Hounsdown School
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| Motto | Working Together, Achieving Excellence |
|---|---|
| Established | 1969 |
| Type | Academy |
| Headteacher | Mrs J Turvey |
| Deputy Headteacher | Mr C Macvinere, Mr D Veal, Mrs J Durrant |
| Location | Jacobs Gutter Lane Totton Southampton Hampshire SO40 9FT England Coordinates: 50°54′17″N 1°29′33″W / 50.90465°N 1.4925°W |
| Local authority | Hampshire |
| DfE URN | 116434 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 1215 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–16 |
| Houses | Beulieau, Rhinefield , Knightwood, Bolderwood |
| Colours | Blue, Red, Purple, Green |
| Website | www.hounsdown.hants.sch.uk |
Hounsdown School is a secondary school in Totton, near Southampton, Hampshire, England. The school has 1,215 pupils, spanning ages 11 to 16. Classes are held in recently renovated 1960s buildings and new specialist blocks built since 2000. It has been operating a house system since September 2008 and has also begun work on its leadership courses. The headteacher is Ms Turvey.
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Science College and Academy status [edit]
Hounsdown gained Science College status in 2005, and the school changed its official title to 'Hounsdown School - A Science College'. With the new title came a new logo, new uniform and a £500,000 government grant to be spent on science equipment. However, rather than spending all the money on science equipment, part was spent to buy a new sports hall.[1]
On 1 August 2011, Hounsdown School officially gained academy status.
Ofsted [edit]
In 2005 and 2008 Hounsdown received a judgment of "outstanding" from Ofsted, the latter inspection receiving "outstanding" in all categories.[2]
School structure [edit]
Pupils begin at the school in year seven, most having attended one of the three feeder primary schools: Abbotswood Junior School (majority), Bartley Junior School or Foxhills Junior School. Until KS3 SATs were abandoned nationally, pupils studied the Key Stage 3 syllabus until the SATs. In 2005, instead of taking SATs in year nine, the decision was taken that students would take them in year 8 to give students an extra year of GCSE help. They then pick a cycle of three subjects at the end of year 8 (e.g. drama, music, history) and a language to carry on into year nine. Students then try out these subjects and pick their final GCSE options at the end of year nine, which they could drop at any time during year 10. Many schools in Scotland and Wales use a more traditional system, which, in year nine, has pupils consolidating their learning from primary school and KS3. GCSE courses start for all subjects in year 10, with the examinations held during the summer term of year 11. Pupils can then enter employment, or continue their education at 6th Form College.
Colleges which most students go onto from Hounsdown are Totton, and Brockenhurst.
Key Stage Three [edit]
All pupils in years seven and eight study a range of subjects in the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3.
Key Stage Four [edit]
Unlike most schools, pupils at Hounsdown start studying for their GCSE in year nine, rather than year 10. The pupils choose their GCSE options at the start of year nine, but they can be changed at the start of year 10 at the pupil's behest. Compulsory subjects including Science, Mathematics, English, ICT and Religious Education (also known as Applied Ethics) although this may be subject to change. Students were previously required to take one foreign language as well as a course from the Design and Technology category but these are no longer compulsory.
Most students take their final GCSE exams in Year 11 but some students do take them in Year 10 for particular subjects. Coursework, commonly associated with subjects such as Art and Design and Technology, is also accounted towards their final GCSE grades.
Resource Centre [edit]
The Resources Centre provides a wide range of materials for pupils to use for their coursework in different subjects. The Resources Centre is involved with the Hampshire Book Award, and pupils regularly review new books for the school's library service.
The library keeps audio tapes, CDs, and computers, the latter of which include word-processing programs. Photocopying and document-production is also available at the library. The Library has Movie editing facilities and has a range of Technical Resources.
School facilities [edit]
Hounsdown School has a swimming pool and dedicated changing areas, a sports hall and dedicated changing rooms, 2 tennis courts, two rugby pitches,a cricket pitch, two football pitches, a Gymnasium; fitness studio and 3 drama/dance studios, performance and theatre facilities, 4 different learning blocks including Art, History, Geography, Maths, English + Science, a total of around 80 learning classrooms, 11 modern science laboratories; 2 music suites; 5 Art rooms, 6 purpose built Technology rooms, 5 ICT Suites, a Library and LRC Centre which was recently refurbished in 2007, containing another computer suite used for ICT and General purpose use at break and lunchtimes. The sports hall and the swimming pool are available for reserved community purposes outside of school hours and during holidays.
Hounsdown Eco-School status [edit]
Hounsdown has an eco-school system that consists of 72 representatives (2 from each tutor group). There is an eco-school club that runs every Monday at lunchtime, which is led by the science department's community links class teacher and is run mainly by the lead team that consists of pupils from all years that have shown a high interest in Eco schools. The school has won the bronze and silver awards and achieved the green flag which was raised on 22 October 2009.
Organic Garden Project [edit]
The Organic Garden Project is project funded by the Young Roots Lottery fund. The project is a pupil-led, fully functional organic garden behind the drama and sports hall it was opened by Chris Packham in 2009.
BBC School Report [edit]
Hounsdown is part of the Annual BBC Project - BBC School Report - during the time in which the school has been running the project, they have created many Reports which can be viewed on the school website, including a report on the Closure of the Southampton General Heart Unit, which was broadcast on live BBC South Today on the 25th March 2011.[3]
