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A Glimpse
of Our Future
Designation as a Performing
Arts Specialist College from September 2005 was a wonderful milestone in
our development.
Our special focus is on English, Drama and Music and we
have opted to retain our name - Brannel School - because our name is our
reputation, our integrity and our bond of trust with all those with whom
we work.
Working as a Performing Arts College
will not change what Brannel School means.
As we celebrate our good reputation, so we recognize the importance of
offering to our pupils the fullest range of learning experiences, no
matter what their interests, aptitudes or ages. It is important to
state, in our first years as a Performing Arts College, that we are
not going to become a “Fame Academy” and we are not going to give undue
emphasis to those subjects that regularly feature performance in their
syllabuses! Instead, we are going to cherish and further enhance all of
the subjects that we have established within our curriculum, subjects
that deliver a “broad and balanced education” that society needs.
But while our meaning and our place in our community will remain much as
it has always been, becoming a Performing Arts College is helping us to
extend and refine what it is that we are able to offer both children and
adults. We have received substantial additional funding
to increase opportunities for work requiring performance/presentation
skills right across the curriculum. It is through this work that we
believe we can strengthen the creativity, flexibility, self-confidence
and self-reliance of the young people of our community and provide them
with the transferable skills and the spirit of entrepreneurship that
businesses require. Our expectation is not that a focus on Performing
Arts will encourage all of our pupils to become professional musicians
or actors, but rather that such a focus will empower our pupils to
become confident and independent learners, active participants in their
communities and creative, responsible adults.
The beneficial effects of
our new status are beginning to show themselves: we have a new
Library, a new Sports
Centre, and a new Recording Studio.
You will, I hope, have
noticed that we have not marked our new status with all the razzmatazz
that accompanies a visiting circus: there have not been – nor will there
be – any short-term splurges of fanfares, parties and speechmaking.
Instead, we are doing what we have always done – only this time with the
ambition and the style that increased funding allows.
Ray Bell
Headteacher |
