Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School
Encyclopedia
The Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School and Music College is a comprehensive school in Coventry
, England
located in the Lower Stoke area of the city. It is a Cross Of Nails school, with links to a school in Bethlehem
. The school motto reads "Christian Education With Care".
A new school was opened on the present site in 1964 under headmaster William J Grimes, who ran the school until his retirement.
Stephen Timbrell was the headteacher from 1999, when he took over from Dr. R Lewin, until May 12, 2008, when he died of pancreatic cancer.
Dr Roberts is the current head teacher; she took up her role in September 2009.
Current enrolment is around 1460 pupils, and the school has recently become one of very few specialist
Music College
s in the country. The school has ties with Coventry Cathedral
, and holds several church services there every year, including the annual prizegiving ceremony for outstanding pupils.
through Joseph Haydn
's Insanae et Vanae Curae to the recent works of composers such as John Tavener
. The choir visits cathedrals around the country annually, where it sings services for the week whilst the resident choir is away. These have included Chester
, York
, Blackburn
, Salisbury
, and Liverpool
. The choir has sung mass in St Mark's Basilica
, Venice
. In the summer of 2007 the choir visited Wells Cathedral
, and has been invited back this coming July. In the summer of 2010, the choir revisited Wells Cathedral on its Summer tour, and whilst there, they recorded a CD which is able to be bought from the school.
The choir receives additional support from members of the public who bolster the ranks when support is required, providing a more balanced bass and tenor
sound.
The choir has been entering the BBC Songs of Praise
School Choir of the Year competition for the last three years, and has come close to winning several times, with the Choir winning the competition in the 2008 finals.
The choir is a regular on the BBC Radio 4
programme The Daily Service
.
's The Caucasian Chalk Circle
and four musicals, Oliver!
, Calamity Jane
, Les Misérables, and most recently, The Wizard of Oz. Head of Music Norman Owen directed the music for both of this productions. . Dr Patrick Kincaid, an English teacher, has also directed two Shakespeare plays, As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing. An all-female cast of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Andrew Kyle, is due to be shown on the 20th and the 22nd of October 2011.
exams a year early. This can be done for Maths, Science, Geography, Modern Foreign Languages, History and Music.
pitch has also been constructed.
A theatre was constructed in the school, and has been open since January 2009. The latest production, 'The Snow Queen' was meant to be performed at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year but was delayed until the start of the 2009-2010 academic year due to flooding in the theatre.
For Boys: white shirt (all year), black/grey trousers (all year), Bluecoat tie (4+ stripes), black socks, black shoes (not trainers).
For Girls: yellow blouse with Bluecoat tie (4+ stripes)(Winter), check white/blue blouse (Summer), blue trousers (all year), black shoes (no heel).
As of the new academic year in 2009, Year 7 and below pupils are required to wear a Navy Blue Tie with a small Blue Coat logo on.
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
located in the Lower Stoke area of the city. It is a Cross Of Nails school, with links to a school in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
. The school motto reads "Christian Education With Care".
History
The original Blue Coat school was founded in 1714 as a school for girls and was located close to Holy Trinity church in the city centre. The original uniform included caped dresses and white hats.A new school was opened on the present site in 1964 under headmaster William J Grimes, who ran the school until his retirement.
Stephen Timbrell was the headteacher from 1999, when he took over from Dr. R Lewin, until May 12, 2008, when he died of pancreatic cancer.
Dr Roberts is the current head teacher; she took up her role in September 2009.
Current enrolment is around 1460 pupils, and the school has recently become one of very few specialist
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
Music College
Music College
Music Colleges were introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in England. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, music. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Music Colleges will receive extra...
s in the country. The school has ties with Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
, and holds several church services there every year, including the annual prizegiving ceremony for outstanding pupils.
Year and school councils
At the start of the school year, each form elects several representatives to serve on the year council. Two or three of these year council representatives are elected to serve on the school council. The year councils discuss issues regarding school life and pass their findings to the school council, who consider them. The school council has a budget to facilitate resolution of these issues as long as they support the Christian ethos of the school.Choir
The school has an 8-part choir, typically performing choral works ranging from the early works of Thomas TallisThomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
through Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's Insanae et Vanae Curae to the recent works of composers such as John Tavener
John Tavener
Sir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
. The choir visits cathedrals around the country annually, where it sings services for the week whilst the resident choir is away. These have included Chester
Chester Cathedral
Chester Cathedral is the mother church of the Church of England Diocese of Chester, and is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly St Werburgh's abbey church of a Benedictine monastery, is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
, York
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...
, Blackburn
Blackburn Cathedral
Blackburn Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral Church of Blackburn Saint Mary the Virgin, is a cathedral situated in the heart of Blackburn town centre, in Lancashire, England...
, Salisbury
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
, and Liverpool
Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is the Church of England cathedral of the Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool and is the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool but it is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
. The choir has sung mass in St Mark's Basilica
St Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. In the summer of 2007 the choir visited Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....
, and has been invited back this coming July. In the summer of 2010, the choir revisited Wells Cathedral on its Summer tour, and whilst there, they recorded a CD which is able to be bought from the school.
The choir receives additional support from members of the public who bolster the ranks when support is required, providing a more balanced bass and tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
sound.
The choir has been entering the BBC Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
School Choir of the Year competition for the last three years, and has come close to winning several times, with the Choir winning the competition in the 2008 finals.
The choir is a regular on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programme The Daily Service
The Daily Service
The Daily Service is a short Christian church service, often from Emmanuel Church in Didsbury, Manchester, England, broadcast every weekday morning between 9.45 and 10.00 by BBC Radio 4 and on the Radio 4 DAB breakout. For many years it was broadcast live from All Souls Church, Langham Place, the...
.
Dramatic productions
The School has an annual dramatic production, which is open to all students. The school's latest head of drama, Matthew Connor-Hemming, has directed five productions, Bertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents....
and four musicals, Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
, Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...
, Les Misérables, and most recently, The Wizard of Oz. Head of Music Norman Owen directed the music for both of this productions. . Dr Patrick Kincaid, an English teacher, has also directed two Shakespeare plays, As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing. An all-female cast of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Andrew Kyle, is due to be shown on the 20th and the 22nd of October 2011.
Acceleration
For the past few years the school has taken part in an acceleration scheme that allows gifted students to take certain subjects GCSEGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
exams a year early. This can be done for Maths, Science, Geography, Modern Foreign Languages, History and Music.
Development
The school has built a new music centre with new funds given to the school after it was given music college status. A floodlit astroturfAstroTurf
AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
pitch has also been constructed.
A theatre was constructed in the school, and has been open since January 2009. The latest production, 'The Snow Queen' was meant to be performed at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year but was delayed until the start of the 2009-2010 academic year due to flooding in the theatre.
Uniform
The current Bluecoat School uniform consists of-For Boys: white shirt (all year), black/grey trousers (all year), Bluecoat tie (4+ stripes), black socks, black shoes (not trainers).
For Girls: yellow blouse with Bluecoat tie (4+ stripes)(Winter), check white/blue blouse (Summer), blue trousers (all year), black shoes (no heel).
As of the new academic year in 2009, Year 7 and below pupils are required to wear a Navy Blue Tie with a small Blue Coat logo on.
External links
- Blue Coat Website
- Ofsted Reports
- Coventry cancer jab girl died of 'natural causes'. BBC. 30 April 2010.