South Bromsgrove High School

South Bromsgrove High School (SBHS) is a co-educational, comprehensive secondary school in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. The school holds Specialist Language College (2006) and Technology College (1999) College status. It caters to GCSE, GNVQ and A level students from an area between Alvechurch and Malvern with around 1,301 students on roll. Its current headteacher is Paul Copeland, replacing Philip McTague in 2006.

Facilities

A new set of buildings (construction having started at the beginning of 2006) were built as part of a Private Finance Initiative with HBG, to accommodate the increasing number of students. Handover of the new school occurred in August 2007 and was in use from September 2007 in time for the new school year. It was officially opened by the Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex [http://www.southbromsgrove.org.uk/uploads/School/general/Letter%20to%20parents%2008.01.pdf] [http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1302493,00.html] on 25 January 2008. The new school building is sited where the playing fields of the old school used to be. The facilities include a rooftop terrace for use by sixth formers, and their own cafeteria (as opposed to the one for the lower school), as well as two sports halls.

House System

There are three houses, based on Bromsgrove's heritage:
*Plymouth (green)
*Vernon (blue)
*Talbot (red)Each tutor group is placed into one of these houses and students remain in their assigned house for the duration of their time at the school. Competitions between the houses are held frequently throughout the year ranging from all aspects such as sports, academia and attendance. The main competition is the annual Eisteddfod evening held in the spring term which has the majority of students taking part in the house choirs, drama, music, dance and sports.

Eisteddfod

Taking place every year, the Eisteddfod is eagerly anticipated by both students and staff. It is split up over two evenings; the PE evening comprising dance and sports competitions, and the Arts evening comprising choirs, drama, and musical performances from each house. External judges are brought in from other schools to decide the winners of the arts awards.

Awards

SBHS holds the Successful Schools Project Award and the Investors in People Award as well as the Sports Mark Award, Basic Skills Quality Mark, Curriculum Award 2000, School Achievement Award 2000 & 2003, Arts Mark Gold(3 times), Charter Mark Award for Excellence, Careers Quality Mark in addition to three Leading Aspect Awards. The school is also listed in the "Good State School" guide. After its February 2004 inspection, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) declared SBHS "an excellent school that provides an outstanding quality of education and excellent value for money." On 21 and 22 November 2007, the school underwent another inspection, where Ofsted stated "South Bromsgrove High School is a good school where students very much enjoy learning. They make good progress academically and achieve outstanding personal development. This is because of the extensive additional enrichment activities followed by most students, as well as a good range of academic subjects." [http://www.southbromsgrove.org.uk/uploads/School/general/South_Bromsgrove_Community_High_School_final.pdf]

Duke of Edinburgh Award

SBHS is one of the lead participants in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme (claiming to be the biggest in the country and therefore "the Universe" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_hypothesis] ) and through a great deal of staff commitment and support, many students in years ten, eleven and the sixth form take part in the scheme. In the 2007/2008 school year, there have been 500 students working on the scheme, with 55 ex-students achieving the Gold Award the previous year [http://www.southbromsgrove.org.uk/uploads/School/general/s%20letter%20to%20parents%2010.12.07.pdf] . Students begin at Bronze level in year ten and this is available to all students in that year group. The Silver Award is offered in year eleven, but only to those students who received their Bronze Award in year ten. The Gold Award is worked towards throughout both years twelve and thirteen and a "direct" Gold option is offered allowing students who have not taken part in the Bronze and Silver schemes previously to achieve a Gold Award.

Exam Success

The school is generally very successful overall at examinations. With the GCSEs, the number of A-star to C grades generally increased from 1997, though if you only look at English and Mathematics then this statistic has actually fallen. However, A-level results appear to have increased dramatically in the same period of time [http://www.schoolsnet.com/uk-schools/school-details-reviews/worcestershire/south-bromsgrove-community-high-school/16180339/0/193737.html] . Forty-percent of the 2007 AS and A-level results were A or B [http://www.southbromsgrove.org.uk/index.php?node=shownews] .

Catchment

South Bromsgrove students generally come from Alvechurch Church of England Middle School, St. John's Church of England Middle School or Aston Fields Middle School.

Notable alumni

*Mathew Priest, drummer from Dodgy
*Jordan Crane, rugby player
*Richard Orford
*Craig Fagan, footballer

External links

* [http://southbromsgrove.org.uk/ South Bromsgrove High School Website]
* [http://www.hbgc.co.uk/ HBG UK Ltd website]
* [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/ Ofsted website]