Southend High School for Boys

Southend High School for Boys
Address
Prittlewell Chase Southend-on-Sea , Essex , SS0 0RG England
Information
Type	Academy
Motto	Forti nihil difficile 'To the brave, nothing is difficult'
Established	1895 (founded) 1939 (moved to current premises)
Local authority	Southend-on-Sea
Specialist	Languages
Department for Education URN	115362 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	R Bevan
Gender	Boys (mixed sixth form)
Age	11 to 18
Enrollment	1020 pupils total, 220 Sixth Form
Houses	Troy, Athens, Sparta, Tuscany
Colour(s)	Green and White
Main sports	Athletics, rugby union, football, cricket
Website	http://www.shsb.org.uk

Southend High School for Boys is a grammar school situated in Prittlewell Chase in Prittlewell, in the north-west of Southend-on-Sea, England.

Admissions

It teaches students from the ages 11 through to 18 years old. It was one of the few schools in the country to achieve "outstanding" in the latest Ofsted inspection. The school consistently achieves over 95% of its students attaining 5 GCSEs grade A*–C every year.

The current headteacher is Dr. Robin Bevan, and the previous headmaster was Michael D Frampton, 1988–2007. The current deputy heads are Mr Alan Gardner and Miss Liz Duffy. It is as of February 2011 an Academy (English school) with autonomous control over itself . It is a grammar school, with entry dependent upon performance in selective 11+ tests set by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE). Student numbers have been increasing over recent years. As of 2008/9 academic year there are just over 1150 students on roll, with over 220 of them in the Sixth Form.

The stated aims of the school are the pursuit of academic excellence, stressing the personal and social development of the individual, the fostering of a positive set of values, and preparation of students for a responsible and enriching role within society.

It is situated south-west of the roundabout of the A127 and A1159.

History

The school was founded in 1895 in Victoria Circus and provided the first secondary education within the Borough of Southend-on-Sea. It moved to its present larger site in Prittlewell Chase in 1939. Until 1974 it was administered by the County Borough of Southend-on-Sea Education Committee, then Essex County Council, and Southend-on-Sea in 1998. In 1940 the school was evacuated to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire but the boys returned before the end of the war.

Specialist school

Since 2001 the school has been a Language College, promoting modern foreign languages both inside and outside the curriculum as well as within the local community. It was a founder member of Southend Excellence Cluster, supporting and collaborating with nearly thirty primary and secondary schools. In 2006, as a high-performing specialist school, it was invited to become a Leading Edge school, promoting innovation in teaching and learning in liaison with local partner schools.

Building extensions & premises upgrades

Although the building was originally built almost symmetrically in 1939, it has undergone various changes which have meant it is no longer the case.

After having sustained bombing damage during World War II, a new roof was constructed over the main hall and the (former) sports hall which also required new flooring due to the German Bomb that laid in situ for 11 years (now the Frampton Theatre). It was recently after this time (approx. 1954) that classrooms W14 and W15 were built; originally they were not here; which is the reason why the upstairs corridor in the West End does not complete a full circuit around the quadrangle.

In 1961, the technology block was built, along with 8 "temporary" demountable huts to the west of this building and a connecting boiler room to the rear of the stage of the main hall.

In 1992, QE1 and QE2 classrooms were built inside the East End quadrangle to cope with the demand arising from extra pupils.

In 1995, the Hitchcock Library was constructed to fill in the West End quadrangle with a new art room, W16 on top. The library was needed to alleviate overcrowding in the "Old Library" which is located above the headmaster's office & main school office.

In 1998, the Sixth Form centre was built, removing four of the "temporary huts" 37 years after they were built.

In 2003, the Language College was constructed to create room for an expanded intake of pupils; an extra 25 per year starting in the 2002-2003 year. As this was built, subject rooms also got swapped around; Mathematics moved from the four other huts into E1, E2, E3 and QE1 (E1 and E9 were previously German rooms, E2, QE1, and QE2 were French rooms, and E3 was a Latin room). E9 became an extra English Room (previously English had just E5, E6, E7 and E8) and Religious Education gained the use of QE2. Music also gained the use of L6 in the Language College for a short period of time whilst the Sports Hall & Music Centre was under construction. In the Language College, German was moved into L1 and L2, Spanish into L6 and L9, French into L10, L11, L12, L14, L15 and L16. L4, L7, and L8 are small rooms used for speaking practice and L3 and L13 are computer suites.

Owing to such a long time in sub-standard accommodation in Music and Physical Education (as mentioned by the OFSTED report of 2001), a bid was made to Southend Borough Council for a grant to be awarded for a new Sports Hall and Music Centre (following the construction of a top quality facility at St Bernard's High School for Girls). Permission was granted and the sum of £2.25 million was given to the school for the construction of this new facility. The school began a development appeal to raise a further £475,000 in order to equip the centre with the latest fitness machines and recording studio. This was the largest amount an English High School had hoped to raise in the history of British education. The appeal lasted for 3 years until 2006 when it was closed. The total raised was £376,000; slightly less than expected. Unlike the Sixth Form Centre and Language College, which were built from prefabricated units in a brick shell, this building was designed by Peter Emptage & Associates and built to last. According to documentation, this building is constructed to last 120 years. Constructed in a steel frame and finished in glass, red brick, micro fibbed aluminium panelling and a beech coloured wood, the new centre boasts a 5 badminton court size sports hall, the largest school sports hall in Southend Borough (the only larger indoor hall is that at Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre). This building was completed in September 2005 and is now well used; not only by members of the school community but also the wider community in the evenings and at weekends.

Further plans for the school as part of the Development Appeal included another Art room constructed on top of the old changing rooms in the West End (which has now been developed into the new Careers room, Sixth Form study room, and reprographics) and the transformation of L6 from a "British Red Cross store" to a food technology room. Instead, L6 has been changed into a Spanish room, whilst the Art room has not yet come to fruition. Other changes that have occurred as part of the original 3 year plan was the transformation of the old Gymnasium into the new Frampton Theatre, the partition of W9 into half to extend W8 and W10 Chemistry laboratories, and the refurbishment of the old Careers room in W6 into a Biology laboratory. The old music department has now become the home of the site team and a special needs room has been allocated on the right of the stage in the Main Hall. The room on the left has been used as exam desk storage since the Music centre was opened and the Music office was moved. For many years, the area under the stage was used as a music classroom/music rehearsal room/storage room. Since 2004 it was used to store a vast number of organ pipes with the view that the school organ would be extended. However, funds have also been dropped from this area and hence it has now been cleared (as of Christmas 2007) and is now used as a maintenance office/workshop for the premises department at school.

In November 2008 two temporary classrooms were installed to the east of the main buildings between the music centre and the rear exit. These buildings have been constructed to relieve the inevitable stress of the new, larger pupil intake and also to provide alternative classrooms for the rooms disrupted by the planned complete window changes in the main building. The planning application was granted subject to the condition that the rooms are removed once the extension to the Sports Hall is completed.

In May 2009, a planning application was submitted to Southend Council to extend the Sports Hall & Music Centre on its western side, effectively infilling the underused grass area. The application included 6 classrooms over two phases; four in Phase 1 and 2 IT suites in Phase 2, located to the north of Phase 1. The four classrooms will be used to house the Mathematics department and include 111 square metres of circulation space as well as ample storage and an office. A connection will be created from the fitness suite to the upstairs of the new extension, but will only come into use during emergency evacuations or disabled bodies using the lift in the main Sports Hall. Construction has begun in February 2010 with scheduled completion for Phase 1 in June 2010.

Over the summer months of 2010, T3 was converted to a food technology room due to the government's requirements for all schools to teach food technology as part of the curriculum beginning year 2010/11.

In December 2009, a planning application was submitted to Southend Council to extend the Dining Hall into the eating area with a 150 square metre room, linked to both the dining hall and main hall. This allows the room to be used both for the lunchtime seating expansion of the dining hall, exam desk expansion during exam season, and for light refreshments during school events such as the annual drama performance or music concerts.

Traditions

House system

Students at Southend High School for Boys are split into four houses; Athens (motto: nulli secundus - 'second to none'), Tuscany (Etruscans), Sparta (motto: non sibi sed domo - 'Not for self, for house'),and Troy, modelled upon the house system at Rugby School. Competitiveness is actively encouraged between houses as the students contend to win the Cock House Championship.

Academic performance

The school was last inspected in February 2006 when the main conclusion of Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education) was as follows:

"Southend High School for Boys is an outstanding school with a very strong ethos and a distinctive character. Its pupils are justifiably proud to belong to it, make very good progress and achieve exceptionally high standards. The school successfully balances an emphasis on academic achievement with a concern for pupils' personal development and well-being. This ensures that pupils are well prepared for their place in society.

They have also recently received the NACE Challenge Award, which means they are the first secondary school in the Eastern Counties to obtain it, and the 22nd school in the entire country of Britain to achieve the award."

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at Southend High School for Boys

Media

• David Austin (cartoonist) (1935-2005), produced the Hom Sap cartoon for Private Eye
• Michael Field, Telegraph foreign correspondent
• Phil Gardner, journalist
• Brian Gibson, film director
• Martin Harris, Southend Radio Journalist, Presenter and Newsreader
• Andy Moore, BBC News correspondent

Literature

• Jonathan Clements, born 1971, author
• Robert Nye, born 1939, poet and novelist

Music

• Robin Trower and Chris Copping of Procol Harum
• Digby Fairweather
• Keith Summers
• Adrian Lucas, conductor and organist
• Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Military

• Air Marshal Sir Frank Holroyd CB, Chief Engineer from 1988-91 of the RAF
• Brigadier Martin Hotine CMG CBE, commanded the Royal Engineers from 1917 to 1918, responsible for the design of the UK's triangulation pillars and for the Retriangulation of Great Britain in the 1930s
• Air Marshal Sir William Richardson, Chief Engineer from 1986-88 of the RAF, Station Commander from 1971-4 of RAF Colerne

Science

• Alan Archer, biochemist
• Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver of Cranfield, engineer, Vice-Chancellor from 1970-89 of Cranfield Institute of Technology (since 1993 Cranfield University)
• Bertram Kelly, electrical engineer
• Neil F Johnson, professor of physics
• Pete Cockerell, computer scientist and author
• Dr. Robert Martin, Curator of Biological Anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago IL

Academia

• Prof Kenneth Bourne, Professor of International History from 1976-96 at the LSE
• Prof Karl Britton, Professor of Philosophy from 1951-75 at Newcastle University, President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1931
• Prof Stanley Alexander de Smith, Downing Professor of the Laws of England from 1970-4 at the University of Cambridge
• T F Evans, academic and biographer
• Prof Jack Fisher, Professor of Economic History from 1954-75 at the LSE
• Stephen Pewsey, historian
• Dr Warwick Rodwell OBE, historian and archaeologist
• Samuel Soal, parapsychologist
• Dr Robert Samuels, Open University lecturer in Music

Government

• Clive Needle, Labour MEP from 1994-9 for Norfolk

Sport

• Jonty Clarke, hockey player
• Mark Foster, swimmer
• John Lloyd (tennis), tennis player
• Charles Butler, Mole!!
• Tim Shannon, Gash man

Education

• Prof Lionel Elvin, UNESCO Director of Education (also authored the School Song during his time at Southend High), Director from 1958-73 of the Institute of Education, and Principal from 1944-50 of Ruskin College, Oxford

Religion

• Gareth Bennett, ecclesiastical historian.

External links

• Official website
• EduBase