About the school
Fifty years of the same idea
From the head
We are not trying to be the biggest school in the county
Everything else here follows from that decision - the class sizes, the tutor system, the fact that the head teaches a timetabled lesson every week. If you visit, ask any member of staff about a child in their form. They will not need to look anything up.
How we got here
Fifty years, briefly
- 1974
Founded
Forty pupils in a converted rectory, and one science bench shared between them.
- 1988
The science block
Three laboratories, paid for by families who fundraised for four years to build them.
- 1999
Sixth form opens
The first cohort of thirty. Twenty-eight went on to university.
- 2011
The library and arts wing
Built on the old tennis courts, which nobody has quite forgiven.
- 2019
Bursary endowment
A fund set up so that a quarter of places carry some form of support.
- 2024
Fifty years
Nine hundred pupils, on the same site, with the same idea.
What we hold to
Four things we will not trade away
Being known
Every child has a tutor who sees them daily.
In practice
Tutor groups are capped at twelve and stay with the same tutor for five years, so nobody starts again each September.
Disagreement
Pupils are taught to argue, and to lose an argument well.
In practice
Every subject runs at least one seminar a term where the teacher does not give an opinion until the end.
Effort over talent
We report on effort separately, and take it more seriously.
In practice
Effort grades go home twice a term. Attainment grades go home twice a year.
Service
Every pupil in Year 10 and above does something for somebody else, weekly.
In practice
Placements run from the town library to the primary school across the road. It is timetabled, not optional.