Bournemouth School for Girls

Academics

Since September 2005, it has been a humanities specialist school. The headteacher is Alistair Brien. The school has roughly 1,100 students, including 300 in the sixth form. Until 2012, sixth form classes (including Theatre Studies, PE and Psychology) were open to boys from Bournemouth School, with whom the girls share a playing field.

The school is represented by a Senior Team led by the Head Girl. There are then six house and deputy captains, making up the senior team. Within each house there are designated positions of a sports prefect, performing arts prefect and a charities prefect.

Structure of the school

There are six forms per year group, denoted by their house initials, A, C, F, P, R and S (prior to 2006 they were denoted using the number system and prior to 1997 they were denoted A, alpha, B, Beta, P and pi). This switches in Year 10 at the start of GCSEs, from having lessons with the form, to having lessons with a teaching group. For this, 2-5 students from each form are allocated, alphabetically, into a new teaching group. This remains the same for all core lessons (maths, sciences, English), and special groups according to choices are made for each student's individual choice of languages, humanities and arts. On Friday afternoon, year 11 have options in PE that include yoga and kickboxing. On a Wednesday afternoon the Sixth form have a Complementary Activities block in which many outside PE classes are run, including yoga, golf, urban funk and basketball. Students also spend time on work experience placements and doing work in the local community.

House system

Since September 2006 a House system was reimplemented (it had existed when the school was located at the Landsdown site, before moving to its current position on Castle Lane). The Houses were named after influential women with assigned house colours, as follows: Jane Austen (red), Marie Curie (green), Rosalind Franklin (blue), Rosa Parks (yellow), Christina Rossetti (purple) and Mary Shelley (turquoise). The emblem of the school is a snowdrop, which features on all the House badges.

Productions

The school has an award winning handbell team, who have played at the Royal Albert Hall. Every other year the school performs a musical which involve the whole school. In recent years these have been West Side Story, Les Misérables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Little Shop of Horrors, The Sound of Music, and Grease. The girls also participate in Bournemouth School's productions such as Bugsy Malone, Jesus Christ Superstar, and in 2014, a musical written by sixth form students based upon Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In the years where a musical is not performed, members of staff participate in a staff pantomime, with all proceeds going to charity.

Other extra curricular activities

Bournemouth School for Girls enters teams every year in the Mock Trial Competition, MACE debating, ESU public speaking, Rotary public speaking and Schools' Challenge competitions. There are also friendly debates fortnightly between BSG and BS, held in Bournemouth School's lecture theatre at lunchtime. There is a lower school debating competition sponsored by local solicitors, HG Walker. Also running are sports clubs for table tennis, a gym club, trampolining and ultimate frisbee; as well as Junior Drama club, History club, Science club, and various support clubs for students having difficulty with subjects. There is also now a comedy club, and in 2011, the Science club won a competition called "seeITgrow" run by the IT company Viglen, gaining first place in the tallest sunflower category for secondary schools with a height of 3 metres. A small group of students have also recently sent off their entry for Kid Witness News, an international documentary competition for schools.

Sport

Sports are an important part at Bournemouth School for Girls, which was recognised when in 2012, the school was selected by LloydsTSB to be a part of the National Olympic Torch Relay, in which 10 pupils carried an Olympic torch through Bournemouth.

CCF

The school also has an active Combined Cadet Force, a rarity for a state-funded school. The CCF currently has over 150 members from both Bournemouth School and Bournemouth School for girls. The CCF is run mostly by senior cadets in the 6th forms at both schools. The CCF is open to pupils in year 9 (age 13) upwards with an annual recruitment usually in February. The CCF is split into three sections; Army, Navy and RAF. Each has its own uniform (Green for the Army, Royal Blue for the RAF and Navy Blue for the Navy). The structure follows a military system, with four senior cadets, four section ICs and other ranks, including Flight Sargeant, Private, Sniper and Wingman.

Activities that cadets are able to take part in include gliding, flying, shooting, the Ten Tors walk, national exchanges and camps including Penhale central camp in the summer term. There is also a Band section that rehearses every week, also run by sixth form cadets, with each member choosing which uniform they wish to wear according to the section they want to be affiliated with.

Ofsted

Bournemouth School for Girls has won praise from Inspectors following their recent visits, achieving 'Outstanding' in all aspects of school life in October 2012. Inspectors noted 'the very good teaching and good leadership at all levels that enable pupils to achieve very well and develop into confident young adults.' They comment that 'staff are knowledgeable and supportive; they transfer their love of learning to the pupils and help them to achieve very well.'

Pupils at the school also come in for high praise, not only for 'their very high levels of determination to succeed' but also for their 'exemplary behaviour'. The sixth form is described as ‘highly effective'. 'Provision is very good in academic subjects and for students' personal development.'

Notable Former Pupils