Bartley Green
Encyclopedia
Bartley Green is a residential
suburb
an area and electoral ward to the south west of Birmingham
city centre, England
. The ward is part of the Edgbaston
constituency which has been under Labour
rule for almost ten years. It is located in the metropolitan county
of the West Midlands
and was in the historic county
of Warwickshire
. Located to the east is the Weoley
ward, to the south is Frankley
and to the west is the county of Worcestershire
. To the north is Woodgate Valley Country Park
.
The ward is served by Bartley Green Library, which opened in 1905, on Adams Hill. Another library is available in the Newman University College
.
of 1086 as Berchelai. This means either the birch tree wood or the clearing in the birch trees (from the Old English "beorc leah"). Bartley Green was in the possession of the manor of Weoley
. Bartley Green was again mentioned in 1657, however, this time it was under its current name. Most of the land occupied by Bartley Reservoir
was in the parish of Northfield, Birmingham, originally in Worcestershire
. It was transferred to Warwickshire
when Northfield became part of Birmingham in November 1911.
Bartley Green became more built up after the end of the Second World War in 1945, with a mix of private and council housing being built.
The Athol Farm council estate was a notable development by the city council during the 1960s
, and included five tower blocks; however all of these have now been demolished.
However, the south-west end of the reservoir overlapped into the parish of Frankley
, in Worcestershire (Hereford
and Worcester
, from 1974). In April 1995, part of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the West Midlands
county.
† The parish church is St. Michael and All Angels
.
MP Gisela Stuart
, who has held the seat since 1997, replacing Conservative
Dame Jill Knight
in the year of Tony Blair's
landslide victory. Unlike any other UK constituency, Edgbaston has had a female Member of Parliament
since 1953.
In the 2005 General Election
, Gisela held her seat with a decreased majority of 2,349: a -5.3% swing, winning ahead of the Conservative candidate Deirdre Alden, Mike Dixon of the Liberal Democrats
, Peter Green of the Green Party
and Stephen White of United Kingdom Independence Party
(UKIP).
Like other wards within the Edgbaston constituency such as Harborne
and the Edgbaston
ward itself, Bartley Green is a safe Conservative ward at Birmingham City Council
level, with all three serving councillors - John Lines, Vivienne Barton and Bruce Lines (son of John) - representing the party.
The ward has adopted a Ward Support Officer, with the current holder of the status being Tina Willetts.
found that 25,473 people lived in Bartley Green with a population density of 2,807 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Bartley Green has an area of 7.8 km²/ 885.6 hectares. The ward had a female proportion of 53.2%, above the city average of 51.6% and the national average of 51.3%. The male population represented 46.8% of the population total.
The ward is not an ethnically diverse area as 9.6% (2,446) of the ward's population represent ethnic minorities, compared with 29.6% for Birmingham. 6.2% of the population was born outside the United Kingdom, below the national average of 9.3%. The White British ethnic group was the largest at 87%, equal to that of the national average. Black Caribbean was the second largest at 3%. 73.5% of the population stated themselves as Christian
, above the national average of 71.7%. 14.6% stated they were of no religion, equal to that of the national average.
98.8% of the population lived in households, above the city and national averages of 98.3% and 98.2% respectively. 1.2% lived in communal establishments. A total of 11,160 households in the ward are occupied resulting in an average of 2.3 people living in each house. This is below the city average of 2.5 and national average of 2.4. 49.9% of the occupied households are occupied by the owner, below the city average of 60.4%. 37.3% of the occupied households are rented from Birmingham City Council, above the city average of 19.4%. 394 households were stated as being vacant. The most common form of housing in the ward is terraced housing with 35% of all houses being terraced. 32.6% of houses were stated as being semi-detached. A high proportion of the housing stock in the ward was constructed after 1945 (98.8%) compared with a city average of 67.4%. Much of the housing is now in poor condition.
The ward currently ranks in the top 7% in terms of deprivation on Government indices. 16.9% were of a pensionable age, compared with 16.7% for the city and 18.4% for the country. 60.1% of the population was of a working age, above the city average at 59.8% and below the national average of 61.5%. The largest age group was 25-44 at 27.3%. 10.2% of the population is unemployed, of which 36.5% are in long term unemployment. 18.1% of the Bartley Green working population worked in the manufacturing sector. The largest employer organisation in the ward was identified by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce as Birmingham Accord Ltd., a construction firm that employs approximately 600 people.
is a reservoir for drinking water. It covers 46 hectares of countryside and it is well known as the place where Bill Oddie
did a lot of his early birdwatching, and features in his books (notably Bill Oddie's Gone Birding) and television programmes. His first ever published article, for the West Midland Bird Club's annual report, was about the birds of the reservoir.
The reservoir is also used by Bartley Sailing Club and nearby schools and activity clubs frequently visit to take part in watersports activities such as sailing and canoeing.
Jane Bunford
, the tallest person ever to have lived in the United Kingdom
, who reached a height of 7 in 11 in (2.41 m), lived in Bartley Green until her death at her home on 1 April 1922. Her hair also measured 8 in 1 in (2.46 m).
are a successful football
club based in the ward and are members of the Midland Combination
Premier Division. There are at least five amateur football teams in the area; Bartley Revolution FC, Bartley Green Blades, Angels F.C., Bartley Green Falcons and the Rea Valley Colts. Bartley Green Leisure Centre is the local leisure centre. The Judo club based in Bartley Green meets at the nearby Shenley Court Community Leisure Centre in Northfield
.
Woodgate Valley Country Park
is a 450 acres (1.8 km²) park on the cusp of Bartley Green and Quinton
, and features a city farm and cafe.
. The site was subsequently enlarged and the school rebuilt in 1871. By 1872, there were two departments for mixed and infant children. A new infants school opened in 1881 on a site to the north of the church. The school was reorganised in 1931 into a single department for junior mixed and infant children aged 5 - 9½ years. Children aged 9½ and over were transferred to Bartley Green Council School. In 1951, the school was again reorganised for infant children only. It closed in 1954 on the opening of St. Michael's C.E. Primary School. The last headteacher of the primary school, Lily C. Treadwell, was transferred to St. Michael's C.E. Primary School to become its first headteacher.
Bartley Green Council School opened in 1914 replacing Woodgate Council School. It was reorganised in 1931 for Senior Mixed and again in 1951 for Junior Mixed. The school closed in 1953 when the pupils transferred to Woodgate County Primary School.
facilities. Woodgate Junior and Infant School, Kitwell Junior and Infant School, St. Michael's C.E. Junior and Infant School and St. Peter's R.C. School all had golf courses constructed within their school grounds for the pupils.
was granted technology status in 2000 and has 848 pupils on roll. 61% of pupils are boys and 12.3% of pupils come from ethnic minorities. Half of these pupils from ethnic minorities are from the Black Caribbean ethnic group.
A survey conducted by the Department of Applied Social Studies and Social Research in 1998, concluded that "52.4% of pupils at Bartley Green Specialist Technology and Sports College live in 40% of the Birmingham Enumeration Districts with the highest proportion of the population dependent on income support. Around half of the pupils at the school live in the Bartley Green ward, and 22.9% live in the Weoley
and Longbridge
wards. All of these wards have urban deprivation scores considerably above the Birmingham average, which itself is far higher than the national average."
Hillcrest School and Sixth Form Centre was opened as Bartley Green Grammar School for Girls on 7 September 1954, though the official opening by Sir Wilfred Martineau did not take place until 13 July 1955. The sixth form centre was set up by the turn of the 1960s. The school was considerably extended and expanded in the 1970s to accommodate with the increase in pupil intake. The school was renamed Hillcrest School and Sixth Form Centre in September 1983 and dropped its grammar school
status. It faced closure during the 1980s, however, it remained open following a campaign by the school. Boys were allowed to join the sixth form
during the 1980s. Following further work at the school in 1998, the school became a Certified Cisco
Networking Academy in 1999.
King Edward VI Five Ways
moved to the area from Five Ways
in 1958, however, retained the name. Having introduced girls in the years following 1998, today Five Ways is the largest co-educational state grammar school in the West Midlands, and one of the top five co-educational grammar schools nationally.
The largest secondary school in Bartley Green is Shenley Court Specialist Arts College and Sixth Form Centre in Shenley Lane. It was constructed in 1963 and has approximately 1,650 pupils on role. It has Specialist Performing Arts College status as well as sixth form centre. The school is also the fourth largest employer based in the ward.
Residential area
A residential area is a land use in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single family housing, multi-family residential, or mobile homes. Zoning for residential use may permit...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an area and electoral ward to the south west of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
city centre, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The ward is part of the Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
constituency which has been under Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
rule for almost ten years. It is located in the metropolitan county
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
of the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
and was in the historic county
Counties of the United Kingdom
The counties of the United Kingdom are subnational divisions of the United Kingdom, used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. By the Middle Ages counties had become established as a unit of local government, at least in England. By the early 17th century all...
of Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
. Located to the east is the Weoley
Weoley (ward)
The Weoley local council ward is one of the 40 electoral wards for the City of Birmingham, England. It is also one of the four wards that make up the local council constituency of Northfield, the other three being the wards of Northfield, Longbridge and King's Norton.-Ward Description:The ward...
ward, to the south is Frankley
Frankley
Frankley is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire, near the border with Birmingham. The modern Frankley estate is part of the New Frankley civil parish in Birmingham, and has been part of the city since 1995. The parish has a population of 122.-St Leonards...
and to the west is the county of Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. To the north is Woodgate Valley Country Park
Woodgate Valley Country Park
Woodgate Valley Country Park is a Country Park within the Bartley Green and Quinton districts of Birmingham. Other Birmingham Country Parks are, Sutton Park and Lickey Hills Country Park. The park is maintained as a Wildlife habitat but also has farm animals....
.
The ward is served by Bartley Green Library, which opened in 1905, on Adams Hill. Another library is available in the Newman University College
Newman University College
Newman University College is a university college offering academic degrees and teacher training in Birmingham, England.Known as Newman College of Higher Education until January 2008, it has the highest employment of graduates rate of UK universities and is in the top 25% of UK universities for...
.
History
Bartley Green was first noted in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 as Berchelai. This means either the birch tree wood or the clearing in the birch trees (from the Old English "beorc leah"). Bartley Green was in the possession of the manor of Weoley
Weoley
Weoley may refer to:*Weoley Castle - a residential suburbam district of the City of Birmingham, England.* Weoley Castle - a ruined moated and fortified medieval manor house, which gave its name to the district of Weoley Castle, Birmingham, England....
. Bartley Green was again mentioned in 1657, however, this time it was under its current name. Most of the land occupied by Bartley Reservoir
Bartley Reservoir
Bartley Reservoir is a reservoir for drinking water in Birmingham, England. It covers 460,000 square metres.It is known as the place where Bill Oddie did much of his early birdwatching, and features in his books and television programmes...
was in the parish of Northfield, Birmingham, originally in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. It was transferred to Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
when Northfield became part of Birmingham in November 1911.
Bartley Green became more built up after the end of the Second World War in 1945, with a mix of private and council housing being built.
The Athol Farm council estate was a notable development by the city council during the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, and included five tower blocks; however all of these have now been demolished.
However, the south-west end of the reservoir overlapped into the parish of Frankley
Frankley
Frankley is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire, near the border with Birmingham. The modern Frankley estate is part of the New Frankley civil parish in Birmingham, and has been part of the city since 1995. The parish has a population of 122.-St Leonards...
, in Worcestershire (Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
and Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, from 1974). In April 1995, part of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
county.
† The parish church is St. Michael and All Angels
St. Michael and All Angels' Church, Bartley Green
St. Michael and All Angels' Church, Bartley Green is a parish church in the Church of England located in Bartley Green, Birmingham.-History:...
.
Politics
Bartley Green is part of the Edgbaston Constituency of Birmingham. It is represented by LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP Gisela Stuart
Gisela Stuart
Gisela Gschaider Stuart is a German born, British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston since 1997.-Early life:...
, who has held the seat since 1997, replacing Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Dame Jill Knight
Jill Knight
Joan Christabel Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, DBE , known as Jill Knight, is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. She was created a Life Peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire in 1997 after standing down at...
in the year of Tony Blair's
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
landslide victory. Unlike any other UK constituency, Edgbaston has had a female Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
since 1953.
In the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, Gisela held her seat with a decreased majority of 2,349: a -5.3% swing, winning ahead of the Conservative candidate Deirdre Alden, Mike Dixon of the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, Peter Green of the Green Party
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
and Stephen White of United Kingdom Independence Party
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
(UKIP).
Like other wards within the Edgbaston constituency such as Harborne
Harborne
Harborne is an area three miles southwest from Birmingham city centre, England. It is a Birmingham City Council ward in the formal district and in the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston.- Geography :...
and the Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
ward itself, Bartley Green is a safe Conservative ward at Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...
level, with all three serving councillors - John Lines, Vivienne Barton and Bruce Lines (son of John) - representing the party.
The ward has adopted a Ward Support Officer, with the current holder of the status being Tina Willetts.
Demography
The 2001 Population CensusUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
found that 25,473 people lived in Bartley Green with a population density of 2,807 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Bartley Green has an area of 7.8 km²/ 885.6 hectares. The ward had a female proportion of 53.2%, above the city average of 51.6% and the national average of 51.3%. The male population represented 46.8% of the population total.
The ward is not an ethnically diverse area as 9.6% (2,446) of the ward's population represent ethnic minorities, compared with 29.6% for Birmingham. 6.2% of the population was born outside the United Kingdom, below the national average of 9.3%. The White British ethnic group was the largest at 87%, equal to that of the national average. Black Caribbean was the second largest at 3%. 73.5% of the population stated themselves as Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, above the national average of 71.7%. 14.6% stated they were of no religion, equal to that of the national average.
98.8% of the population lived in households, above the city and national averages of 98.3% and 98.2% respectively. 1.2% lived in communal establishments. A total of 11,160 households in the ward are occupied resulting in an average of 2.3 people living in each house. This is below the city average of 2.5 and national average of 2.4. 49.9% of the occupied households are occupied by the owner, below the city average of 60.4%. 37.3% of the occupied households are rented from Birmingham City Council, above the city average of 19.4%. 394 households were stated as being vacant. The most common form of housing in the ward is terraced housing with 35% of all houses being terraced. 32.6% of houses were stated as being semi-detached. A high proportion of the housing stock in the ward was constructed after 1945 (98.8%) compared with a city average of 67.4%. Much of the housing is now in poor condition.
The ward currently ranks in the top 7% in terms of deprivation on Government indices. 16.9% were of a pensionable age, compared with 16.7% for the city and 18.4% for the country. 60.1% of the population was of a working age, above the city average at 59.8% and below the national average of 61.5%. The largest age group was 25-44 at 27.3%. 10.2% of the population is unemployed, of which 36.5% are in long term unemployment. 18.1% of the Bartley Green working population worked in the manufacturing sector. The largest employer organisation in the ward was identified by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce as Birmingham Accord Ltd., a construction firm that employs approximately 600 people.
Claim to fame
Bartley ReservoirBartley Reservoir
Bartley Reservoir is a reservoir for drinking water in Birmingham, England. It covers 460,000 square metres.It is known as the place where Bill Oddie did much of his early birdwatching, and features in his books and television programmes...
is a reservoir for drinking water. It covers 46 hectares of countryside and it is well known as the place where Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
did a lot of his early birdwatching, and features in his books (notably Bill Oddie's Gone Birding) and television programmes. His first ever published article, for the West Midland Bird Club's annual report, was about the birds of the reservoir.
The reservoir is also used by Bartley Sailing Club and nearby schools and activity clubs frequently visit to take part in watersports activities such as sailing and canoeing.
Jane Bunford
Jane Bunford
Jane "Jinny" Bunford is the tallest person in English medical history, measuring 2.41 m at the time of her death....
, the tallest person ever to have lived in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, who reached a height of 7 in 11 in (2.41 m), lived in Bartley Green until her death at her home on 1 April 1922. Her hair also measured 8 in 1 in (2.46 m).
Sport and recreation
Bartley Green has produced sportsmen and women including Fliss Johnson, a former pupil of Woodgate Primary School, who became the English Ladies Amateur Golf Champion in May 2005 and won the BBC Midlands Sports Woman of the Year Award. Bartley Green F.C.Bartley Green F.C.
Bartley Green F.C. are an English football club originally based in Bartley Green, a residential suburban area of Birmingham, in the West Midlands. In the 2005–06 season, they joined the Midland Combination Division Two and were the league champions. For the 2011–12 season, they are members of the...
are a successful football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club based in the ward and are members of the Midland Combination
Midland Football Combination
The Midland Football Combination is an English football league covering parts of the West Midlands. It comprises five divisions, a Premier Division, Divisions One and Two and two Reserves Divisions...
Premier Division. There are at least five amateur football teams in the area; Bartley Revolution FC, Bartley Green Blades, Angels F.C., Bartley Green Falcons and the Rea Valley Colts. Bartley Green Leisure Centre is the local leisure centre. The Judo club based in Bartley Green meets at the nearby Shenley Court Community Leisure Centre in Northfield
Northfield, West Midlands
Northfield is a residential area on the southern outskirts of metropolitan Birmingham, England and near the boundary with Worcestershire. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...
.
Woodgate Valley Country Park
Woodgate Valley Country Park
Woodgate Valley Country Park is a Country Park within the Bartley Green and Quinton districts of Birmingham. Other Birmingham Country Parks are, Sutton Park and Lickey Hills Country Park. The park is maintained as a Wildlife habitat but also has farm animals....
is a 450 acres (1.8 km²) park on the cusp of Bartley Green and Quinton
Quinton
Quinton may refer to:*Quinton Andrews, American football player*Anthony Quinton, a philosopher*A. R. Quinton, an English watercolour artist*Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, an American Mixed Martial Artist*René Quinton, a French naturalist...
, and features a city farm and cafe.
Schools and education
Bartley Green National School opened in 1840 as a Sunday schoolSunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
. The site was subsequently enlarged and the school rebuilt in 1871. By 1872, there were two departments for mixed and infant children. A new infants school opened in 1881 on a site to the north of the church. The school was reorganised in 1931 into a single department for junior mixed and infant children aged 5 - 9½ years. Children aged 9½ and over were transferred to Bartley Green Council School. In 1951, the school was again reorganised for infant children only. It closed in 1954 on the opening of St. Michael's C.E. Primary School. The last headteacher of the primary school, Lily C. Treadwell, was transferred to St. Michael's C.E. Primary School to become its first headteacher.
Bartley Green Council School opened in 1914 replacing Woodgate Council School. It was reorganised in 1931 for Senior Mixed and again in 1951 for Junior Mixed. The school closed in 1953 when the pupils transferred to Woodgate County Primary School.
Primary schools
There are eight primary schools located within the Bartley Green ward. As part of the Bartley Green Action Plan, all primary schools were given golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
facilities. Woodgate Junior and Infant School, Kitwell Junior and Infant School, St. Michael's C.E. Junior and Infant School and St. Peter's R.C. School all had golf courses constructed within their school grounds for the pupils.
Secondary schools
Bartley Green Specialist Technology and Sports CollegeBartley Green School
Bartley Green School is a mixed comprehensive secondary school with Technology and Sports College status for pupils aged 11-16 in the Bartley Green area of Birmingham, England....
was granted technology status in 2000 and has 848 pupils on roll. 61% of pupils are boys and 12.3% of pupils come from ethnic minorities. Half of these pupils from ethnic minorities are from the Black Caribbean ethnic group.
A survey conducted by the Department of Applied Social Studies and Social Research in 1998, concluded that "52.4% of pupils at Bartley Green Specialist Technology and Sports College live in 40% of the Birmingham Enumeration Districts with the highest proportion of the population dependent on income support. Around half of the pupils at the school live in the Bartley Green ward, and 22.9% live in the Weoley
Weoley (ward)
The Weoley local council ward is one of the 40 electoral wards for the City of Birmingham, England. It is also one of the four wards that make up the local council constituency of Northfield, the other three being the wards of Northfield, Longbridge and King's Norton.-Ward Description:The ward...
and Longbridge
Longbridge
Longbridge is an area of Birmingham, England. For local government purposes it is a ward within the district of Northfield.Since 1905, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars...
wards. All of these wards have urban deprivation scores considerably above the Birmingham average, which itself is far higher than the national average."
Hillcrest School and Sixth Form Centre was opened as Bartley Green Grammar School for Girls on 7 September 1954, though the official opening by Sir Wilfred Martineau did not take place until 13 July 1955. The sixth form centre was set up by the turn of the 1960s. The school was considerably extended and expanded in the 1970s to accommodate with the increase in pupil intake. The school was renamed Hillcrest School and Sixth Form Centre in September 1983 and dropped its grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
status. It faced closure during the 1980s, however, it remained open following a campaign by the school. Boys were allowed to join the sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
during the 1980s. Following further work at the school in 1998, the school became a Certified Cisco
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
Networking Academy in 1999.
King Edward VI Five Ways
King Edward VI Five Ways
King Edward VI Five Ways is a selective, humanities specialist grammar school located in the Bartley Green area of south Birmingham, England. As of April 2008, the school has a second specialism, a specialist Science College.-Background:...
moved to the area from Five Ways
Five Ways, Birmingham
Five Ways is an area of Birmingham, England. It takes its name from a major road junction, now a busy roundabout to the south-west of the city centre which lies at the outward end of Broad Street, where the Birmingham Middle ring road crosses the start of the A456 .-History:The name of Five Ways...
in 1958, however, retained the name. Having introduced girls in the years following 1998, today Five Ways is the largest co-educational state grammar school in the West Midlands, and one of the top five co-educational grammar schools nationally.
The largest secondary school in Bartley Green is Shenley Court Specialist Arts College and Sixth Form Centre in Shenley Lane. It was constructed in 1963 and has approximately 1,650 pupils on role. It has Specialist Performing Arts College status as well as sixth form centre. The school is also the fourth largest employer based in the ward.