Unity College has recently been redesignated as a college specializing in English and the Arts. The subject areas of Drama, Dance and English lead the specialism although the impact of the status reaches across the whole college. Our designation fulfils a vision we have to put the English and the Arts at the heart of the college. Unity College is proud to be the first purpose-built Arts College in the country and our brand new building was designed with a superb theatre and arts complex at its core. These, combined with a specialist team of practitioners, enable us to realise our vision.
Unity College provides a wide range of opportunities in the Arts both within the college and in the wider community. Our curriculum reflects our specialism and offers a wide range of courses, both vocational and traditional, across English and all Arts disciplines. We run very successful BTEC courses in both Performing Arts and Dance to compliment the GCSE courses in Art, Textiles, Music, Drama, English and English Literature. Unity was also the first school in Burnley to introduce the Creative Media Diploma.
Beyond the curriculum we are committed to developing a national reputation in Music and a superb reputation in the local community for our Drama productions.
We have been involved in the BT National Connections and Shakespeare in Schools Festivals. Past productions range from “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator” to the emotionally demanding “Whose Life is it Anyway”. In the last 18 months we have produced “Macbeth”, Jim Cartwright’s “Road “, Willy Russell’s “Our Day Out”, “Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations”, “Cinderella – a Pantomime”, and most recently “Grease The Musical”.
Dance is a newer addition to the college and has gone from strength to strength over the last year.. Our vision, set out in the specialist school bid, is for “Dance for All”. All year 7 students (boys and girls) study Dance and this continues into year 8. Dance has also been introduced to KS4 as part of a BTEC First Diploma in Performing Arts and discrete Dance qualifications. . An extensive programme of extra-curricular activities in all the Arts areas runs throughout the year.
All year 9 students at Unity College will follow one of three learning pathways in the Arts. Some students will follow an accelerated pathway, beginning GCSEs in Dance or Drama in year 9 for examination at the end of year 10. Some students follow a vocational pathway preparing to study the BTEC first Diploma in year 10 and some a general pathway. All students continue to study core Music, Art and Drama until the end of Year 9.