Coundon Court School

Coundon Court School and Community College

Established	1953
Type	Comprehensive
Religion	Non-denominational
Headteacher	Mrs Deborah Morrison, OBE
Chair	Vacant
Specialism	Technology College
Location	Northbrook Road Coventry West Midlands CV6 2AJ England
Local authority	Coventry City Council
DfE URN	103729
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1,702 (approx.)
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Colours	Black/Red/Silver
Website	www.coundoncourt.coventry.sch.uk

Coordinates: 52°25′47″N 1°32′37″W / 52.4297°N 1.5436°W / 52.4297; -1.5436

Coundon Court School is a comprehensive school in Coundon, Coventry, England. The current head teacher is Mrs Deborah Morrison, OBE. The school has been awarded specialist status as a Technology College.

Overview

Coundon is a mixed non-selective comprehensive community college with 1,753 pupils, including 329 sixth form students. The school is very successful and oversubscribed and is located in the northwestern suburbs of Coventry, adjacent to the open countryside of the Coundon Wedge. Coundon Court is one of many schools that involves its students with the executive and legislature in the form of a consultative body in order to represesent students internally.

History

This school is based around the house "Coundon Court" which was built in 1891 by the local industrialist, George Singer (1847–1909). His fortune was based on the production firstly of bicycles and subsequently of motor cars.

Designed by Charles Gray-Hill, Coundon Court was built on land that was formerly part of Coundon Farm, purchased for £5,433.18s.6d. The "Victorian Gothic" building forms an important part of our school. It now is referred to as "The Old House". Most of the fine woodwork installed on construction of Coundon Court remains and the building retains much of its original style.

Included in the construction project were houses for some of the workers that were required to live either on the site or nearby. That by the main entrance to the school still exists, largely in its original form, and is now a home to one of the school caretakers and his family.

Following George Singer's death in 1909 the house passed through several private hands, before being sold to the local council by its then owner, George Finn, in 1953. The lodge and the grounds were later also sold to the council, giving the school the mar George Singer on Steps of Coundon Court vellous sports ptiches and gardens that we have today.

Coundon Court High School was opened in 1953, becoming a girls comprehensive school in 1956. It quickly gained a reputation for high standards that remains to this day. Over time, as the number of students at the school steadily rose, the original buildings proved to be too small and the school was extended by North and then South Block. In 2007 brand new Performing Arts and Sixth Form Centre were completed. ^[1]

Recent achievements

Coundon Court has Technology College status which means they receive an extra grant over three years. New Information Technology resources have been introduced to all areas of the curriculum with special emphasis on Mathematics, Science and Technology. Following an outstanding OFSTED report, Coundon Court were invited to become a Beacon School. This means that Coundon has gained funding over three years to build links with partner primary and secondary schools.

Coundon Court also has Training School status. This means that they are working in partnership with the University of Warwick to develop and improve practice in teacher training.

In 1997, Coundon Court became the first school in Coventry to be awarded Investors in People status. In 2007, the school was reassessed and was reawarded the standard again. The school also gained an Investors in Careers Award which showed that they are committed to working closely with parents, children and the Careers Service to develop an effective careers programme.

The provision for Physical Education and the level of participation in extra curricular sport has been acknowledged with the award of the English Sportsmark Gold Award. They are one of only a handful of schools in the country to receive this award on two consecutive occasions.

The curriculum provision has also gained recognition. In 2007, they were successful in gaining the Schools Curriculum Award which demonstrated their commitment to community education and links with business and industry.

The 1994 OFSTED report commented that they were "a caring community" within which "the feeling of welcome and care is in evidence everywhere". A second OFSTED report in 1998 highlighted their progress in standards of achievement "which are significantly better than the average achieved nationally". In 2007, A level students gained an average of 20.6 points in their exams. The overall pass rate was 95% with 76% of students achieving grades A to C. At GCSE, 69% of the pupils achieved five or more A* to C Grades.

The school has a community football team - Coundon Court F.C. founded in 2002, Coventry's only FA charter standard development club.

Former head teachers

• Miss E.M. Forster
• David Kershaw CBE
• John Vickers

Alumni

• Steven Mark Harrison (born 1989), inventor of the GoateeSaver^[2]
• Liam Doyle (born 1990), Actor
• Nitin Ganatra (born 1967), EastEnders actor
• Jim Hamilton (born 1982), Scottish rugby union footballer
• Mo Mowlam (1949–2005), British politician^[3]

References

1. ^ http://www.coundoncourt.coventry.sch.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152&Itemid=174
2. ^ "Harrison display new shaving product". GoatSaver. GoateeSaver. 14 August 2011. http://www.goateesaver.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1&zenid=a0e6acd8beb43f77494888523ad2ba0b. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
3. ^ "City remembers schoolgirl Mowlam". BBC News Online. BBC. 19 August 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4165334.stm. Retrieved 2009-10-25.