User:Ecallow/Backwell School

Backwell School is an academy in Backwell, North Somerset, England.

The school, which has had academy status since May 2011, is a specialist Arts College, and includes a sixth form. The school takes pupils from the age of 11 (Year 7) to the age of 18 (Year 13). It has 1,693 students, of which 387 are in the schools sixth form.

Catchment area
The school's catchment area includes the villages of Backwell, Yatton, Claverham, Cleeve and Kingston Seymour, although several hundred of the school's students come from locations outside of its official catchment area from locations such as Nailsea and Bristol. The local education authority is North Somerset Council.

History
The original secondary modern school at Backwell became a comprehensive school in 1976 when the tripartite education system was abolished in the area. The school's original building dates from 1954, when Britain was in the midst of a post-war school-building boom.

In 2009, 71% of GCSE students achieved at least five GCSE passes above grade C including English and Maths. This is 21% above the national average that year. It is the highest performing state secondary school in North Somerset.

In November 2008, Backwell School was rated as outstanding by Ofsted. It was inspected again in May 2013 (no. 413323) due to the school having converted to academy 2 years previous. It was judged to be outstanding in all categories.

Backwell Radio Station

 * Backwell School Radio or BSR is a student led Internet radio station broadcasting from Backwell School in North Somerset.

Started out as an idea by Backwell School student, Edward Callow. After generating a business case and budget he presented the plan to the school student council and Senior Leadership Team. After being approved he spent a number of months with a small team, going under the name Project Motif, of dedicated volunteers to make the station a possibility.

A soft-launch of mainly computer-led Christmas music was broadcast throughout the school via the intranet to ensure all technology would work for the official launch the next term. The station launched in the first week of term three of the 2014-15 academic year.

With its output aimed at Backwell students the station is broadcast during the school day. It consists of 'Full Service' variety shows along with more talk-focused shows discussing current affairs, both in the school area and on a wider (inter)national scale. With all shows generated by students, staff input is very low. The station is run, presented and produced by volunteer students as well as being organised and managed by a small 'Radio Committee'. The project is constantly growing and are looking to expand broadcasting hours beyond the school day.

Notable former students

 * Richard Ottaway, member of Parliament for Croydon South
 * Joel McIver, author
 * Chris Cox, magician
 * Chris Wood, golfer
 * Mervyn Kitchen, Test Match cricket umpire