Technology College Status

The school received more than £120,000 from local businesses and industry to help gain Technology College Status in 1996. This has been matched each year by a grant from Government to enable us develop a specialism in Science, Mathematics, Information Technology and Design & Technology. We have excellent links with local businesses and industry and The Marches School has worked particularly closely with British Telecom and Rednal Industries.



Training School

In January 2007 The Marches School and Technology College gained accreditation to become a Training School. Training Schools are schools that have met the criteria to be a high-performing school and demonstrate excellent practice across the range of teacher training activities, especially in initial teacher training and the continuing training and development of the whole school workforce.



Leading Edge Award

The Marches School and Technology College is proud and happy to have been identified as a Leading Edge School. This award is as a result of the excellent progress we have achieved in a variety of developments in recent years.

As a Leading Edge School, we will further develop our collaboration with local schools, colleges, training agencies and employers within and beyond the local area.

 


Charter Mark

The Marches School and Technology College gained the prestigious Charter Mark in June 2004. This industry standard award, rarely gained by schools, celebrates excellence in customer services. Levels of planning, use of resources, relationships with partner schools, the EAZ and the community all came under scrutiny during a two day inspection. The school's mission statement, 'Achievement Through Caring' has clearly been validated by this award.



School Curriculum Award

The Marches School gained a Schools Curriculum Award again in 2002 for its extensive work in the community, and for reflecting community needs and values in its curriculum. Our activities include evening and weekend classes for children, work with adults, a Yamaha Music School, and an extensive programme of sports activities. We are always interested in extending our provision still further, and have applied for a Schools Curriculum Award for 2002.



Investor In People

In January 1999 the school achieved the Investors in People Award. This is awarded to any organisation which meets rigorous requirements for staff development. The Marches School currently employs 133 staff (84 of them teachers), and another 30 people work on the site providing cleaning and catering services. All staff are actively involved in our development programme.
 


Artsmark Silver

The Marches School and Technology College has been awarded Artsmark Silver by the Arts Council of Great Britain. In order to achieve this award, members of Art, Music, Drama and Dance departments had to complete a demanding and detailed application, identifying their strengths in the Arts; curriculum content and time allocation; extra curricular Arts activities and opportunities; partnerships with Arts organisations; and future plans and developments.



Sportsmark

In September 1998 the school gained a government Sportsmark Award. This is awarded to school which run an extensive programme of PE and sports activities, including links with local sports clubs. We are also expected to provide at least two hours of PE a week to every pupils in the school. We are pleased to meet all of these requirements since we believe physical education to be just as important as the other educational work we do.

The Challenge Award

The Challenge Award is a prestigious Award given to schools that provide effective provision for Gifted and Talented pupils. We are the first secondary school in Shropshire to be awarded this be NACE the National Academy for Gifted Children in Education.

International School Award

During July 2008 an application file was submitted to The British Council in London. This application gave us the chance to show evidence of fourteen international projects with which our students were involved over the past year. This included projects within the curriculum e.g. Music and Humanities, and projects showing our links with South Africa and in Comenius projects with partners across Europe.

Our students will continue to have the opportunity to take part in similar projects throughout the next academic year. The award will be made during the ISA Award Ceremony on Friday the 16th of October 2009.

Partnership Promotion Initiative

The Partnership Promotion Schools Network is an innovative way of encouraging more schools to be actively involved in Initial Teacher training (ITT).The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Partnership Team is responsible for taking forward ITT reforms and supporting providers in their implementation. Within this, the National Partnership Project is committed to effective partnerships between schools and initial teacher training providers to provide the best training opportunities for the teachers of tomorrow.