Hounsdown School

Science College and Academy status

Hounsdown gained Science College status in 2005, and the school changed its official title to 'Hounsdown School – A Science College'. With the new title came a new logo, new uniform and a £500,000 government grant to be spent on science equipment. However, rather than spending all the money on science equipment, part was spent to buy a new sports hall.

On 1 August 2011, Hounsdown School officially gained academy status.

Ofsted

In 2005 and 2008 Hounsdown received a judgment of "outstanding" from Ofsted, the latter inspection receiving "outstanding" in all categories.

Department for Education Investment

In May 2013, Hounsdown School was successful in achieving approximately £1.3 million for essential Capital refurbishments/decorating works. The school put in 3 bids, and achieved all three. The school will be re-roofed and the swimming pool changing rooms will be refurbished. Also, the East Block will be re-cladded and double glazed. However, the majority of this work will not begin until September 2013 due to funding conditions. The swimming pool refurbishment work was completed in April 2014. The East Block exterior re-cladding was completed in May 2014. Re-cladding of the science block will begin in September 2014.

Structure

Pupils begin at the school in year seven, most having attended one of the three feeder primary schools: Abbotswood Junior School (majority), Bartley Junior School or Foxhills Junior School. Until KS3 SATs were abandoned nationally, pupils studied the Key Stage 3 syllabus until the SATs. In 2005, instead of taking SATs in year nine, the decision was taken that students would take them in year 8 to give students an extra year of GCSE help. They then pick a cycle of three subjects at the end of year 8 (e.g. drama, music, history) and a language to carry on into year nine. Students then try out these subjects and pick their final GCSE options at the end of year nine, which they could drop at any time during year 10. Many schools in Scotland and Wales use a more traditional system, which, in year nine, has pupils consolidating their learning from primary school and KS3. GCSE courses start for all subjects in year 10, with the examinations held during the summer term of year 11. Pupils can then enter employment, or continue their education at 6th Form College.

Colleges which most students go onto from Hounsdown are Totton, and Brockenhurst.

Key Stage Three

All pupils in years seven and eight study a range of subjects in the National Curriculum.

Key Stage Four

Unlike most schools, pupils at Hounsdown start studying for their GCSE in year nine, rather than year 10. The pupils choose their GCSE options at the start of year nine, but they can be changed at the start of year 10 at the pupil's behest. Compulsory subjects including Science, Mathematics, English, ICT and Religious Education (also known as Applied Ethics) although this may be subject to change. Students were previously required to take one foreign language as well as a course from the Design and Technology category but these are no longer compulsory.

Most students take their final GCSE exams in Year 11 but some students do take them in Year 10 for particular subjects. Coursework, commonly associated with subjects such as Art and Design and Technology, is also accounted towards their final GCSE grades.

Resource centre

The Resources Centre provides a wide range of materials for pupils to use for their coursework in different subjects. The Resources Centre is involved with the Hampshire Book Award, and pupils regularly review new books for the school's library service.

The library keeps audio tapes, CDs, and computers, the latter of which include word-processing programs. Photocopying and document-production is also available at the library. The Library has movie editing facilities and has a range of Technical Resources.

Facilities

Hounsdown School has a strong enthasis on the community, and therefore they hire out their facilities to the public at a certain cost. The school provides a swimming pool, two rugby pitches, two football pitches, their classrooms, the sports hall and the Library (Resources Centre). The Main hall provides a large and flexible staging area where concerts and productions are regularly performed, and is also equipped with lighting and PA theatre equipment. The School provides 6 ICT suites and in early 2013, the school applied for funding for an Apple Mac suite, now situated in the Art block. The Library (Resources Centre) was recently refurbished in 2009 and provides a vast array of books, as well as 50 Networked computers, and a number of Apple Macs. The school has 10 science laboratories, a sports hall and 3 Drama studios and a brand new dance studio, each fitted with multi-fixture lighting rigs and PA systems, also used for lower scale productions. In 2014, the East Block was completed of Re-cladding, a brand-new purpose built Dance Studio was built next to the Sports Hall and the Music areas were refurbished with the inclusion of a new recording studio for GCSE work and professional standard compositions.

Hounsdown Eco-School status

Hounsdown has an eco-school system that consists of 72 representatives (2 from each tutor group). There is an eco-school club that runs every Monday at lunchtime, which is led by the science department's community links class teacher and is run mainly by the lead team that consists of pupils from all years that have shown a high interest in Eco schools. The school has won the bronze and silver awards and achieved the green flag which was raised on 22 October 2009.

Organic garden project

The Organic Garden Project is a project funded by the Young Roots Lottery fund. The project is a pupil-led, fully functional organic garden behind the drama and sports hall it was opened by Chris Packham in 2009.

BBC School Report

Hounsdown is part of the Annual BBC Project – BBC School Report – during the time in which the school has been running the project, they have created many Reports which can be viewed on the school website, including a report on the Closure of the Southampton General Heart Unit, which was broadcast on live BBC South Today on 25 March 2011.

Leadership Re-Structure

During the May 2015 half-term, due to the move to an academy in 2011, and due to the success in gaining capital funding for building works & projects, and changes that have occurred and are occurring naturally in education, the governors had agreed to a temporary new leadership structure from 1 September 2015. In this new structure, Mrs. Turvey would be assumed the role of Executive Headteacher, and Mr D. Veal as Associate Headteacher. Mrs C. Ratcliffe also assumes the role of Senior Deputy Headteacher.

Drink spike scandal

The school was recently in the press due to an incident that took place in a Year 11 class. A pupil's drink was spiked with hydrochloric acid. Two students were suspended over the incident pending investigation. These students were then allowed to return to the school on an isolated basis.