Burnholme Community College is a unique school, with some significant differences that make us rather special.  The relationships between staff and pupils are friendly, caring and enabling, and there is a keen sense of belonging, where pupils feel valued for who they are.  We shine, particularly, in the scale of the care on offer: every pupil is known; no one is anonymous; and the small class sizes allow us to offer a more intensive kind of schooling, with plenty of active learning, pupil participation and coaching rather than the more impersonal methods favoured by teachers of larger classes in larger schools.   Our secret is our size, which allows us to provide such a bespoke education; we have a pupil cohort that is similar to the local independent schools, and we are less that half the size of the next smallest York state school.  This is our strength; we have excellent resources and staff, a rich curriculum, a plethora of clubs and activities on offer - to be shared amongst a smaller pupil cohort.  Like the independent schools, we can individualize across the curriculum, and respond to the needs and strengths of our pupils in a way that is uncommon in state education. 

At Burnholme we applaud the development of independent thought and creativity.  We provide a good moral grounding, but also enable our pupils to develop their own thoughts and feelings free from rigid dogma. We celebrate what is unique within our pupils whilst also encouraging respect for others and mutual cooperation. Our school prides itself on how the pupils and staff within it are friendly, compassionate and warm to others; not just within the school itself but also towards people in the wider community.  The first thing that visitors comment on when coming to our school is the quality of the relationships between pupils, as well as staff and pupils.  Our pupils are happy.

 We invite potential pupils and their parents to visit us, and experience Burnholme’s friendliness and excellence first-hand.