Buile Hill Academy Explained

Buile Hill Academy
Coordinates:53.4933°N -2.3043°W
Motto:"Personal Best and accept No Excuses"
Established:1973
Head Label:Principal
Head:Martin Knowles[1]
Address:Chaseley Road
Country:England
Postcode:M6 8RD
Ofsted:yes
Urn:150868
Pupils:967
Capacity:900
Lower Age:11
Upper Age:16
Colours: red, grey, black
Website:https://bua.northerneducationtrust.org/

Buile Hill Academy (formerly Buile Hill High School then Buile Hill Visual Arts College) is a coeducational state-funded secondary school for 11-16 year olds in Pendleton, Salford, England.[2] It opened in 1973 on the site of Salford Grammar School, and is designated a specialist school for visual arts.[3] The school became an academy in 2016, and was taken over by the Northern Education Trust in 2024.

The school is located off Eccles Old Road, between Buile Hill Park and Pendleton Sixth Form College.

History

The site was occupied by the former Salford Grammar School from 1956 until its closure in 1973. Buile Hill High School, a new 11 to 16 comprehensive school, was opened on part of the site in the same year. The grammar school's sixth form, along with that of Pendleton High School for Girls, was transferred to nearby Pendleton College.[4] The school continued to share a playing field with Pendleton College, across the field to the north. The school buildings are over 100 years old in some parts. The acting headteacher of the grammar school at the time of its closure, Robert Blackmore, became Buile Hill's first head, and remained in the position until 1982.

In 1976, two boys aged 15 and 16 set fires in the school, causing damages costing £30,000 and destroying rare books in the library.[5] [6] A new art block was opened in 1989 by artist Harold Riley, a former Salford Grammar School pupil, to replace an ageing block at the school that had once been part of Pendleton High School for Girls.[7] In 1995 the school received funding from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts to equip its new drama studio.[8]

In 2001, Windsor Community High School was closed and its pupils transferred to Buile Hill and Hope high schools, resulting in an expansion of the school.[9] [10] [11]

In 2002 staff at the school worked towards raising the £50,000 needed to apply to the Department for Education to become a specialist arts school. Buile Hill held a Valentine's day ball featuring Coronation Street actors, and considered selling a painting by L.S. Lowry owned by the school.[12] The school received an Artsmark Gold Award in May 2006 and was renamed Buile Hill Visual Arts College. It is one of the few schools in the Salford area with a fully working theatre and performance space.

In the summer of 2006, the headteacher Gena Merrett left and was replaced by a new 'super head', Phil Fitzpatrick.[13] Fitzpatrick was contracted for two years with an above-average annual salary of £100,000 to improve the school's results and prepare for the move into its new buildings in 2008. However, Fitzpatrick failed to achieve the results that the council had been looking for, and in 2007 he left by mutual agreement after just two terms.[14]

In 2007 the school's results on the standard measure (% of pupils reaching 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C) jumped from 26% to 52%.[15] The school underwent an Ofsted inspection in October 2007 which described it as satisfactory overall with elements of good.[16]

The school was rebuilt on the adjacent field and completed in 2008. The original buildings from 1956 were demolished in the process.[17] The new buildings were funded through a Private Finance Initiative.[18] [19] In 2010 the school was issued with an ultimatum by the council to either improve standards or face closure or conversion to a privately-backed academy.[20]

Buile Hill Visual Arts College was previously a community school administered by Salford City Council.[21] In August 2016, it was converted to an academy school and renamed Buile Hill Academy. The school was run by Consilium Academies, a multi-academy trust, until it was taken over by the Northern Education Trust (NET) on 31 August 2024.[22]

Former headteachers and principals

Buile Hill High School

Buile Hill Visual Arts College

Buile Hill Academy

Performance

At its latest Ofsted inspection in June 2022, it received the rating 'requires improvement'.[38] In 2023 only 20% of students achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs, compared to the England average of 45%.[39] In 2018 is was also rated 'requires improvement'.[40]

Indecency case

In March 2014, Edward Beetham, a former head of year and humanities teacher at the school, pleaded guilty to indecency with an 11-year-old pupil in the early 1990s. He was spared jail, but was subjected to a two-year community order, with a requirement to attend a sex offenders' programme. His defence barrister, Stuart Duke, told Manchester Crown Court: "He has lost his good character. He has gone from being a genteel, retired schoolteacher playing petanque to somebody who will be monitored by the authorities – it has been absolutely devastating for this to come back and haunt him."[41] When sentencing, Judge Patrick Field QC, told Beetham: "You developed and encouraged a relationship with (the victim) – this appears to me, at least in part, grooming behaviour, enabling you to lure him into your bedroom where you invited an undoubtedly bewildered child to beat you for your own sexual gratification."

Notable former pupils

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Welcome to Buile Hill Academy . bua.northerneducationtrust.org . . 22 September 2024.
  2. Web site: Buile Hill Academy - Home.
  3. Web site: Buile Hill Extra Curricular Information. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20211227015814/https://www.builehillacademy.co.uk/page/?title=Enrichment+and+Extra-Curricular&pid=70 . 27 December 2021 .
  4. https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/47e9d56c-d7d8-3bb3-ab9e-bbe6d28d3091 "Salford Grammar School"
  5. News: The fight against the vandals . 22 September 2024 . . 22 September 1977 . 12.
  6. News: 'Boast' boys started £30,000 blaze . 22 September 2024 . . 22 October 1976 . 7.
  7. News: Last chance to see old school . 22 September 2024 . Salford Advertiser . 2 March 1989 . 14.
  8. News: Bonus of top drama studio for Buile Hill . 22 September 2024 . Salford Advertiser . 28 September 1995.
  9. Web site: Education and Leisure Directorate Service Plan 2001/02 Progress Report . . 22 September 2024.
  10. Web site: SECONDARY SCHOOL REVIEW – FUTURE USES OF WINDSOR HIGH SCHOOL AND LITTLE HULTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL SITES . . 22 September 2024.
  11. Web site: INSPECTION REPORT BUILE HILL HIGH SCHOOL . ofsted.gov.uk . Ofsted . 22 September 2024 . 20 May 2004.
  12. Web site: Smithers . Rebecca . Special pleading . The Guardian . 22 September 2024 . 22 January 2002.
  13. Web site: Pupils miss out on cash prize . Manchester Evening News . en . 7 December 2007.
  14. News: Super head gone super quick . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 15 February 2007 . en.
  15. Web site: GCSE and A-level results 2007: Salford | Schools special reports | EducationGuardian.co.uk.
  16. Web site: Buile Hill High School . Ofsted . 23 November 2006 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20071203105606/http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/index.cfm?fuseaction=summary&id=105974 . 3 December 2007 .
  17. News: Wilkinson . Damon . Greater Manchester's lost schools - and the stars who went to them . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 4 April 2020 . en.
  18. News: £150M school plan gets go-ahead . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 9 July 2007 . en.
  19. Web site: Inspiring schools . salford.gov.uk . . 22 September 2024 . 5 September 2006.
  20. News: Schools face closure under new challenge . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 18 April 2010 . en.
  21. Web site: Buile Hill Visual Arts College - GOV.UK . www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk . 22 September 2024 . en.
  22. Web site: Buile Hill Academy - GOV.UK . get-information-schools.service.gov.uk . 22 September 2024 . en.
  23. Web site: Jesus College Annual Report 2019 . jesus.cam.ac.uk . . 22 September 2024 . 4 December 2019.
  24. News: New hope for school . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 10 January 1986 . 11.
  25. News: School to close 15-year gap . 22 September 2024 . . 30 September 1988 . 28.
  26. News: Disciplinary school cares . 22 September 2024 . Salford Advertiser . 9 February 1995 . 12.
  27. News: Best ever GCSEs for Salford Pupils . 22 September 2024 . Salford Advertiser . 2 September 1999 . 2.
  28. Web site: PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION REGULATORY PANEL . salford.gov.uk . Salford City Council . 22 September 2024 . 16 October 2003.
  29. News: Pupils miss out on cash prize . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 7 December 2007 . en.
  30. Web site: Buile Hill Visual Arts College Inspection report . ofsted.gov.uk . Ofsted . 22 September 2024 . 2010.
  31. Web site: School report Buile Hill Visual Arts College . ofsted.gov.uk . Ofsted . 20 November 2012.
  32. Web site: Gill . Emma . Award for school which made weekly calls to families in lockdown . Manchester Evening News . 22 September 2024 . en . 11 November 2020.
  33. News: Gill . Emma . Topping . Stephen . Abbit . Beth . Smiles and cautious optimism as school corridors are filled with laughter . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 8 March 2021 . en.
  34. Web site: Governors Lark Hill Primary School . www.larkhillprimary.co.uk . 22 September 2024.
  35. Web site: Requires improvement monitoring inspection of Buile Hill Academy . ofsted.gov.uk . Ofsted . 22 September 2024 . 12 December 2023.
  36. Web site: Movers and shakers: Reeve, Weston, Parry, Wilson, Yafai . schoolsweek.co.uk . 22 September 2024 . 3 April 2024.
  37. Web site: SchoolDash - Buile Hill Academy . www.schooldash.com . 22 September 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240922172308/https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.schooldash.com/school/143059/&strip=1&vwsrc=0 . 22 September 2024.
  38. Web site: School report Inspection of Buile Hill Academy . reports.ofsted.gov.uk . Ofsted . 20 September 2024 . 19 July 2024.
  39. Web site: Buile Hill Academy - Compare school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK . Compare school and college performance in England . 20 September 2024 . en.
  40. Web site: School report Buile Hill Visual Arts College . ofsted.gov.uk . Ofsted . 22 September 2024 . 31 December 2018.
  41. Web site: Teacher coaxed boy into flogging him, court hears. 18 March 2014.
  42. News: How bullies bred Butters' success . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 9 August 2004 . en.
  43. News: Barker . Neil . Michael Appleton: I learned so much from Sir Alex Ferguson . 22 September 2024 . Manchester Evening News . 3 December 2012 . en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Buile Hill Academy".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.