In 2022, The Bewdley School became the founding member of The Bewdley School Foundation, in partnership with Bewdley Civic Society and Bewdley Festival.[4] The purpose of the Foundation is to further develop the campus and wider school infrastructure, for the benefit of both the school and community. In March 2023, plans were announced to build a new 500-seat performing arts theatre at the school, as well as an extension of the Bewdley Sports Centre.[5]
History
The school has its origins in The Bewdley Grammar School on Lax Lane, which closed in the 1800s. The former grammar school is now home to a yoga studio and the Bewdley brewery.[6] After the closure of Bewdley Grammar School, Bewdley County Secondary School was built on the opposite side of the river in 1956 with new buildings. It was opened by Sir. Chad Woodward.[7] In 1972, the area adopted a three-tier system, and the school became Bewdley High School.[8] When the area returned to a two-tier system in 2007, the High School was amalgamated with the two local middle schools to form The Bewdley School as a new secondary school, following extensive building work and landscaping, with new facilities for the arts, science, humanities and outdoor learning.[9]
The Bewdley School is made up of five teaching buildings (A to E) plus the separate sixth form building, lecture theatre and cafe.
Bewdley's sports facilities consist of two sports halls, a gym, a dance studio, a main hall, badminton and hockey courts and two large sports fields.
The school has largely been rebuilt and extended in stages with many new buildings and improvements since the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future scheme. In 2006, a new art and technology college facility was built in celebration of their 50th anniversary, at a cost of £1.8 million. The school's largest building (E) was constructed by Yorkon in 2007, and cost £2.5 million to build.[13] In 2014, the school was awarded a third building grant to build a new state of the art science building (D), costing £2.8 million.[14]
In March 2023, plans were announced to extend the campus further, with the addition of a new 500-seat theatre with adjacent classrooms at the school, as well as the construction of a new modern sports hall. [15]
Bewdley Sixth Form
Bewdley Sixth Form is also part of The Bewdley School, offering GCSE, BTEC and A-Level courses.[16] The sixth form is growing yearly, and in 2018 was the largest Sixth Form in the Wyre Forest District.[17] Bewdley Sixth Form is consistently high performing at A-Level, with students often gaining places at top Russell Group UK universities.[18]
In 2020, Bewdley Sixth Form was extensively rebuilt and modernised, including the development of a lecture theatre, sixth form cafe and study room.[19][20][21]
Partnerships
The school is partnered with the University of Worcester for teacher training and further educational research. The University of Birmingham's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences works closely with The Bewdley School through their ongoing Encompass project.[22][23] In September 2009, The Bewdley School gained Specialist Artcollege status via accreditation from Arts Council England. This specialism was later awarded the Arts Mark Gold Award for excellent practice amongst the department.[24]
Results
The Bewdley School - Arts & Technology
In 2019, the school achieved 72% of students achieving 5+ GCSEs including English at Maths at grade 4 or above.[25] At Bewdley Sixth Form, 20 of the 21 subjects achieved 100% pass rates at A-Level with 96% of university applicants being successful.[26][27]
In 2022, the first externally assessed year following the COVID-19 pandemic, The Bewdley School achieved a record percentage of students achieving the top grades at GCSE.[28]
The school was inspected by Ofsted in September 2019 under their new framework, and found the school to be consistently Good.[29] The school has held a 'Good' rating from Ofsted since 2012.[30]
