Education in Bath, Somerset

Bath, Somerset has a large number of educational establishments for a city of its size. It has two universities, a further education college and five independent schools as well as state-funded school provision. The state-funded schools are organised within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.[1]

Universities

The University of Bath was established in 1966 and has grown to become a leading university in the United Kingdom.[2] The university is known, academically, for the physical sciences, mathematics, architecture, management, technology and social sciences, as well as for its leading Sports Training Village.[3]

Bath Spa University was first granted degree-awarding powers in 1992 as a university college (Bath Spa University College), before being granted university status in August 2005.[4] It has schools in the following subject areas: Art and Design, Education, English and Creative Studies, Historical and Cultural Studies, Music and the Performing Arts, and Social Sciences.[4] Although regarded as a Bath university, the main campus is a few miles outside the city at Newton Park. Bath School of Art and Design is a college within the university based at Sion Hill, Bath. It also awards degrees through colleges such as Weston College in nearby Weston-super-Mare.

Vocational training

Bath is the present home of Norland College, a provider of childcare training and education. Courses range from a BTEC programme for 14- to 16-year-olds offered in conjunction with local schools, through post-school practical vocational courses, to degree courses in association with the University of Gloucestershire.[5]

Secondary education

The city contains one further education college, Bath College, and several sixth forms as part of both state, private, and public schools. In England, on average in 2009, 49.8% of pupils gained 5 grades A*-C including English and Maths; for Bath and North East Somerset pupils taking GCSE at 16 it is 59.9%. Special needs education is provided by Three Ways School.

A review of secondary education in Bath was started in 2007, primarily to reduce surplus provision and reduce the number of single-sex secondary schools in Bath.[6] Bath had an exceptional number of single-sex state secondary schools, with four single-sex schools compared to one non-religious and two religious co-educational schools. In a parental consultation 72% desired a re-organisation providing more co-educational places.[7][8] Two schools became co-educational from 2012, still leaving two single-sex state-funded secondary schools.

By 2018, it was recognised that there was a serious shortfall in school place provision in Bath. For the whole of Bath and North East Somerset, 246 extra school places were estimated required by September 2018, and 722 by September 2021.[9]

The Bath Education Trust is a partnership and collaboration involving most of the state-funded secondary schools in Bath, providing joint educational services and working with the local business community.[10]

School	Type	% pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs (including maths & English)			% pupils achieving EBacc (5+ A*-C academic GCSEs)
State-funded Secondary Schools		2009[11]	2010[12]	2013[13]	2013[13]
Beechen Cliff School	boys-only with co-educational sixth form	74	67	72	44
Hayesfield Girls' School	girls-only with co-educational sixth form	61	53	71	38
Oldfield School	co-educational from 2012 with sixth form	77	73	77	25
Ralph Allen School	co-educational with sixth form	61	72	73	34
Saint Gregory's Catholic College	co-educational with sixth form	66	64	64	41
St Mark's CofE School	co-educational with no sixth form	41	38	58	25
Independent Schools		2009	2010	2013	2013
Bath Academy[14]	co-educational specialised tutorial college	n/a
King Edward's School	co-educational with sixth form	100	99	n/a	n/a
Kingswood School	co-educational with sixth form	98	95	n/a	n/a
Prior Park College	co-educational with sixth form	94	86	n/a	n/a
Royal High School	girls-only with sixth form	n/a		97	71
Monkton Combe School (just outside Bath)	co-educational with sixth form	n/a[15]		93	n/a

Primary education

Bath has about 27 Primary Schools, a few of which have nursery classes attached.[16] In 2018 Bath and North East Somerset Council announced that it anticipated all its schools will be classified as academies by 2020, and it intended to cut central school support services and save at least £16 million by 2020.[17]

Closed educational establishments

The City of Bath reorganised secondary education by merging grammar schools and secondary modern schools to form comprehensive schools. West Twerton Secondary Modern School and City of Bath Girl's Grammar School were merged to form Hayesfield Girls' School. Saint Gregory's Comprehensive School was formed in 1979 through the amalgamation of Cardinal Newman School located at the site of the new school, and La Sainte Union Convent School founded in 1858. City of Bath Technical School was formerly part of Bath Technical College (now Bath College). It was formed in the early 20th century from several other institutions and evolved through various sites and roles until its closure in 1970, when it was merged with Westhill Boys School to form Culverhay School.

Bath Community Academy (formerly Culverhay School), operated by the multi-academy trust Cabot Learning Foundation, closed on 24 July 2018 due to low pupil numbers.[18][19]

Older schools include:

• Bath College (English public school), 1878-1909

References

1. "School Contact Details". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
2. "History of the University". University of Bath. Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
3. "Departments". University of Bath. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
4. "Bath Spa University". Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
5. "Courses at Norland College". Norland College. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
6. "Secondary School Reviews". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
7. "A Review of Secondary Schools in Bath and North East Somerset". Bath and North East Somerset Council. 27 March 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
8. "A Review of Secondary Schools in Bath". Bath and North East Somerset Council. 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
9. Claire Miller, Amanda Cameron (15 March 2018). "Bath needs hundreds more school places in just four years' time". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
10. "About BET". Bath Education Trust. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
11. "Secondary schools in Bath and NE Somerset (2009)". BBC. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
12. "Secondary schools in Bath and NE Somerset (2010)". BBC. 12 January 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
13. "GCSE and A-level results: See how B&NES schools performed last summer". Bath Chronicle. 23 January 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
14. "Bath Academy". CIFE. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
15. "Record year for GCSEs". Bath Chronicle. 27 August 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
16. "Primary Schools and Nurseries". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 20 September 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
17. Ferguson, Sam (11 January 2018). "School support services to be cut as Bath and North East Somerset Council aims to save £16 million by 2020". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
18. Nancy Connolly, Jonathan Coles (5 July 2018). "Bath community gets ready to say goodbye to much-loved school". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
19. Cameron, Amanda (24 July 2018). "Academy trust closing Bath Community Academy justifies high executive pay". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 24 July 2018.