Whitmore High School

Whitmore High School is a school of secondary education situated in Harrow, and is embedded in the diverse region of Middlesex that sits on a road known formerly as Porlock Avenue, which simultaneously connects into the roundabout area of Shaftesbury Circle. Whitmore itself however has become one of the most widely popular schools in the Borough of Harrow and Brent due to its increasing advertising of its effort and teaching standards as well as being a recommendable choice to people who live in Harrow due to its close proximity.

Whitmore High (like so many other state schools) is in direct competition with other secondary schools such as Rooks Heath and Nower Hill, all of which have certain attributes and disadvantages in comparison to Whitmore's standards, such as better facilities, good quality teaching standards etc, but the competition stands pretty fine as all state schools in the borough have relatively similar standards in terms of visual presentation and quality, although Whitmore has received good praise and has won numerous awards due to its increasing level of excellent exam results from students and good influential teaching.

Interior Description and Visual Presentation

Whitmore High is a fairly large school and consists of an East wing and a West Wing. The East Wing however outshines the West area in terms of size and consists primarily of all the Science rooms which connect outside to a small pathway, leading to a Science lab, consisting of only two individual rooms, this area is fairly new and many improvements have been made to it due to increases in the school's funds.

There are also both left and right small corridors of the Eastern area, both of which look symmetrical and almost mirrored visually. The right hand corridor however consists of three large science rooms which are located downstairs and two ICT suites which sit upstairs, both are the same in terms of size and house of up to 30 to 35 computer terminals, as well as a head terminal which the teacher operates on.

Finally the left hand corridor is generally just the finale to the language rooms which are situated down the main corridor which flows all the way down into the West wing. The small partial left hand corridor however, houses just one more language room (which is used as both a German room and for teaching Gujarati) and a rather large Geography room, which continues upstairs where there are just two more rooms of the same subject, both of which look almost symmetrical just like the upstairs ICT suites.

The main corridor however is very long and winds into the West wing where it splits to finally finish off in the D&T and Art areas. From the East wing, the main corridor consists of all the language rooms and the school's library, and then further down is a left and a slighly longer right, both of which stray from the main corridor.

The left area is where the reception is located which sits just opposite the East wing's main Assembly hall and next door lies the welfare room, which is just adequate for two individual persons, there is also a lost property area which is located just outside the welfare room.

The slightly more winding right area on the other hand that strays from the main corridor, consists of a staff room for TAs (Teaching Assistants) and a very large language room, all of which lie directly opposite the East wing's playground. The corridors dead end however, is of new attraction and due to a rather large Lottery fund, the school has managed to incorporate a fitness suite which can used by all students interested, as well as newly incorporated Boys and Girls changing rooms for PE lessons. Beside this area is an exit into the West wing's playground which is much smaller in comparison to the East wing playground.

The West Wing interconnects into the East wing and has a different orientation of lessons, most importantly the Maths and English rooms which join together cohesively. Well as the Art and D&T rooms lie further up the main corridor where it meets its end in both subsequent areas. The West Wing also has an Assembly hall which is also regarded as a "Music room" or "Concert area" and is roughly the same size as the East wing Assembly hall. Both halls however are used for examinations, end of term farewells etc.

The Exterior of the building looks quite welcoming, with its delightful presentation of green lawns which are divided into the two areas of the East and West wings by a long fence. There are also three exits in total: There's the main gate which is where the Reception area is located, there's the second gate which is located on the West wing and finally there the East wing main gate which is situated near the Science area.

Uniform

The uniform of Whitmore sticks pretty close to the blue print laid out by other high schools such as Salvatorian College or Rooks Heath. The uniform basically consists of a black blazer, with the Whitmore badge which must be emblazoned on the left hand side of the blazer itself, well as the tie sticks to the standard old fashioned style of black and white stripes.

School Facilities

Whitmore contains all of the standard high school necessities, all of which are used purely at the leisure of students. The following are the most important facilities in the premises of the school.

The Library

The library has two sections, the books area which is categorized by genre, and an ICT section where students are able to use a computer in their own time. However the use of computers is fairly strict and students are recommended to book a computer in advance if they wish to use them.

Some students may even take up the job of a librarian, helping others in finding books, scanning books that people wish to borrow and returning vital content to the correct areas. Usually there are the select few students who wish to take up the job of a librarian but it is not compulsory.

All of the books in the library are barcoded and there is a unique security system which will sound an alarm if it identifies that a book has been taken through the area without being scanned.

ICT Rooms

In total there are three ICT areas, two of which are ICT suites as well as an individual ICT room which is located in the West wing. The upper ICT suites however, are fairly large and house of up to 30 to 35 computer terminals as well as a head terminal which the teacher uses for monitoring students on what they are viewing on their computer monitors, the head terminal can also be used to issue commands to certain computers in the room and can even bring all of the terminals to a complete standstill if required, thus the teacher is in complete control of every system in the premise.

Like in all high schools, Whitmore restricts the use of entering websites that contain explicit content and/or material that is of a grisly or violent nature, in addition to this, most schools use a net nanny which blocks explicit material from being accessed in the school network, although some adult websites with foreign URLs go unnoticed and can be entered.

Fitness Suite

Due to a Lottery fund, Whitmore has managed to incorporate a fitness suite that can be used in the leisurely time by anyone who is interested and it contains all of the standard apparatus and equipment that can be found in a normal gym. But due to Health and Safety regulations, it is to be used in moderation by students, thus a PE teacher must supervise anyone who is inclined to use it.

CCTV Network

All high school's have CCTV networks, usually CCTV cameras are positioned in the most pivotal of places, most notably in the main gate and reception areas and they are always operated by a caretaker in a private self-contained room. CCTV is most probably the best way to monitor students who are attempting to bunk off school. However most of them are concealed so that students are not able to identify them, therefore preventing them from being more cautious when bunking from school.

Swipe Cards

In Whitmore all students are issued swipe cards, which is now the new form of registration, therefore every single classroom in the premise of the school is equipped with a swipe system and the list of people who have swiped and not swiped in their lessons is displayed on the Reception's main computer terminal. Teachers are also equipped with swipe cards, therefore a swipe of the teachers swipe card initiates that the lesson has begun and that anyone who has swiped after the teacher's first swipe means that, that person is late. and has maneged to win a wopping £300,000,000 million pounds

Year 11 Prom

At the end of Year 11, before the GCSE examinations begin, there is a Year 11 prom which commemorates the leave of Year 11 students and all candidates dress in smart clothes. The event officially takes place at the Kadwa Patida Centre in Wealdstone where pictures are taken of the leaving students. Officially it is a fun day and food is laid out for the students inside the building, and a dance also takes place where a hired DJ controls and simulates remixes of different music. Proms are usually long and they are also a good excuse for students to dress up and come in style. Not all the students attend due to studies and preparation for their GCSEs.

Usually students decide amongst themeselves on how they wish to come to the prom, most notably they come together in groups and they hire limousines.

Sixth Form

Whitmore has now introduced sixth form and is now part of the borough's collegiate. Therefore students can choose to whether they wish to stay on at Whitmore or to go to a different college. A new common room has also been incorporated into the school for studying which has been successfully built due to the school's rapid increase in funds.

Unlike normal colleges, the sixth form at Whitmore differentiates, as students must continue to wear the standard uniform respectively.

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