Tytherington School

History

The school traces its history back to an independent girls' school founded in the 1860s, but it was founded on its current site in the early 1950s, and became a mixed-sex school in the 1970s.

The school is split both horizontally and vertically into year groups, (year 7 through to year 13), and houses. The houses are named Oak, Ash and Elm, in recognition of the traditional royal hunting woodlands in the Macclesfield area. The school also has a Sixth Form, Tytherington Sixth Form College.

During the 1980s and 1990s, it was the aim of the then Headmaster, A. T. McCall, to maintain a grammar school ethos, when so many schools at the time were opting for and experimenting with more dynamic structures and approaches.

Tytherington Sixth Form College is a part of the school, and is located in a specially dedicated building on the Manchester Road site.

Completely rebuilt in 1957, the school has been extended over the years including a £1 million Sports Hall sponsored by the National Lottery and spacious multi-discipline Technology block. The modern Learning Resource Centre (comprising library and ICT suite) and Sixth Form Centre benefit from recent renovations. These improvements were part of a £3.1 million capital building programme that included a new 10 classroom block that was completed in summer 2012. This complements a new Art Block built in 2006.

Andrew Robinson became Headmaster of the school on 1 January 2000. An Ofsted inspection the following year praised his "team approach," saying he had "strengthened the management" and "brought a renewed sense of purpose and direction to the school."

On 27 August 2006, the school's art block was burned down in an arson attack. The fire also damaged many classrooms in block two, which required partial renovation. Despite the incident, the school opened as scheduled on 5 September, with portable classrooms installed to temporarily replace those damaged. The damaged classrooms were renovated and re-opened in January 2007. Construction work continued through the year on a new art block, which was finished during the 2007 summer break and opened a year after the fire.

In 2009, Headmaster Andrew Robinson was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Over the next two years, he took several periods of medical leave to undergo treatment, during which time Malcolm Kelly became Acting Head of School. On 31 August 2011, Robinson was granted early retirement on grounds of ill health, and resigned as Headmaster. Kevin Harrison became Acting Headmaster, and on 27 September 2011 the board of governors appointed Stephen Jowett as Headmaster, effective from 1 September 2012.

The school's most recent Ofsted inspection took place in November 2011 and gave an overall rating of Good, with Outstanding features in the effectiveness of care, guidance and support. The school's sixth form also received an Outstanding rating.

A construction project was undertaken during the 2011-12 academic year to build a new block for the school, as well as to carry out renovations to existing blocks. The project was paid for by a £3 million investment in the school by Cheshire East Council. Classroom renovations in the Learning Resource Centre were completed in April 2012, and the new block opened at the start of the 2012-13 academic year.

During the 2014-15 academic year the school changed its name from Tytherington High School to Tytherington School to indicate the school's new status as an academy.

Academics

As with other schools in the Macclesfield area as well as Cheshire as whole, Tytherington regularly achieves above-national-average results at GCSE and A level. Despite the recent turbulence in senior management, the school's exam results appear to have been unaffected; in August 2013, the school reported that it had achieved its best ever GCSE and A level results.

Pupils wear a traditional uniform, consisting of a maroon blazer with the school crest, white shirts, a school tie, black trousers/skirt and black leather shoes. Jumpers may be worn under the blazer, along with tights for girls. The school crest depicts a golden stag with a crown, a reference to the historic royal hunting grounds in Macclesfield.