Barry Comprehensive School

Back to News Index

Barry Comprehensive School has been officially recognised as the most improved school in Wales for 2005 – the third consecutive year the school has received the honour.

This unprecedented string of successes began when the school was named the most improved in South Wales for 2002 and was followed by the National Award for 2003, 2004 and now 2005. The achievement is of particular note when considered in light of concerns about girls outperforming boys because Barry Comprehensive is a single-sex boys school up to age 16.

The National Improvement Index Award is presented by the Qualifications, Curriculum & Assessment Authority for Wales to the school showing the greatest percentage improvement between its two most recent sets of GCSE\GNVQ three-year averages. Although the award is based solely on final examination results, the hard work that produces these results begins in Year 7 and continues through key stages three and four in a series of unique and innovative programmes aimed at providing every boy the opportunity to succeed.

At the end of their first term, Year 7 boys welcome their families to the school’s Year 7 Progress Presentation Evening. Each boy makes a twenty-minute presentation to their parents about their learning in English, Mathematics and one other subject of their choosing. Parents then identify targets for improvement in these key areas and are supplied with relevant support materials to encourage them to play as full a role as possible in the school/home partnership which is so important to a successful education.

The school offers a unique ‘industry mentoring’ programme for pupils beginning in Year 8 which focuses on developing numeracy and literacy skills. The mentors are volunteers from the local Dow Chemical plant who work with the boys in school using their ‘real world’ experiences to illustrate how the skills being developed are applied in a modern industry. The mentoring programme was highlighted at the recent Basic Skills Agency’s National Conference in Westminster in London where pupils, staff and mentors were interviewed about the success of the partnership.

Barry Comprehensive School was also chosen as one of the winners of the BT Schools Awards 2005-2006 for its commitment to helping pupils understand and enjoy the benefits of improved communication sills. Speaking and Listening is recognised as a preferred learning style for many boys and it is at the heart of teaching and learning in the English Department and feeds into extra-curricular activities such as the Year 10 Debating Club.

The Welsh Secondary Schools Association has recently recognised the school’s success in these areas with the Key Skills School Award 2005.

In year 11 the focus turns to examination preparation, with boys spending a weekend at the Quality Hotel, Cardiff for two days of intensive study skills workshops. During these sessions, the boys and their teachers cover memory aids, mind-mapping, revision planning and examination technique away from the distractions of school and home. Students have just returned from this years study weekend with very positive comments. The majority feel that the skills they learnt and practiced would be useful in the coming months of preparation and increase their chances of examination success. There have been requests for a second weekend session closer the examinations and one parent has written to say that her son “came home from the weekend full of ideas for revising and brimming with enthusiasm”.

Year 11 Study Skills Weekend