The International School and Community College
Encyclopedia
The International School and Community College is a school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

 for children to aged 11 to 18 in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

, 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...

.

Admissions

The school is ethnically diverse and contains around 1,300 pupils spread over three major buildings with an outpost for the 6th Form centre across the road. The school is situated on Gressel Lane and is roughly one mile from Lea Hall railway station
Lea Hall railway station
Lea Hall railway station is situated in the Lea Hall area east of the city of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. It has two platforms, one each side of the two running lines, with no points or sidings. The ticket office is on a bridge over the tracks, which are a little below street...

, operated by London Midland
London Midland
London Midland is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd, it is a subsidiary of Govia, and has operated the West Midlands franchise since 11 November 2007....

. It is close to the eastern boundary of Birmingham, close to the Solihull boundary.

Local bus routes include the 90(TWM) 14(TWM) 96(VO) 72(VO) 71(TWM*).
TWM- Travel West Midlands VO - Varied Operators *-Except Sundays

Former schools

The genesis of the school was three schools being built next to each other in Tile Cross, East Birmingham in the late 1950s. The famous Central Grammar School for Boys was founded in 1897 in Suffolk Street (hence 'Central') and relocated to Gressel Lane in September 1957 from one of its temporary bases in Cherrywood Road. It was a three-form entry school with around 550 boys. The City created two new schools namely Byng Kenrick Girls' Grammar School on Leycroft Avenue, with 650 girls and formed in the late 1950s, and Sir Wilfrid Martineau School on Gressel Lane, both named after men who had been prominent local politicians. Wilfrid Martineau had been Lord Mayor of Birmingham. The latter would cater for pupils who had failed to gain a place in a grammar school. Its first headmaster, however, declared that it was his intention to compete and announced it was a bilateral rather than a secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...

 (in contemporary parlance) and the school competed with its neighbours.

Comprehensive

When the City abolished some grammar schools in 1974, Central and Byng Kenrick merged to create Byng Kenrick Central School (BKC), a coeducational comprehensive on Gressel Lane There later followed a period when Sir Wilfrid Martineau, which had merged with Sticland Green Mixed Secondary Modern School, had a better reputation than BKC.

However, by 2000 Sir Wilfrid Martineau School was failing badly and so in an attempt to 'save it' the City hastily decided that the adjacent Byng Kenrick Central School would 'take it over' and be renamed. This was NOT a merger. The 'new school' was opened in September 2001. It was since awarded specialist Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields...

 status.

A rocky beginning, however, was brought about by the 9% pass rate for GCSEs in the July 2003 examinations, which resulted in the instant dismissal of the then-Principal, Sarah Harris. The school struggled through September 2003, and after negotiations and an unfavourable contract with Ninestyles-Waverly Federation, the ISCCEB was accepted as the third member to "The Federation", an organisation set up by Sir Dexter Hutt, to assist failing schools to recover.

After three years in the Federation, and many major changes in school policy, the ISCCEB has managed to gain independence from "The Federation", and is now a specialist business school, with Microsoft Platinum membership.

Former teachers

In the late 60's both Colin McFadyean and Sam Doble taught P.E. at Central Grammar School and played rugby union for Moseley. Colin captained England whilst teaching at Central and Sam got his England caps in the early '70's. Team Schleft originated from students from Byng Kenrick Central who studied there from 1997-2002.

Academic performance

The July 2007 examination results were that 50.5% of pupils passed with 5 (or more) A*-C grades at GCSE, an increase of 41% in 5 years.
In the 2010 GCSE examination results :
  • Every student in Year 11 achieved a nationally recognised qualification.
  • 84% of the year group achieved 5 or more GCSE A*-C grades or equivalent.
  • 41% of students achieved 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Maths. Double the figures of the 2008 results.
  • 92% achieved 5 or more A*-G grades.
  • Significant improvements were seen in the core subjects of English, Maths, Science and ICT.

Central Grammar School for Boys

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Byng Kenrick Central School

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External links

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