The Hurst Community College

The Hurst Community College, previously The Hurst Community School, is a school in the village of Baughurst, which is in the county of Hampshire in England.

Description

The school provides secondary education for boys and girls aged from 11 to 16. It is categorised as a community school, which means it is run wholly by the local education authority (LEA). The school has been granted specialist science status, for which the school receives funding additional to its normal budget. The school has remained a comprehensive school, and has thus not taken the option available to specialist schools to select a proportion of its pupils.cite web | title=The Hurst Community College | work=Department for Education and Skills | url=http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/dfekx1_05.pl?Mode=Z&Code=&School=8504144&Type= | accessdate=2006-05-22]

Though the school does not provide higher education, it has links with both Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke and the Basingstoke College of Technology, where some pupils continue education after the age of 16.cite web | url=http://www.hurst.hants.sch.uk/web/main/DETAILS/About.pdf | title=About the Hurst Community School | work=The Hurst Community College | accessdate=2006-05-13]

The school has approximately 1000 pupils. Pupils come from a catchment area which includes the nearby town of Tadley and the villages of Silchester, Bramley, and Sherborne St John.

Students in the school are divided among four houses, named after ships of the United Kingdom navy: Challenger, Endeavour, Invincible, and Victory. These houses compete in sports, talent contests and other events.

Curriculum

The school teaches subjects to GCSE and GNVQ standards. Pupils follow the National Curriculum.

The school has introduced a virtual learning environment for the school using an open-source course management system entitled Moodle, which provides online resources for access at home and school.

Performance

The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspected the school in May 2001. They concluded that the school was "a very good school with some excellent features", which had improved significantly since the previous inspection in 1997.cite book | last=Chamberlain | first=Susan | title=Inspection Report: The Hurst Community School | url=http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/116/116422.pdf | year=2001 | id=Inspection number 193592]

Community functions

The school provides facilities for use by the local community. There is a pre-school nursery and an after-school club for children who attend local primary schools. The school also hosts adult education courses and has sports facilities.

ources

Further reading

* [http://www.hurst.hants.sch.uk/ The Hurst Community College] , the school's website
* [http://www.hants.gov.uk/education/schools/schools.php?dfes=4144 The Hurst Community College (with Specialist Science Status)] , details about the school from the local education authority, Hampshire County Council.