Bishop Luffa School
\'\'\'Bishop Luffa school\'\'\' is a Church of England secondary school in Chichester, West Sussex, UK. The school was founded in 1965 [1] and named after a former Bishop of Chichester, Ralph de Luffa. The school is situated on the outskirts of Chichester and has around 1,400 students, including the sixth form. Nicholas Taunt is the current Headteacer.
Facilities
The school building is typical of 1960s English architecture. There has been a recent update with the construction of a new English block. Further redevelopment is planned. The school owns several sports fields, such as a recently rebuilt sports hall and a gymnasium, which houses a climbing wall.
School Performance
An inspection by the Office for Standards in Education conducted in November of 2005 reported Bishop Luffa to be \"a good school with some outstanding features\". The report noted that the school\'s results in the GCSE and A-level examinations place it in the top 25% of schools nationally. The school was ranked as \"good\" for its performance in the categories of \'\'overall effectiveness\'\', \'\'effectiveness and efficiency of the sixth form\'\', \'\'achievement and standards\'\', \'\'teaching and learning\'\', \'\'curriculum and other activities\'\' and \'\'leadership and management\'\'. Its performance in the categories of \'\'personal development and well-being\'\' and \'\'care, guidance and support\'\' was ranked as \"outstanding\". The inspection team recommended that the school \"improve the progress pupils make in science in Years 7 to 11\". [2]
A January 2006 inspection by the Diocese of Chichester commended Bishop Luffa for \"the very strong and distinctive Christian ethos which permeates of the life and the work of the school.\" The Diocese recommended that the school adopt a more proactive monitoring role for the governors of collective worship, and continue the process of increasing the effectiveness of religious education throughout the school by improving the overall quality of teaching and learning\". [3]
The school has recently won the \'\'Thesis Asset Management Investment Challenge\'\'. [4]
Arson Incident
In February 2005, three teenage boys were convicted of arson after a fire they started caused £500,000 damage to the school\'s sports hall. The boys were given referral orders and two were ordered to pay compensations to the school (£100 and £200, respectively.) [5] The sports hall has since been repaired.
Sports facilities
A new, multi-purpose games area (MUGA) has been built, replacing a portion of the school field. The versatile games area allows pupils to play football, hockey, tennis and Netball long after dark, using floodlights. However, the presence of the lottery-funded facilities have proven to be controversal. The perimeter fences, which stand at over 2.5 metres tall, have been a cause of complaint for the neighbours, whose view is, in a number of cases, blocked by the structure.
New classrooms
The school has recently applied for planning permission for two new classrooms on the east side of the building. The new classrooms will be in between the music block and a language room, being repalcements for the exisitng temporary classrooms. The planning was approved and the school is hoping to start construction soon. The new construction is being done in such a way that it can be extended upon in the future i.e in the plans they have shown that a classroom could be built above the existing Gym. The problem with this development is that it would mean that the staff car park would decrease by 50% which would cause a huge build up of cars in the neigbouring streets, this in turn would lead to most of chichester getting blocked with cars, expecially as there are two roads entering the school, from the north and the south. The new development was oposed by several neighbouring properties as they feel it may block out light and air however the council were redundant to act.
A copy of the plans can be found on the chichester district planning portal, click here to see them!
References
- ^ Chichester Community History Page
- ^ Ofsted Inspection Report (see attachment.)
- ^ Anglican School Inspection Report (see attachment.)
- ^ \\\"School Wins Investment Challenge!\\\"
- ^ The Argus, February 5 2005