Present Day
In September 2003 the school obtained specialist status to become a Business and Enterprise College. It is the only maintained school in the Local Education Authority of Barnsley to have a Sixth Form (See below for more details). The school has also received an Artsmark Silver award. In addition the school has recently been re-certified as an investor in people.
Penistone Grammar School also incorporates a sixth form centre, Netherfields, in separate buildings to the main school. The current head of the sixth form is Mr Howard Heeley. During the summer of 2006 a video was commissioned of the sixth form in the attempt to attract potential students. This video can be viewed on the Sixth Form Website. The sixth form currently has around 250 students in attendance. Penistone Grammar School is the only maintained school in the Local Education Authority of Barnsley to have a sixth form and so this gives the school an advantage over many of its surrounding rival schools, when it comes to 16 - 18 education.
The new £35 million state of the art school opened on 2 May 2011. Building of the new school started in July 2009, the plan is for the school to be more accessible to the community. The new building has a range of flexible learning spaces to enable teachers to deliver learning in new, innovative ways. The school introduced a new Vertical Tutoring System where pupils of different ages are spread around to help each other improve test scores and homework. The system has received both positive and negative reviews but continues to go ahead. The outcome of a meeting of the governing body held on Tuesday 28 April 2009 to discuss the name of the Advanced Learning Centre being built in Penistone as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme was to keep the existing name. As well as a complete rebuilding of the school, other changes are also being looked in to such as variable times at school within the day, extending learning opportunities within the wider community and increases opportunities of learning away from school and increased use of technology. This fits into the Barnsley LA plan for Advanced Learning Centres (ALCs) to replace their existing secondary schools. The school has now restored some of its traditions, including the full uniform and house system; The houses are named after the old school buildings: Fulford, Netherfield, Bowman, Weirfield, and Saunderson.
Read more about this topic: Penistone Grammar School
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