Denefield School

Denefield School

Established	1976
Type	Comprehensive foundation school
Headteacher	Glyn Whiteford (current)
Specialism	Technology College
Location	Long Lane Tilehurst Berkshire RG31 6XY England
Local authority	West Berkshire
DfE URN	110100
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1242 total
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	11–18
Website	Denefield School

Denefield School is a secondary school located in Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire, England. Originally called Long Lane Comprehensive school after its location, Its name was later changed to avoid confusion with a primary school of the same name. The school was founded in 1976 and opened with 180 students in Year 7. The Sixth form took its first students in 1981. Since then Denefield has continued to grow, with approximately 1,200 students attending during the 2005-2006 school year. The school became a grant-maintained school in 1992, and was awarded a specialism as a Technology College in 1994. In 1999, Denefield became a foundation school. In January 2012, Denefield became an academy school.

The OFSTED report from 2005 described Denefield as a 'good school with outstanding features', however in 2009 it was graded 'inadequate' by OFSTED and put into special measures. In November 2010 Denefield was taken out of special measures, and is now making significant progress in improving the academic attainment of its students. In 2011 students achieved the best GCSE results in the school's history with 80% of students achieving five or more A* - C grades.

Building

The original school building, although only meant to be temporary, is still standing today. However much of the school is currently being rebuilt and refurbished to bring it up to modern standards, with brand new facilities for the Science, Technology and Expressive Arts curriculum areas, and new sixth form facilities under construction. The school overlooks beautiful open country side.

Special Measures

Due to unsatisfactory examination results in some key subject areas, and despite the success of some other areas (Denefield was awarded an Arts Mark Gold award by the Arts Council of England in May 2009 for its Arts provision) the school was placed in special measures. The current Headteacher, Glyn Whiteford, made it clear that he would improve the school, and this indeed has happened. These improvements were highlighted by the OFSTED inspectors.

In November 2010, following improvements to the quality of teaching over the preceding years, Denefield was removed from special measures following a two day ‘no notice’ inspection by Ofsted. The inspection report stated:

"[The] Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures. It is now providing a satisfactory education because there have been improvements in most aspects of the schools work, particularly the quality of leadership and of teaching as well as students attendance. These changes have led to an increase in the rate at which students make progress and so their attainment has risen, demonstrating that the school has a good capacity to improve further.

"Over the last two years students attainment in GCSE examinations has risen and is now in line with the national average. In spite of a legacy of underachievement lower down the school, in 2010 Year 11 students made satisfactory progress overall. The accelerated progress in their final two years at the school was partly the result of a very comprehensive system of mentoring for all Year 11 students and personal support targeted at specific students who were underachieving. However, improvements to the quality of teaching across the school and the curriculum are also starting to bring about long-term sustainable change in the quality of learning and thus an increase in the rate of progress for students in every year group."

External links

• Denefield School Website