Whalley Range 11-18 High School
Encyclopedia
Whalley Range 11-18 High School is an all-girls school located in Whalley Range, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, 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...

. It is a specialist business, enterprise and sport college.

History

The school was founded in 1891 and was bought by the Education Committee of the Corporation in 1908 when it provided places for 300 girls. A few yars later it was extended by the purchase of Alder House and the number of places was increased to 370. Girls were then admitted at the age of six and the curriculum allowed for education up to the matericulation standard and modern languages were well catered for. It became a grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 in 1944 and a comprehensive in 1967. It was until 1939 at a site in Withington Road, adjacent to College Road. The present building was built in 1939 in the Neo-Georgian style (architects: City Architects) and it was extended in 1962 and 1997.

Whalley Range 11-18 High School is a multi-cultural isuburban girls’ comprehensive school in south Manchester. The school gained specialist status as a Business and Enterprise College in September 2002, was re-designated in 2006 and achieved a second specialism as a Sports College from April 2007. It is also a Hub school for Business and Enterprise and provides support and training for schools across the north west.

The school has nearly 1,700 students currently on roll, with 300 students in the 6th Form. There are 200 staff, both teaching and non-teaching. The school is over-subscribed.
An Ofsted inspection in March 2007 identified some areas of good practice.
The numbers of students achieving 5 or more A*-C passes at GCSE have risen from 16% to 64%. ‘A’ Level and GNVQ courses have been extended and exceed national averages in some subjects. The school has been described by the Daily Telegraph as "one of Britain's top state schools".

Range TV

The TV Station

Launched in September 2001, Range TV is the school's in-house television station. Every room in the school has its own TV, and staff and students tune in to programmes that bring the school together.

Media Expertise

The staff who run Range TV are available to assist students with the technical requirements of a range of courses. These include Media Studies, Music and Performing Arts.

Range Radio

Range Radio was opened by a former student of the school, former MP Estelle Morris, on 6 July 1999, and is housed in a custom-built studio in one of the quadrangles. This allows staff, students and visitors to see into the studio from the surrounding glass corridors. The studio is equipped with industry-standard equipment. The school is one of the first High Schools in the country to be allocated its own frequency by Ofcom, allowing listeners to tune in to the broadcasts using their own standard radios. Students who prove themselves over a period of time and build up their broadcasting skills to a high level are given the opportunity to host their own regular weekly slot during the Lunchtime Show when one becomes vacant. The station is at the centre of many related projects including school drama productions, concerts, speciality programmes and interviews. All students are encouraged to get involved with the station.

Whalley Range Grammar School for Girls

  • Christine McCafferty
    Christine McCafferty
    Christine McCafferty is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Calder Valley from 1997 to 2010, when the seat was won by the Conservative Party candidate, Craig Whittaker, at that year's general election.-Early life:She attended Whalley Range Grammar School for...

     - MP for Calder Valley
    Calder Valley (UK Parliament constituency)
    - Elections in the 2000s :- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1980s :-Sources:*...

  • Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley
    Estelle Morris
    Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, PC was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley from 1992 to 2005, and served briefly in the Cabinet as Education Secretary.-Early life:...

    , former Secretary of State for Education

Further reading

  • Field, Florence, A. & Birdsall, G. B., eds. (1912) The Coming-of-age Souvenir of the Whalley Range High School. Manchester: Printed for Private Circulation

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK