Parrs Wood High School

Parrs Wood High School

Motto	"Believe Achieve Succeed"
Established	1967
Type	Community
Headteacher	A Shakos
Deputy Headteacher	M McElwee, C Wright
Location	East Didsbury Greater Manchester England
Local authority	Manchester
DfE number	352/4248
DfE URN	105556 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Staff	250
Students	2030
Gender	co-educational
Ages	11–18
Colours	Navy Blue and Silver
Website	School website

Parrs Wood High School is a state comprehensive secondary school situated in East Didsbury, Manchester, England, specifically, behind Parrs Wood Entertainment Complex off Wilmslow Road. It educates young people through the ages of 11 to 18 years; A-Levels are taught at the Parrs Wood Sixth Form Centre, although this is directly integrated with the main school. Parrs Wood is the 4th largest school in the UK, for pupils aged 11–18, with 2,030 students and 450 in the sixth form centre.

In 2015, the governors of Parrs Wood decided to embark on the process of turning the school into an academy, despite opposition from staff and local politicians.

The building

The original school building, built in 1967, was demolished in 2000 and was rebuilt from scratch on a site behind the original school; the contractors built the school building in exchange for a portion of the school grounds on which to build an entertainment complex.

Facilities

The school's facilities include a fully lit auditorium in the sports complex, which is used for assemblies held each morning, as well as being the venue for the annual school play run by the Performing Arts Department and for the Staff Christmas Variety Show and various other events throughout the academic year. The hall is also used as a dining room for students and a common room. The sports complex has tennis, badminton, basketball, netball and volleyball capabilities, and is also used for examinations.

The school has a large field south of the school building both north and south of the River Mersey the field is a designated flood plain, so does occasionally flood there is an all weather sports pitch as well as various playing fields including a newly constructed softball field on south side of the river.

The Sixth Form (16-18) is based in Parrs Wood House, a grade II* listed building dating back to the early Nineteenth century, when it was owned by the Parrs Family of Didsbury, along with the extension (built Circa 2002) for the now defunct South Manchester CLC.

Ofsted

In Spring 2007, an Ofsted inspection showed the School to be lacking in several areas, particularly in KS3 SAT results, and criticised the School management for failure to act to remedy the situation. The report reflected that this situation was unacceptable and the school was placed in special measures. In February 2010, OFSTED judged the school to be satisfactory and as such no longer required special measures.

In its most recent inspection, the school was graded as Grade 2 - Good.

Controversy

Gas prank

In May 2007, a canister of CS gas was discharged in the science area of Parrs Wood, which resulted in 58 students and staff being taken to hospital. The incident was described by Greater Manchester Police as an "idiotic prank".

Judicial Review

In 2012, Judge Peeling QC, found against the governing body of the school in a Judicial Review of a decision to suspend one of the governors.

Casino

The school is directly opposite a branch of Grosvenor G Casinos in the Parrs Wood entertainment centre complex. Members of Manchester council’s planning committee originally rejected the plans to build the casino after Didsbury residents objected due to a possible negative effect on the livelihood of pupils at the school: students would have to walk past the casino on a daily basis in order to attend. Despite the original rejection, Grosvenor G Casinos were granted planning permission in March 2011. The Parrs Wood branch has been open as of June 2012.

Notable former pupils

• Qasim Akhtar, actor, Shameless and Mischief Night
• Johnny Bennett, actor, Shameless
• Suranga Chandratillake, internet entrepreneur and founder-CEO of blinkx
• Martin Galway, video game music composer
• Holliday Grainger, film and television actress
• Jon Ingold, interactive fiction game writer
• Lisa Nandy, Labour MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
• Lucy Powell, Labour MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education
• Chris Roberts, game developer, creator of the Wing Commander (franchise)
• Danny Webber, professional footballer

Television appearances

Parrs Wood Technology College and Sixth Form Centre is regularly used for filming. Some of the filming that goes on in the school includes:

• Videos for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
• Channel 4 — High School Prom
• Channel 4 — Singing/acting auditions
• BBC — The Street
• BBC — Waterloo Road — actors and actresses are found at Parrs Wood to appear in the drama.
• Teachers TV
• BBC — Hacker Time — The school has been visited more than once by Hacker T. Dog.

Awards

• 2003 School Achievement Award
• Specialist Status in Technology
• Technology College
• High Tech Accolade
• Leading Edge Partnership
• ICT Register
• Investors In People
• Basic Skills Quality Mark
• National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
• Sport England
• Manchester Healthy School Partnership
• International School Award 2005–2009
• Football Charter Award
• DfES Designated Leading Edge School

Pictures

• Parrs Wood sports hall.jpg

  School's main sports hall

• Open plan school.jpg

  Part of the open plan school.

• Staff room.jpg

  View of the staff room.

• BirdseyeViewPWCampus.jpg

  A birdseye view of Parrs Wood school campus.

• Sports hall.jpg

  Outside of the sports centre building.

• 

  Parrs Wood House - A Grade II* listed Victorian building once belonging to the Parrs family, which houses the Sixth Form Centre.

External links

• Official website
• Video footage of the old school building