Weaverham High School

Weaverham High School is an oversubscribed 11-16 foundation school in the heart of Cheshire and serves the communities of Weaverham and the surrounding area. We have just over 1160 pupils on our roll with lower than national SEND and PP pupils. Clare Morgan is the Headteacher who was appointed in September 2018. The senior leadership team comprises of a Deputy Headteacher responsible for Ethos, Climate for Learning & Personal Development, Deputy Headteacher responsible for Raising Standards, Assistant Headteacher responsible for T&L and an Assistant Headteacher responsible for Assessment & Intervention. There are 163 employers including 70 teachers, of whom 1 ECT and 1 RQT. Staff retention in 2020-21 was extremely high. We are fully staffed and all subjects are taught by qualified specialist teachers. Our staff are our most valuable asset and we are committed to supporting and developing our team to ensure their time in our school is a happy and rewarding one.

We are a forward thinking and dynamic team who are fully committed to realising our school mission statement..

School Population

Weaverham High School is an 11 – 16 comprehensive school situated on the edge of Weaverham ‘village’ near Northwich in Cheshire.  It serves the surrounding villages of Weaverham, Sandiway, Cuddington, Delamere Park, Acton Bridge, Crowton and Whitley.  However, owing to its popularity and success, the school is over-subscribed and now comprises 1160 pupils drawn additionally from Hartford, Northwich and Winsford along with their surrounding villages.

Situation

Weaverham enjoys very good transport links, being close to both the A49 and A556 with fast links to both the M6 and M56.  A mainline railway station is 5 minutes away and Manchester International Airport only 25 minutes away.  Traditionally ICI was the major employer in the area but this has been replaced by a number of smaller employers and now many parents utilise the excellent transport links to work in Warrington, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester or beyond.

The school is situated on the edge of the open Cheshire countryside providing easy access to areas for walking, riding, cycling, sailing and canoeing.  The National Parks of North Wales, the Peak District, the Lake District are all within easy transport reach.  More cosmopolitan attractions can be found in nearby Chester, Manchester and Liverpool – all of which lie within 35 minutes of travel.

Further information about the surrounding area can be found at www.marketingcheshire.co.uk/media-centre

Facilities

Although the original school buildings date from 1956, there have been significant additions in recent years to provide our pupils with a stimulating learning environment.

An extensive refurbishment and building programme has taken place in recent months to include a new, state of the art Food Technology classroom and new base for our SEND Team to support learners with additional needs.

Sports Facilitates

We are fortunate to have an all weather pitch on school grounds which can be used for a variety of sports come rain or shine. This great facility is available to hire out of school hours.

Our sports hall is well used during the school day and by local sporting groups in the evenings. With a special sprung floor, our sports hall accommodates volleyball, netball, football, badminton, and basketball.

The Gymnasium is a multi purpose space is equipped with wall bars, ropes, trampolines,  basketball rings and a badminton court.

We also have use of the Main Hall where fitness classes, rowing, Zumba and Dance take place.

Other outdoor sporting facilities include long jump, basketball and netball courts and an orienteering course.

Creative & Expressive Arts

We are fortunate to have a purpose build Drama studio, complete with lighting rig and sound. This space is used in the school day for Drama lessons as well as being an exciting hub for after school and lunchtime clubs.

Our Music classrooms are complete with a range of musical instruments including keyboards for use in lessons. Additionally, we have Music practice rooms for 1:1 tuition or group ensembles.

Art

Our Art classrooms are full of inspiration. Large and airy spaces, these classrooms provide learners with a calm environment to be creative.

Library

We promote and encourage reading for pleasure and are proud of our library. Our dedicated librarians keep abreast of new and exciting fiction, non-fiction and classics. It also has a range of newspapers and magazines for students to read and a dedicated Careers section with information on local sixth form colleges and Apprenticeships. Our library also includes IT facilities for pupils to use during their social time and after school to support their home-learning projects.

Art Block

Our Art classrooms are full of inspiration. Large and airy spaces, these classrooms provide learners with a calm environment to be creative.

Design and Technology

As a former Specialist Technology College, our D&T facilities are second to none. All workshops and CAD facilities are designed to deliver multi-media Design and Technology which all pupils study throughout KS3, with specialised accommodation for a wide range of GCSE and vocational courses at KS 4.

School network

The PC-based computer network now comprises 380-workstations plus 200 Chromebooks and has been combined with the installation of over 35 interactive whiteboards and interactive panels. This includes 4 rooms equipped for whole class use of computers. These rooms are re-equipped on a rolling programme. Each teaching room is equipped with a desktop computer and digital projector for teacher use. We have installed Wi-Fi throughout the school. We have 5 class sets of Chromebooks which are used throughout the school. We use Google Workspace for Education for online learning.

Extra-curricular Provision

The extensive extra-curricular programme is a distinctive feature and a strength of the school, which has been recognised as outstanding by Ofsted.  The wide range of school Physical Education activities includes:  Rugby, Hockey, Football, Netball, Volleyball, Cross-Country, Table Tennis, Badminton, Dance, Athletics, Tennis, Cricket, Rounders, and Gymnastics.  School teams operate in the sports listed along with regular Saturday morning, fixtures.  Pupils are selected regularly to represent the district, county or national teams.

We also offer a wide range of Creative Arts opportunities.  These include learning to play a musical instrument through our programme of subsidised music lessons, an annual production and concerts at Christmas and in the summer.  Recent productions have included High School Musical, Peter Pan, Grease, Bugsy Malone, Fame and Macbeth.  We currently have 2 choirs, junior and senior bands, a jazz band, a steel band, and a number of ensembles.

Over 100 pupils each year participate in the Duke of Edinburgh award programme.  The school has its own Duke of Edinburgh license and is one of the largest suppliers of D of E candidates in the North West.  This programme, combined with our pupil leadership development programme, contributes significantly to the personal development of our pupils.

Each year we organise a number of trips and residential activities.  During the last year there were residential visits to the Condover Hall near Shrewsbury, 2 Modern Foreign Languages exchanges, work experience and Christmas market trips to Germany and France, First World War Battlefields trip, a ski trip, water sports summer trip, as well as theatre trips and visits to major sporting events.

In addition an enrichment programme is operated to bring expertise into school which we do not possess among our own staff.  Pupils are asked to make a contribution towards the cost of these courses and currently activities include:  driving lessons, first aid, swimming, dry slope skiing, golf, beauty therapy, trampolining, fencing, archery, self-defence and climbing.