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Bablake School, Coventry

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Bablake School details

Address:

Bablake School
Coundon Road, Coventry, West Midlands CV1 4AU

Telephone:

02476 271200

Fax:

02476 271 290

Email:

info@bablake.coventry.sch.uk

Website:

www.bablake.com

Authority:

Coventry

Gender of entry:

Mixed

Age range:

11-19

Number of students:

899

Affiliation:

IAPS, HMC

Gender of sixth form:

Mixed

Last inspection:

February 2002. Read the full inspection report.

General information

Headteacher: John Watson, appointed in September 2006.

Staff: 85 (men 45, women 37).

Background: While retaining its traditional grammar school ethos, Bablake believes there is more to education than academic qualifications and seeks to nurture excellence in all that pupils do. The school has a Christian foundation but today welcomes pupils from all religious faiths and backgrounds. More than a quarter of Bablake's students receive scholarships or bursaries. Class sizes are small and opportunities great at Bablake. There is a purpose-built language block and a French manor house for field trips. The school even has its own nationally acclaimed weather station. Other facilities include a £2m theatre and music building which opened in 2000, further strengthening Bablake's reputation as a centre of excellence for drama and music in the West Midlands. Choral and orchestral concerts are a regular feature of school life, while the dramatic society produces at least one big play each term and has been sending budding actors to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 1987. The school is well represented at county and national level in sports such as hockey and netball, and teams frequently compete overseas on tour. But sport at Bablake is not just for those with exceptional ability. There is a wide range of opportunities from rugby and swimming to cross-country for pupils who simply enjoy physical exercise and teamwork. Education at Bablake extends well beyond the classroom. There are visiting writers and speakers as well as field trips and excursions to galleries and museums. Clubs and societies are diverse and include chess, textiles and lifesaving.

Alumni: Abby Simpson, actor; Robert Clift, former Olympic hockey player; Brian Matthew, radio presenter; Sir John Egan, ex-chairman, BAA.

Streaming/setting: Streamed in mathematics only at GCSE.

Approach to discipline: The school's policy is based on self-discipline. There is a published code of behaviour.

Uniform: Boys: Blazer, tie and dark trousers.Girls: Blazer, cardigan, tie and dark skirt.Pupils are expected to adhere to the dress code.

Homework: Average 11-year-old, 6 hours a week; 14-year-old, 10 hours; 16-year-old, 15 hours.

Higher education: 98% (1 Oxford 6 Cambridge).

Special needs: Bablake has a designated room equipped with eight computers and staffed by three teachers to support children with special educational needs. All pupils are screened for dyslexia in their first term. There is also support from the school nurse and outside agencies for those with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Inspection: February 2002: Bablake School has many strengths including its ethos of care, which supports and encourages all pupils to achieve and develop, the quality of the teaching, its pastoral programme, the breadth and standard of its extracurricular activities and the high standards set by its pupils. The school, however, needs to implement some statutory administrative functions more rigorously, improve the structure of its information management systems and further develop strategies for extending the most able pupils. Maintenance and refurbishment remain a continuing challenge.

Feeder schools: Milverton House (5 pupils); St Osburg's Catholic Primary (18 pupils); Allesley Primary (5 pupils); Chetwynd Junior; Abbotsford.

Boys' age range: 7 to 18.

Girls' age range: 7 to 18.

Over-subscribed: 2:1.

Before-school care: 08.00-08.30.

After-school care: 16.00-17.30.

Percentage admitted according to academic ability: 100.

Senior boys: 444.

Senior boys 11-18: Y.

Senior girls: 454.

Senior girls 11-18: Y.

Average class size (juniors; under-11): 20.

Average class size (seniors; 11-16): 22.

Average class size (sixth form): 10.

Principle admission ages: 7yrs (48); 11yrs (125).

Gifted pupils: 55.

Bursary pupils: 320.

Bursaries: Music, Teachers.

Bablake School Statistics

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