Backwell School

The school is a National Teaching School, through which it leads the North Somerset Teaching Alliance, with Healthy School Plus and International School status. Since March 2011 the school has been a self-governing academy convert. It holds the Artsmark Gold award and includes a sixth form. It has 1,738 pupils, of which 387 were in the school's sixth form in 2016, from the age of 11 (year 7) to the age of 18 (year 13). Backwell has previously been a Beacon School, specialist performing and visual arts college and National Training School.

• Name — Backwell School • Type — Academy • Head Teacher — Will Penny • Chair Label — Chair of Governors • Chair — Maurice Moloney • Founder — Somerset County Council • Address — Station Road, Backwell • County — Somerset • Postal Code — BS48 3BX • Country — England • Local Authority — North Somerset Council • Trust — Backwell School Academy Trust • Specialist — Performing and visual arts college • Urn — 136722 • Ofsted — Yes • Capacity — 1,728 • Enrollment — 1,750 (Data from May 2019) • Gender — Mixed • Lower Age — 11 • Upper Age — 18 • Houses — blue Cotswold Mendip Yellow Quantock green Sedgemoor • Colours — Navy blue and gold NavyGold • Publication — Backchat, Backwell School Radio and The Toad • Free Label — Teaching school • Free Text — Yes, since 2012 • Website — www.backwellschool.net

The original secondary modern school at Backwell was founded by Somerset County Council in 1954 and later became a comprehensive school in 1976 when the tripartite education system was abolished in the area. The school's original building dates from 1954, when Britain was in the midst of a post-war school-building boom. The first Headmaster of The School, Mr W. C. M. Cox was in the 1946 New Year Honours (Mentioned in Dispatches) he was Flight Lieutenant W. C. M. Cox (133777), RAFVR. In 2009, 71% of GCSE pupils achieved at least five GCSE passes above grade C including English and Maths. This is 21% above the national average that year. It is the highest performing state secondary school in North Somerset. In November 2008, Backwell School was rated as outstanding by Ofsted. It was inspected again in May 2013 (no. 413323) due to the school having converted to an academy two years previous. It was judged to be outstanding in all categories. On 11 September 2015 a small fire broke out in the Cotswold house building, causing minor damage to the block. All staff and pupils were safely evacuated.

The school's catchment area includes the villages of Backwell, Yatton, Claverham, Cleeve and Kingston Seymour, although several hundred of the school's pupils come from locations outside of its official catchment area from locations such as Nailsea and Bristol. Admissions are managed by the local education authority – North Somerset Council.

In 2015 a student radio station was launched. Run by a team of students, the station broadcasts live at lunchtimes with an automated system taking over at other times.

• Paul Bird, cricketer • Lynn Buckle, author • Richard Foord, politician • Jerry Gill, footballer and club manager • Alex Giltrow, rugby player • Alfie Jones, footballer for Canada. • Kirk Jones, film director • Noah Marullo, actor • Joel McIver, author • Richard Ottaway, politician • Chris Wood, golfer

• William Cox (1954–1970) • Barbara Sellars (1970–1988) • Richard Nosowski OBE (1988–2002) • Roger Mason (2002–2006) • Julian Baldwin (2006–2016) • Jon Nunes (2016–2025) • Will Penny (2025-)