Ferryhill Business and Enterprise College

FBEC is a secondary specialist school serving the former mining communities of Chilton and Ferryhill, County Durham. The vast majority of boys and girls in five partner primary schools transfer at age 11. Our key Stage 2/3 link teachers help to ease this potentially difficult process  during their bridging curriculum and induction programme. The Chilton & Ferryhill schools partnership is key to promoting effective continuity and progression in learning and for keeping learning at the heart of our communities.

As a Business & Enterprise Specialist College young people, and their parents, can expect to receive a high quality education that aims to ‘inspire learners to succeed as enterprising individuals’. We look to blend the traditional standards of good behaviour, regular and punctual attendance, positive attitude to learning with the most modern resources, innovative practice and teaching towards challenging targets. We work closely with students and their parents, listening to and addressing needs, raising expectations, confidence and self-esteem.

As a college and community we are making great progress – in 2002 Ofsted inspectors judged us a good and improving school, identifying many strong features. This was confirmed again during our 2007 Ofsted inspection. We confidently expect to receive further praise next time. Over the past five years we have tripled our GCSE 5A* - C grades performance to 70% and our Key Stage 3 results particularly in Maths and Science are outstanding. Contextual value added figures produced by the Government have us placed in the top 15% of schools in the country for each of the last two years at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.  Other quality awards achieved in the last two years include Durham LA Achievement Awards, International Schools Award, Healthy Schools Award, Anti Bullying Accreditation and Investors in People status. We are constantly seeking to improve the school and the life chances of our students.

One of our teachers, Lynne Gibson is an Advanced Skills Teacher of Enterprise, the only one in the authority and many of the staff and students take part in community events – an example of the extra effort that staff and students put in to improving their community. FerryHEALTH, our confidential student drop-in health centre was the first winner of the national Sheena Amos Youth Trust Award, providing the support that young people want and welcome. Our senior counselor is a national lead on student counseling and also helps us to maintain a very effective and active school student council. Much talent and effort focus on ensuring that students are safe, healthy and ready to learn. Our commitment to their welfare is also recognised by the Healthy Schools Award and Durham LA Anti-bullying accreditation.

We are truly inclusive – everyone counts. In the last two years 100% of the students in Year 11 have achieved at least one GCSE pass. As an Investor In People organisation we also try to ensure that staff continue to learn and are deployed to best effect. Many staff are involved in additional study and work to improve their qualifications.

This year we are also extending our partnerships to enhance opportunities to learn with and from others. We have extensive links with other secondary schools locally, nationally and internationally. We look forward to receiving guests from Germany, Holland, Czech Republic and Spain for our second international project, one of many examples of our expanding global links.

Of course we are not perfect and it is for that reason we do not rest on our laurels, all of our staff work hard to ensure our students develop as individuals throughout their school career in order to be effective individuals contributing positively to our community and to society generally.

We think that FBEC is an exciting place to be – we welcome visitors to the school and are always happy to receive your valued comments about us - please tell us what you think.

Phil Bowden