Type Foundation school DfE number 936/5408 Ofsted Reports Number of students 770 Gender Mixed-sex education | Headteacher Mr Jeremy Garner DfE URN 125308 Tables Phone +44 1883 347818 | |
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Location Burntwood LaneCaterhamSurreyCR3 5YXEngland Motto Grow, Learn, Believe and Achieve | ||
de Stafford School is a mixed secondary school located close to the geographic centre of the lightly dispersed town of Caterham in Surrey, England. The school educates students aged 11 to 16.
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Organisation
It is a comprehensive school which gained foundation school status owing to its being an information and communications technology and mathematics centre of excellence. It is close to the centre of the scattered town of Caterham which borders on two sides the southwestern part of the London Borough of Croydon.
The school employs more than 100 teaching and facilities/administration support staff, which with its facilities enable an average present intake of 180 students each year. Acting as a preliminary to more advanced, applied or theoretical studies at further education colleges, the nearest such state-supported institutions are in Purley, Croydon and in Redhill. The school also annually helps students in their final year to become apprenticed to a skilled trade or profession.
The school also has access to a large sports centre (shared with Tandrige Trust) complete with a 25m swimming pool and a fully air-conditioned sports hall, which is used for PE lessons.
Name and establishment
A parish school was opened in 1804. After enlargements this was superseded by Caterham County Council school that was built in 1872 and enlarged in 1893 and 1909. The school has its origins in this institution and derives its name from a wealthy and politically influential Middle Age lord of the manor and noble who owned one of the manors of the former village in 1372, Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, whose wealthy wife Margaret de Audley, 2nd Baroness Audley owned as co-heir a large set of estates before their marriage including this land.
Students
The make-up of students varies with demography of a wide set of catchment areas drawing on parts of the London Borough of Croydon, Tandridge District and a very small part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead: in 2011 the proportion of students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities was below average, however it was above average in respect of students with a Statement of Special Educational Needs. In 2013 6.4% of children at the school did not have English as their first family language.
In statistics
Due to a franchised sixth form in Purley included in the roll in 2003, the number of students was at the time of that inspection 990.
Transport
The school is connected to the most significant residential estates of the settlements surrounding Caterham and to the largest mixed use urban areas, such as Croydon, Caterham Valley and Purley town centres by bus services. The school connects to the north and north-west also via Caterham railway station.