Bramhall High School

Admissions

The school is a teacher training school in connection with Manchester Metropolitan University. It is situated in the east of Bramhall.

There are also a very wide range of extra curricular activities and the school has a long record of success in sport (with more than 50 school teams), music (with four bands and many ensembles), drama, public speaking and more.

History

It opened as Bramhall County Grammar School on Seal Road in 1967 as a co-educational three-form entry grammar school.

It became The Bramhall County High School in 1971 with a ten-form entry with a sixth form. New buildings were added to prepare for the comprehensive intake. Until April 1974 it was administered by Cheshire Education Committee. By 1973 it had a 12-form entry with around 1400 boys and girls. With the new LEA of Stockport, it became known as Bramhall High School in 1974. In 1975 it was a 9-form entry school with around 300 in the sixth form, and again was 12-form entry in 1980. Similar to Marple Hall School, the sixth form was closed in the early 1990s. Since the introduction of Academies under the educational reforms of Michael Gove a few secondary schools in Stockport have opened Sixth Form centres. Bramhall High School have started the consultation process into opening a sixth form at the school, with the view of opening in September 2015.

Bramhall High School is partnered with Kitivo Secondary School in Tanzania. Bramhall students raise money to help the students and teachers in Kitivo. Their efforts have resulted in substantial improvements to the school, including a dormitory.

Press

The school came under the spotlight in 2002, when they asked parents of pupils to pay £10 per annum to help following cuts in funding from Stockport Education Authority under the Labour government.

The school was initially criticised after the installation of unisex toilets in 2000, as a move to tackle bullying and smoking. Subsequently, this development has become accepted Government policy, and the school features on the 'Bog Standard' website, was selected as a case study in good design by the Design Council and in 2007 was the subject of a follow-up documentary for the BBC Breakfast Programme. The unisex toilets were segregated again in August 2013.

The school also was the focus of critical news headlines after it introduced sniffer dogs to search the school premises for traces of illegal drugs. Like the toilets, this too is now official Government policy and accepted practice in many secondary schools.

In March 2007, the school was in the news after banning traditional knotted ties from the school uniform and replacing them with clip-on ties. A spokesperson for the school later declared that the move to introduce clip-on ties was "more about student appearance than health and safety".

OFSTED Report

An OFSTED inspection in 2014 rated the school as "Requires improvement" in all categories. Following the previous OFSTED inspection (2010) the school had been described as "a good and improving school with some outstanding features."

Post-Bramhall Education

After Bramhall High, most students attend one of the local sixth form colleges: Aquinas College, Stockport, Cheadle And Marple Sixth Form College or Stockport College

Academic performance

The percentage of students gaining the top grades has reached the highest ever at 79.4%. The percentage achieving English, Maths and 5+ A* - C grades rose from last year's 65% to 66% (provisional with remarks pending). At the same time the average points score per student rose by 13 points. This measure indicates students gaining (on average) the equivalent of an extra A* each compared with similar students in 2004. A massive 80% of students achieved at least two C grades in Science, and 118 students achieved C or better in 3 separate sciences.

Notable former pupils