After centuries of being separate schools, Bury Grammar School (BGS) officially became one school on the 23rd of May 2018.  

So, today we celebrate five years of Bury Grammar School as one school and take a look at how BGS has progressed and developed since the joining of all seven schools! Yes, until 2018 Bury Grammar School had seven schools: Kindergarten, Infants, Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Boys, Senior Girls and Sixth Form. There are in effect now five small schools within one big School at BGS, which means we know every child well. At the same time, each child benefits from the fact that we have so many expert teachers on site, with many of them teaching in more than one area of the School.

Becoming one school has promoted cross-campus working where staff and pupils have access to all facilities across our 45-acre estate. This means that even our youngest pupils have the chance to benefit from top-class, A Level facilities and ensures equality across our school as all pupils have access to all specialist equipment and classrooms. But our joint working doesn’t end there, our teachers also teach across the schools so our Primary Division benefit from specialist teachers in Sport, Music and Languages, and our pupils and students benefit from specialist teacher knowledge, regardless of where they are based. 

What was already a strong, established school community has been enhanced further, with pupil development being celebrated across all sites. With faculties across the senior schools merging, leading to wider teaching departments, which has increased the specialist expertise and cross-site learning, enabling Bury Grammar pupils to maximise their learning potential with the increased number of resources available and access to A Level facilities. 

Enrichment opportunities are vast here at BGS and clubs are now offered to all pupils and students in each section our school. With almost 200 clubs and societies to choose from, the problem is fitting everything in! Enrichment Clubs are easy to plan and attend with both pupils and parents having access to our Enrichment software: SOCS. Developing transferable skills and broadening interests which will stay with our pupils for life was enhanced even further once opportunities became available for all pupils. 

Our Head of Faculties explained what being one school means to them.

Mr O’Sullivan, Head of Mathematics said “Bringing everyone into one faculty has resulted in a larger group of maths staff, pooling the vast experience and abilities that the group possesses. As teachers, this has allowed us to continuingly learn from each other and share good practice, whilst refining methods, policies and approaches to take and develop the best from 'both sides of the road'. The result of the school's merging has been a strong, stable and committed group of teachers, who now have twice the number of colleagues as support, a huge team ethic and work exceptionally well together. Most importantly, this means that all pupils are benefitting from a Maths faculty - both in and outside of lessons - that is most definitely more than the sum of its previous two parts”. 

Our Head of Languages, Mme Banks, said “French, German and Spanish are now available to all pupils. We have been able to offer a wider range of extracurricular opportunities, including Dutch, Japanese, Spelling and Translation Bees, Masterclasses and many more. Our linguists in the Sixth Form have been able to work collaboratively, organising successful events such as This Kid Can. Whilst our 68-year-old German exchange continues to be a trip for both senior schools to enjoy, we are looking forward to planning trips abroad for many more pupils in the future”. 

Becoming one school has prompted the streamlining of our systems, helping us to further develop consistency, collaboration and continuity across the School. We now use one Management Information System for all divisions in school, our IT, Catering, Finance, Estates and HR departments all work across the full campus, which has proved beneficial for our staff and for pupils, students and parents with the introduction of the school devices, iSAMS Parent Portal for communications, Satchel:One for homework, ParentPay for school lunches and trips, SMS messaging, the SOCs system for enrichment activities.

Our Pastoral Care is managed with a whole school, holistic view where wellbeing, pupil leadership, and support, help to guide and nurture an inclusive education where our pupils can excel and reach beyond their expectations.

Last year, Bury Grammar School was delighted to announce a vibrant new Primary Division at the heart of the BGS campus and to introduce The Courthouse, our new academic centre for Sixth Form. The next academic year will bring more improvements, as each academic department will have one ‘home base’ with all senior school pupils being able to access subject specialists, clinics and department resources more easily as well as impressive refurbishments across the estate.

Mrs Anderson, Principal, said 

“Bury Grammar School continues to improve, develop and thrive as one school, an indication of our commitment to providing the best possible facilities, teaching, and experiences for our pupils. We look forward to the future with great optimism and confidence.”