the 'Science Corridor', which includes the main theatre, dating back to 1954 – being the same design as at Kingsmead School while the Sixth Form Centre was completed in just 2011. Backwell Leisure Centre is no longer part of the school grounds, but is situated directly next to the rear entrance of the school, and is used for

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

in PE lessons.

Extracurricular activities

In 2015 a student radio station was launched. Run by a team of students, the station broadcasts live at lunchtimes with an automated system taking over at other times.

Notable alumni

* Paul Bird, cricketer * Lynn Buckle, author *

Richard Foord Richard John Foord (; born 13 February 1978) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and former British Army officer who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Honiton and Sidmouth, previously Tiverton and Honiton, since 2022. Early l ...

, politician *

Jerry Gill Jeremy Morley Gill (born 8 September 1970) is an English former professional footballer who most recently managed National League South club Bath City. Despite his late entry into the professional game – he made his debut in the Football Leagu ...

, footballer and club manager * Alex Giltrow, rugby player * Kirk Jones, film director *

Noah Marullo Noah Marullo (born 23 June 1999) is a British actor from Flax Bourton, England. Marullo is best known for his role in CBBC's '' Tracy Beaker Returns'' and its spin-off series, ''The Dumping Ground'' as Gus Carmichael, a character with Autism, bu ...

, actor *

Joel McIver Joel McIver (born 10 February 1971) is a British author. His best-known work is ''Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica'', first published in 2004 and appearing in nine languages since then. McIver's other works include biographies of Bla ...

, author *

Richard Ottaway Sir Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway (born 24 May 1945) is a British Conservative Party politician and consultant. He was the Member of Parliament for Croydon South from 1992 to 2015. Ottaway also served as the MP for Nottingham North from 198 ...

, politician * Chris Wood, golfer

Head Teachers

* William Cox (1954–1970) * Barbara Sellars (1970–1988) * Richard Nosowski OBE (1988–2002) * Roger Mason (2002–2006) * Julian Baldwin (2006–2016) * Jon Nunes (2016–)

References

External links

*
Ofsted Report Site – Backwell School
{{authority control Academies in North Somerset Educational institutions established in 1954 1954 establishments in England Secondary schools in North Somerset