Established 1950 Headteacher Dale Reeve Ofsted Reports Number of students 1,255 | Type Foundation school DfE URN 117577 Tables Phone +44 1279 868686 Founded 1950 | |
Location London Road
Bishop's Stortford
Hertfordshire
CM23 3LU
England Address London Rd, Bishop's Stortford CM23 3LU, UK Motto RESPICE – ASPICE – PROSPICE (Look to the past, present and future) Profiles | ||
The Bishop's Stortford High School (often abbreviated to TBSHS) is a comprehensive secondary school, with a coeducational sixth form, in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. The school admits boys aged 11 to 16 in the first five forms, with a mixed sixth form of boys and girls aged 16 to 18. The school has specialisms in Mathematics and Computing, focusing on these areas as well as music, drama and sport, possessing state-of-the-art in-house computing facilities and providing assistance to local schools in this area. The current Headmaster Mr D Reeve was appointed in January 2014.
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History
From the 1980s onwards the school extensively added to its original buildings; a dedicated Sixth Form Centre was built and the Turing Suite (an extensive computing and ICT facility, named after Alan Turing) was constructed. A drama studio named 'Broadway' and an on-site sports pavilion were also added to the school, in addition to the set of playing fields at Jobber's Wood. The school site also has 'Newton', a combined Design technology, Science and Languages block named after Sir Isaac Newton which opened in 1995.
Awards and recognition
Deputy Head Paul Noble was recognised as a regional winner in the 2000 BT Award for Most Creative Use of ICT – Secondary.
In 2003, two students from the school were national champions in the English-Speaking Union's Public Speaking Competition, winning the English national final out of a field of 500 schools. In the faceoff of the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh national tournaments, Nick Devlin and Richard Goodman of The Bishop's Stortford High School were selected as champions and were awarded the Silver Mace.
A student from the school was a member of the four-person English team at the 15th World Schools Debating Championships in Lima, Peru.
On 5 November 2007 the school won the Becta award for ICT Excellence in Leadership and Management. The school was described as a "successful all-boys school".
Academic performance
Overall, the School was rated Very Good, point two on a seven-point scale, whilst the component 'Enrichment of the curriculum, including out-of-school activities' was rated Excellent, point one, by Ofsted in their report on 22 April 2005. In a subsequent inspection in 2008, the school was rated as Outstanding.
In an inspection report, independent government schools adjudicator Ofsted said: "This is a very good school which provides very good value for money and is highly thought of in the local community. The high quality of much of the teaching enables the students to achieve very well throughout the school. Standards are well above average by GCSE and above average in the sixth form."
In a more recent inspection on the 1–2 May 2013 and under a new scheme of inspection, the school was rated overall as Good with the category 'Behaviour and safety of pupils' being rated as Outstanding.
The most recent GCSE results certified the fact of the high importance and focus on maths within the school with TBSHS getting best boys school in the country for further maths at GCSE level and classed as one of the top 10 state schools in the country.
Schools
In pastoral care the year groups (Years 7 to 11; 12 to 13) are grouped together into 'schools':
Houses
There are six 'Houses'. These Houses centre on local areas or history in the town: Chantry, Dane, Meads, Rhodes, Twyford and Waytemore. The Houses apply to all year groups, and individual pupils are assigned to a House. Each House is also run by a teacher called a 'Head Of House'. 5 boys from each house represent the house as Captain, Deputy, Sports, Music/Drama, and Charity. Their job is to make sure their house is being run properly, such as 'house assemblies' and 'house meetings'. Every pupil, from year 9 onwards, has the opportunity to be awarded 'House Colours' for outstanding contributions to extracurricular activities, such as sport, music, drama and debating. Once students progress into the sixth form the House Colours are removed, however, they have the opportunity to earn School Colours.
Sixth Form
Every 'sixth former' is automatically appointed as a Prefect. However, only in the second year of student's Sixth Form career are they required to carry out break and lunch time duties, ensuring that the rules of school are enforced and that younger pupils do not go out of bounds. Unlike the Lower and Middle schools, the sixth form admits girls from the local area, with many coming from Hockerill or The Hertfordshire and Essex High School.
Extra-curricular activities
The Bishops Stortford High School has the reputation as being one of the best state schools in the South East of England for rugby union taking on and beating some of the best private schools in the country. The school's Parent Sports Association is actively involved with supporting sport within the school. The Rugby Union squad went on a tour of Australia in 2009 and again in 2012.
Interact is the school's charity and raises funds for both local and international charities. Interact is a branch of the Rotary Club and its membership is open for all members of the school.