William de Ferrers School

William de Ferrers School
Address
Trinity Square South Woodham Ferrers , Essex , CM3 5JU England
Information
Type	Academy
Established	1982 (1982)
Local authority	Essex
Trust	William de Ferrers School
Department for Education URN	136605 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	Mr Applewhite (acting)
Gender	Mixed
Age	11 to 18
Enrollment	Approx. 1750 as of January 2015
Capacity	2076
Website	http://www.williamdeferrers.essex.sch.uk/

William de Ferrers School is a Co-educational British secondary school in the town of South Woodham Ferrers, in the English county of Essex. It is an academy school and has 1,902 pupils on roll, aged between 11 and 18. It is a high performing specialist school has been awarded specialist sports, maths and computing college status. In 2011, it won the BBC Essex best sports school award.

History

William de Ferrers was founded in 1982 by Dennis Parry and was opened in 1983 by Sir Keith Joseph (Secretary of State for Education and Science). The school bears the ancestral name of Thomas W.Ferrers Walker, a descendant of the Norman Knight De Ferrers who was granted the land of the local area for his role in the Norman Conquest and the badge is De Ferrers's shield.

The school has had 4 Headmasters since its creation with Mr Mike Applewhite, MA NPQH, being the current acting Headmaster, having been appointed in April 2016. Before Mr Applewhite the school had been overseen by Mr McGowan from 2013, but amidst being charged with a string of sexual offences, Mr McGowan was suspended from his role as head teacher. Mr Russell Ayling oversaw the school from 2007 and Mr Dennis Parry from 1982 to his retirement in 2007. Mr Parry is the original headmaster who founded the school and still plays an active role in the school, attending Open Evenings and Presentation Evenings.

Accommodation

The School has houses that are purpose-built that opened 1982, which has been upgraded over the years. The school houses have been built to look traditional in order to blend in with the residential and commercial buildings in the town that have been also built to look characterful and old. The newest addition to the school to date is the new Sixth Form Block which was completed in 2011 and officially opened in September 2011 by important guests including the mayor and mayoress of Chelmsford

Extracurricular Activities

The school has been praised for providing several extracurricular activities by Ofsted saying "Provision is greatly enhanced by extra-curricular activities, especially in sport. A major success through excellent care, guidance and support systems"

The school prides itself for providing a number of Extracurricular activities for all its students from years 7-13. Activities range from the Duke of Edinburgh Award,Sports, music, dance and drama. The school also offers a number of trips away both in the UK and within Europe with more recently trips to South America, China and Iceland being organised.