Fearnhill School
| Fearnhill School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Icknield Way West , , SG6 4BA | |
| Information | |
| Type | Community school |
| Motto | 'Labora Lude Strenve' (Work hard, play hard) |
| Local authority | Hertfordshire |
| Department for Education URN | 117504 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Headteacher | Ms Liz Ellis |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrollment | 500 |
| Houses | 4 (Gorst, Pearsall, Howard and Neville) |
| Colour(s) | Yellow, green, blue and red |
| Publication | Fearnfile |
| Website | http://www.fearnhill.herts.sch.uk/ |
Fearnhill School is a comprehensive school located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England.
Admissions
Fearnhill School (formerly Letchworth Grammar School) is a community comprehensive school located in Letchworth Garden City. There are over 500 students on roll including 100 students in the sixth form. The school is linked as a cooperative trust with with The Highfield School.[1] as The Letchworth Garden City Education Partnership.[2]
It is situated in the west of Letchworth, just north of the railway line to Baldock and Cambridge. It is on the Icknield Way.
History
The school's origins lie in Letchworth Grammar School, which moved to the site in 1976 after the former site closed in July of that year.
Academic standards
In June 2015 the school was judged by Ofsted to be “Good” and affirmed the school’s belief that it can become ‘Outstanding’ by adding that the leadership ‘demonstrate the necessary ambition and vision to secure further improvement for the school’. Ofsted confirmed that ‘teachers are committed to the success of their students’, ‘students behave well around the school’, ‘bullying is rare’ and ‘achievement shows substantial improvement’. [3] In the GCSE results announced in August 2014, 52% of the students achieved A*-C grades. [4]The A Level results in August 2013 were the best the school has ever achieved. [5]
Sixth Form
The sixth form at Fearnhill is thriving and successful and it was noted by Ofsted that ‘sixth form provision is a strength of the school’.[6] Each year the school admits a cohort of students into Year 12, including external pupils from any school according to their GCSE results.[7] The sixth form teaches AS and A2 courses as well as BTEC courses.[8]
House System
The school has a house system with four houses named after key figures in the development of Letchworth Garden City: Gorst, Howard[9], Pearsall and Neville. Each house is led by a senior member of staff and a sixth form House Captain. The houses compete against each other to win events such as sports day as well as Christmas and summer house competitions. Students are also awarded house points for good effort, community service and effective learning. The total number of points for each house is used to determine which house is the winner of the annual house competition.[10] The recent winners of the house competition were: • 2013-2014 Howard
Fearnfile
Fearnfile is the Fearnhill fortnightly magazine of news, articles, and original contributions.[11] Fearnfile is becoming a publication that is written by pupils, for pupils. Previous issues include information about any member of staff who has left or who joined the school that academic year, updates of music and drama events, sports teams and reports from trips.
Sport
Fearnhill has very successful athletics teams. In April 2008, 2009 and 2010 the school won the combined boys' and girls' North Herts schools' athletics finals.[12] This follows on from being the overall winners at the North Herts Schools' District Athletics Championships in June 2005 and 2006.[13]
Notable former pupils
- Dave Kitson, Premier League footballer
- Victoria Pendleton, Olympic and world champion track cyclist [14]
- Simon West, film director
- Claire Rushbrook, TV actress
- Nicky Hunt, Double Commonwealth Gold medallist for Archery 2010
- Ruth Goodman (historian), Social historian and TV personality
- Zain Hussain (Formerly known as Lilu Miah), Golf Professional
Letchworth Grammar School
- Prof William Bonfield CBE, Professor of Medical Materials from 2000-5 at the University of Cambridge, who founded the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine
- Prof Meir M. Lehman, known for Lehman's laws of software evolution, and Professor of Computing Science from 1972-84 at Imperial College London
- John Ransford, Chief Executive since 2009 of the Local Government Association, and of North Yorkshire County Council from 1994-9
- Richard Wiggs, founder of the Anti-Concorde Project
Former teachers
- Richard Parry, Director of Education since 1998 for Swansea Council (Head of Maths from 1983-8)
- Ian Roberts, England Athletics Team Coach (Head of Physical Education from 1995 - 2003)
- Chris Husbands, Director, Institute of Education since 2011 (head of Humanities 1988-1990)
References
- ^ "Fernhill School", Fearnhill School, Ofsted, accessed 29 May 2008
- ^ http://www.thecomet.net/news/letchworth_schools_join_in_co_operative_trust_1_2169011
- ^ http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/117504
- ^ http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=117504
- ^ The Comet, 22 August 2013
- ^ http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=117504
- ^ http://www.fearnhill.herts.sch.uk/sixth-form-admissions/
- ^ http://www.fearnhill.herts.sch.uk/sixth-form-courses/
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenezer_Howard
- ^ http://www.fearnhill.herts.sch.uk/house-points-2015-2016/
- ^ http://www.fearnhill.herts.sch.uk/fearnfile/
- ^ "Fearnhill claim inaugural schools' title", The Comet 24, 1 May 2008
- ^ "Fearnhill School from Letchworth were the overall (Grand Prix) winners at The Comet sponsored North Herts Schools' District Athletics Championships.", The Comet 24, 26 June 2006
- ^ http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/sport/Olympics-Pendleton39s-going-for-gold.4369841.jp