Remembering Culverhay as a ‘truly inclusive provider of education’

Former head of humanities Andrew Camp has written this brief history of the school for the Bath Chronicle: Culverhay School was formed after merging the City of Bath Technical School (a selective school, with the first computer in a UK School) and Westhill Boys’ Secondary Modern School with the onset of the Comprehensive system in 1971/2. As a sixth form student at the City of Bath Technical School at the time, why was it named Culverhay, I and many others wondered? At a time before the internet, it took good old fashioned text research to ascertain that the school was named after the Iron Age Earthwork to the east of Englishcombe Village that was visible from some classrooms. Its first headteacher was Colin Bayne-jardine, who proved to be a visionary educationalist with his commitment to inclusion and to student voice as he introduced a school council. He also had the considerable task of successfully merging two very different schools in terms of ethos, staff and students on two and later three separate sites. His groundwork paved the way for the excellent leadership of Peter Goldsborough and his right hand man and superb deputy, Derrick Richards, as Culverhay became a firmly-established Bath comprehensive secondary school, providing a very good service to its catchment area of SW Bath, excelling in sports and many areas of the curriculum along with a plethora of extra-curricular activities. Furthermore, Culverhay Leisure Centre was added to the site so that the school had superb facilities on a large site. Culverhay moved in a different educational direction with the appointment of Anita Wright as headteacher following the retirement of Mr Richards and focussed on gender equality issues. At this time the school also built on its well-established sixth form links with Hayesfield from the Peter Goldsborough era. This was a time of change for the school, with an increasing ratio of female staff, curriculum change and new educational initiatives. This provided the springboard for the arrival of Roger Mason as a much loved and respected headteacher who drove the school forward to a very successful period academically, as it achieved one of the 10 most improved boys schools in England at the turn of the Millennium. Additionally, the school continued its truly inclusive, comprehensive methods where the students, staff and parents formed a close-knit community and, as a senior school leader myself, was a great pleasure to be a part of, with some of the best teachers that I have worked with. After many attempts over three decades, the school achieved its long held desire to become coeducational for its south west Bath catchment and to become Bath Community Academy under the aegis of the Cabot Learning Foundation in 2012. For myself and hundreds of teachers, students and parents, it is such a shame the school will close its doors for the last time this month. However, Culverhay School will be fondly remembered as an educationally important institution locally, nationally and further afield for its excellence in teacher training, international education, maths and computing as a specialist school, sports and many other extra curricular activities and, most of all, as a truly inclusive provider of education to the local community in south west Bath.