The Blue Coat School (Part of Cranmer Education Trust)

About this Organisation

We are very proud of our school, which attracts students from across Greater Manchester and beyond. It first opened in 1834. Our founder, Thomas Henshaw, was a committed Anglican who left a bequest to fund a school which would provide education for the orphaned boys of the parish.

From these humble beginnings the Blue Coat School has become one of the biggest and most successful schools in the country. 

The school has a national reputation for high quality teaching and learning, pastoral care, consistently excellent examination results and outstanding progress. Our most recent OFSTED inspection in 2011/2 judged the school to be outstanding in every category. 

As a result, Blue Coat has been designated a National Teaching School which means that we work with schools nationally and locally to develop the very best educational provision.

Blue Coat is grounded in tradition and history, and is evolving and forward looking. Our historic campus has been restored and developed extensively; our students enjoy picnic lunches in front of a Grade II listed building but their learning takes place in superb 21st century classrooms, laboratories and studios. 

Blue Coat is dedicated to serving young people, to enable them to become everything they can be and everything that they are meant to be. We are a Church of England school that welcomes members of other Christian denominations, and of other faiths. Our Anglican beliefs, values and worship are at the core of our life together in school.

In August 2011 Blue Coat converted to become an academy. The members who founded our company are The Henshaw Trust, the Manchester Diocese, the Oldham West Deanery and the Chair of Governors, thus reaffirming our school’s identity and ethos as a Church school. In 2015 the company decided to include other schools and is now responsible for 2 primary schools as well. This supports our leadership role in improving educational provision, and gives us economies of scale which will ensure financial security in the future.

Our Mission is to do the best for every young person who joins our school. 

The needs and interests of our students are very diverse, but there are core values and qualities that we aim to develop in all our young people: aspiration, commitment, compassion, leadership, personal integrity and generosity of spirit. Our young people will shape our future. They deserve the best we can give them.