GREAT IN NAME, GREATEST TOGETHER
What makes Great Sankey Great?
Great Sankey High School is a place where every child is recognised as an individual, where their talents are nurtured, aspirations exceeded and where we collectively strive to achieve more. Academic attainment and achievement is high – our personalised curriculum empowers all students to achieve their ambitions and fulfil their high aspirations. Historically our NEET figures (a measure of the number of our young people who leave us and are not in employment or training) are 1%, well below the national average,
Our extra-curricular programme is rich offering a wide variety of cultural opportunities for our children to take part in. Sport, music, drama and art all feature daily in addition to a range of academic opportunities to further their understanding.
Welfare and guidance is exceptional – students are well supported enabling them to realise their learning goals. The House system ensures that every individual receives personalised support and student leaders develop their skills in leadership, democracy and active citizenship, the student council is ably led by our Head Boy and Head Girl. Student voice is part of our school improvement and if we get it wrong boy do they let us know!
Students take part in democratic elections to select their Form Rep to represent their views on the House Council. They participate in elections to have a say in Youth Parliament and choose which issues they want debating. Our very successful open evening shows everyone how embedded our family ethos is with our students eager to show younger children what Great Sankey is all about. This continues in school with older children supporting and mentoring younger students.
The SHARP system is used to good effect to prevent bullying, used not by students reporting about themselves but by students raising concerns about their peers and caring for each other. Students develop as active global citizens and their work for charity is exceptional. The atmosphere may be buzzing but our students are calm and purposeful and movement between lessons is orderly, efficient and effective.
Our extra-curricular programme offers a wealth of experiences outside the classroom from sports (badminton, basketball, dance, drama, handball, football, rugby, volleyball to name a few) to Lego Club, Duke of Edinburgh and Relaxation. Parents are encouraged to be involved in their child’s academic development and the termly Parent Focus Group ensures our systems are working for all stakeholders.
Our Arts provision is second to none, our Head of Music is a Specialist Leader of Cultural Education and we won the School Business Awards for Music in 2012. The school is a living gallery with every wall showcasing the Art work of our students that rivals any exhibition. Students take part in school productions throughout the year ranging from adaptations written by our own staff to Greek tragedy, the Shakespeare for Schools Festival and Musical theatre. The main entrance is a cultural hub with students using the area for charity events, music performances in the run up to Christmas and for enterprise activities such as sales of their own products.
Our Great Sankey Alliance of schools means that our staff are not only continually developing their own practice but that they work with colleagues across Warrington and the North West to deliver the best teaching and learning to our own students and those in our Alliance, through School Direct we are developing future teacher talent.
Our recent Ofsted report states:
“Pupils are confident, mature and articulate. They are very proud of their school”
We are all very proud of our school. Come along and see why. We look forward to welcoming you.