The Blue Coat School, Oldham - Current Information

Current Information

Recent government grants have enabled the school to venture into a multi-million pound building scheme. So far additions have been a wheelchair lift to increase disabled access; and the reconstruction and further reconstruction of the school's main entrance. In 1994 the school completed a major fund-raising campaign, enabling it to build a new science department building, which was completed in 1995. Completed in 2005, the new multi-million pound sports hall opened on the west side of the school grounds, and due to this increase in PE space, the school has converted the old girls' gym into the new whole-school restaurant, also this building was extended with more eating areas downstairs, and a second floor mezzanine for the 6th form students. With the whole school catered for in the restaurant, the house block which contained the old canteens was closed down. This has now been turned from a dated 1960s 6 classroom building into a 12 classroom 21st century building still housing the 3 houses on each floor. Also, the building near the entrance gates has been refurbished and had structural work done, forming a new building for more music activities, such as those who have music lessons (vocal, strings, brass and more) to improve musical abilities.

The Blue Coat school serves a broad catchment area, providing an education for those who live in the areas of Oldham, Manchester, Tameside and Rochdale. Physically, the school is located within easy walking distance of Oldham Town Centre. Currently, there are around 1100 pupils in the main school, with an additional 300 in the sixth form. There are also over 150 members of staff, teaching or otherwise.

During a school year, there are three communions (Christmas, Easter and end of year) and the assemblies during the school time have a strong Christian theme. Reflecting the strong Christian ethos of the school, Religious Studies continues to be compulsory taught subject for pupils at GCSE level.

As is the case in most English secondary schools, in years seven to nine, pupils study a broad range of subjects in Key Stage 3, before taking Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) in the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Science in year 9. These examinations test the competency of both the pupils' understanding of each subject as well as the standard of their teaching. Years ten and eleven Key Stage 4 involves work which leads to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications. Pupils must take the core subjects of Mathematics, English (Language and Literature), Science Double or Triple R.S, Religious Studies. In addition to these, pupils are given the option of four more subjects, which could be an additional language, History, Geography, Drama Studies, Information Technology, Physical Education, Business Studies, or one of several Design and Technology courses. They will also choose a reserve subject, in case they cannot get in a class of one of the subjects or there isn't enough people to make a class. The reserve subject will then replace this subject.

After finishing GCSEs, further education is not compulsory. Pupils can choose to stay at the sixth form for years twelve and thirteen. Alternatively they could choose another sixth form college, such as Oldham Sixth Form College or Ashton Sixth Form College. However, some students look for work by this stage, for a variety of reasons. Should pupils stay on at Blue Coat in year 12, they will be required to choose four subjects to study for AS-level. The school currently offers around 30 different and diverse courses. In year 13, each student keeps at least three of these subjects for A2-level. Students will have the option of keeping all of their subjects through A2, doing three A2-levels and one new AS-level, or just three A2-levels in year 13. The intensity of sixth-form is high, with a large amount of coursework expected in each subject, as well as exams at the end of each year. This is in-line with the narrower and more focused nature of the AS and A2-level qualifications.

Having completed sixth form, students have several options. These include going to University, finding work or taking a gap year.

The most recent Ofsted inspection was in 2008. The school received an outstanding report overall, receiving an excellent rating for teaching in several areas and for management and leadership. The Blue Coat School has the most successful state Sixth Form Centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, from A/AS Level Results in 2007. The school has traditionally excelled in the league tables under measures of absolute GCSE and A-Level attainment. However the achievement gap between Bluecoat and other local schools is less-stark under the new contextual value added measures of absolute educational progress, introduced by the UK government. In fact in 2008, Grange School in the town, achieved a higher level 2 CVA score than Blue Coat overall, despite having only a 28% GCSE pass rate compared with Bluecoat's 81%. Although it is to be cautioned that small differences in overall CVA scores may not be statistically significant, it is still interesting that schools with such differing GCSE performance overall could have such similar CVA scores.

Recently, the school website has been nominated for the TES 'Outstanding School Website of the Year', the badge is on Bloodle the school's VLE.