Barton Court Grammar School

Barton Court Grammar School

The "Old House", the original 1750 manor house
Motto	Support, inspire, achieve
Type	Academy of Excellence
Religion	Mixed
Headteacher	Kirstin Cardus
Deputy Headteachers	James Fairfax and Richard Morgan
Assistant Headteachers	Caroline Benard and Abigail Haley
Location	Longport Canterbury Kent CT1 1PH England
DfE URN	137474 Tables
Students	836
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Houses	Nightingale, Einstein, Wilberforce, Pankhurst
Colours	Blue and Yellow
Publication	Clarion!
Forms	B, C, G, S
Website	www.bartoncourt.org

Barton Court Grammar School (formerly Barton Court Grammar School for Girls) is a co-educational selective Academy of Excellence in Canterbury, Kent with 836 students between the ages of 11-18. It has Foreign Language College status and offers A-Levels.

History

The school was founded before World War II as the Canterbury Technical School for Girls. It shared the old hospital site on the north side of Longport, along with the equivalent for boys (which became Chaucer School) and the Technical College (which became Canterbury College). It moved across the road to the present site in 1945. Past Headmistresses were Miss E. Blackith (who retired in 1967) and followed by Mrs V. Arnold. On 1 September 2011, Barton Court Grammar School became an Academy. Barton Court did not change its name as it wished to keep it the same.

Campus

The school stands on what was the farm of St Augustine's Abbey across the road; 'Barton' stems from 'bere tun' or 'barley enclosure'. The school is built around the lake in which the monks of the Abbey farmed fish. The campus has the sixth Ginkgo tree to be introduced in England from China. The other five were planted in Kew Gardens.

The main house of the school was built in 1750 as a manor house with the name 'Barton Manor'; the other buildings have been added in most recent years, a 1961 block, which is now the hall and corridor, a core subject corridor in 1997, a language block in 2001 with new technology classrooms in 2007 replacing the old mobiles. Every room has interactive white-boards.

Curriculum

From September 2007 the school replaced A-levels with the International Baccalaureate. From September 2011 the school re-introduced A-levels but kept the International Baccalaureate, giving students the option to do either. The school currently holds a Foreign Language College status, and the school has transferred to the International Baccalaureate award scheme for those pupils in Years 12 and 13. Study of this course has begun from September 2007, and the first set of official results were published on 6 July 2009. The results were above the world average, and the school put the Middle Years Program (a version of the International Baccalaureate for younger pupils) into use. MYP (Middle Years Program) was stopped shortly before the end of 2010 and was replaced on the timetable by ICT. The International Baccalaureate was also discontinued in 2015.

From September 2011 the school changed from 100-minute lessons to five one-hour lessons per day. Barton Court now has a tutor period with five tutor groups in each year: A (Mixed houses), B (Nightingale), C (Einstein), G (Wilberforce) & S (Pankhurst). There is a new prefect structure with school reps elected in each form.

From September 2012 ICT was replaced by Computing at KS3 and GCSE level. The first set of GCSE Computing results are expected for the Summer of 2015.

Extracurricular activities

The school offers a range of extracurricular activities including an orchestra, choir and debating club.

Awards and recognition

Before it converted to an academy, the school was rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted under its old URN of 118916. Following an OFSTED inspection during May 2014 the school was rated as "Outstanding" again.

External links

• Article on first set of IB Results