Unsworth Academy (formerly Castlebrook 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 ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in Unsworth, in the

Metropolitan Borough of Bury The Metropolitan Borough of Bury is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is north of Manchester, to the east of Bolton and west of Rochdale. The borough is centred around the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury but also ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England.

History

The school opened in September 1971 and was originally called Unsworth Comprehensive School. Its initial enrollment was 146 pupils. In 1983, the school merged with Whitefield High School (aka Albert Road) and was renamed Castlebrook High School. Throughout 2006, along with several other schools in the wider Bury borough, it had been under a sustained threat of closure. It was believed that there will be 2,000 fewer high school pupils in Bury, so Bury Council wanted to close two high schools in the area. It was possible that Castlebrook would be amalgamated with nearby Philips High School, or that either Castlebrook or Philips will be closed. The school's

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 ...

results improved greatly over the next few years; with 61% of pupils achieving 5 A*-Cs in 2008, up to 76% in 2009 and to 80% in 2010, the highest the school has ever achieved. However, in 2016, the school was deemed inadequate 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 ...

(The number of pupils attaining 5 GCSEs (including English and Maths) at grade A*-C in 2014 was below the national average. Previously a community school administered by Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, in February 2017 Castlebrook High School converted to academy status and was renamed Unsworth Academy. The school is now sponsored by the Shaw Education Trust A new building for the school was started in January 2018 and was completed in 2019.

Notable former pupils

* Samuel Brooksworth, Businessman. *

Gemma Atkinson Gemma Louise Atkinson (born 16 November 1984) is an English influencer, radio presenter, and former actress and glamour model. She played Lisa Hunter in ''Hollyoaks'' (2001–2005, 2022) and in three spin-off series, '' Hollyoaks: After Hours ...

, former

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

actress and TV personality. *

Trevor Sinclair Trevor Lloyd Sinclair (born 2 March 1973) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United and Manchester C ...

, former

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and England footballer. * David Ball,

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

footballer. * Warren Hegg, former England cricketer. * Jodie Gibson,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Netball athlete. Gold medalist. * Dean Hughes, Artist and University Professor.

References

External links

Unsworth Academy official website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1971 Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury 1971 establishments in England Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury Shaw Education Trust