Bury St Edmunds County Upper School announces name change as it enters new era
A Bury St Edmunds secondary school has revealed a new name as it begins its next chapter.
County Upper School will now be known as Bury St Edmunds County High School after its trust, Unity Schools Partnership, decided to close its two feeder middle schools Horringer Court and Westley.
As part of the shake-up, County High has created a lower campus on the site of the former Westley Middle, in Oliver Road.
Sally Kennedy, headteacher at County High School, said: “We are very proud of the history and heritage of County and its reputation for academic excellence.
“But as we are no longer an upper school, we wanted a new name to recognise our new identity – both at the high school and the more intimate setting at Oliver Road.”
Under the reorganisation, the trust said pupils from both the lower campus and the high school will be brought together as much as possible, both in the classroom and for cross-school events such as music and sport.
It has also led to a restructure of school transport with a greater radius of neighbouring villages covered by free buses.
Mrs Kennedy added: “We know that many of our parents have been unable to access free school transport in the past, so we are delighted that Suffolk County Council has widened this out to cover many more villages around Bury."
They are holding an open evening at the lower campus site at Westley on Thursday, September 29 where the new free school transport routes as well as the split-site secondary school will be among topics discussed.
Ben Jeffery, head of lower school, said: “We listened carefully during the public consultation into the reorganisation plans and one thing that came out loud and clear was that people liked the middle school feel.
“On the back of that, we decided to create the lower campus at Oliver Road for Year 7 and Year 8 pupils.
“We are delighted to have staff from both of the middle schools in town now working at Oliver Road which adds to that personal, smaller school environment.”
