Stanwell School

A Victorian beginning with a fresh twist

The school originally opened in 1897 as Penarth Grammar School during the rapid Victorian expansion of the Penarth, Cogan, Llandough and Dinas Powys areas following the building of Cardiff and Penarth docks to handle the burgeoning South Wales coal trade. Between 1891 and 1901 the population of the town expanded from 12,000 to over 15,000 people and the need for a new school was paramount.

Unusually the school was established for both boys and girls at a time when most British grammar schools were single sex establishments and few girls were even expected to complete a grammar school education. However, within the school the sexes remained segregated during the working day with separate school entrances, classrooms, teaching staff and playground areas. The girls' curriculum included only reading, writing, arithmetic and sewing, but the boys instead studied the sciences, Latin and ancient Greek. All children left school at the age of fourteen until the educational reforms introduced by the Conservative government's Education Board President Rab Butler in his Education Act 1944.

Initially the only building on the site was the original school building that still stands, facing onto Archer Road, the headmaster's private residence on the corner of Archer and Stanwell roads (later used as a home by the resident caretaker) and a small chapel building that was later converted into a physics laboratory during the 1940s.

In the early years the school roll was bolstered by the children from Radyr, Morganstown, Whitchurch and Rhiwbina where there was no secondary school. The nine mile steam train journey to Penarth Grammar and St Cyres Secondary Modern was easier and quicker than the road journey to any closer Cardiff schools. Penarth served the County of Glamorgan, whereas Cardiff schools only served those within the city limits. The situation only changed in 1968 when Radyr's own secondary school was built and the direct rail link was removed by the Beeching Axe. With the introduction of comprehensive schools, there was no further need to travel outside Cardiff to the County Grammar School.

During the second world war, the school took in evacuees from other parts of the UK. Pupils from Whitchurch continued to travel from Cardiff despite air raids and bombing. There was also a barrage balloon unit posted on the playing field, and pupils were allocated local houses to run to in the event of an air raid.

Into the 20th century

Penarth's town rugby pitch had been dug up and used for growing vegetables by local residents during First World War food shortages, so between 1919 and 1924 the traditional annual Good Friday rugby matches between Penarth RFC and the Barbarians were staged instead on the grammar school's playing field, when most of the town's population turned up to watch and cheer. In the autumn of 1924 the new Athletic Ground on Lavernock Road, a gift to the town by the Earl of Plymouth, was opened and the Good Friday matches were moved to their new home the following year.

In 1960 the previously segregated sexes were combined into a co-educational school that was renamed as Penarth County Grammar School but the increasing school population had far expanded beyond the available accommodation and a large number of temporary portakabin buildings were added and increasingly built across the original playgrounds and playing fields. These temporary buildings included a gymnasium (1955), chemistry and biology(1952) laboratories, domestic science (now food technology) kitchen, woodwork and metalwork shops, several ranges of classrooms and a toilet block. Originally planned to last no longer than ten years, many of the temporary buildings remained in use well into the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1971 the local authority funded the building of a new youth club on the school site, near the Stanwell Road side entrance, called Penarth Youth Wing and the facility was utilised by the school during the day as additional accommodation for music and drama classes.

Developments

Entry to the school in the early years had been by 11-plus examination with only those pupils that achieved the highest scores in the area's feeder schools being accepted. However, in the late 1960s a Labour government led educational reform, through several ministerial directives and eventually the Education Reform Act 1968, that was accepted and implemented by the education authority, scrapped the Eleven-Plus examination and with it the segregated tripartite strata of grammar, technical grammar and secondary modern schools. In 1970 the school became a co-educational comprehensive and renamed as Stanwell Comprehensive School.

Between 1990 and 1998 Stanwell was a grant maintained school operating under direct government funding and effecting its own student selection process, outside the normal procedures of the local education authority. It was during this period of grant maintained status that the vast amount of cash investment was injected into providing new school buildings and the superb teaching environment that can be seen today.

The grant maintained system ceased in 1998 under the new Labour government and, renamed again as Stanwell School, it now has foundation status within the education authority but with autonomous school governors controlling admissions to the school, employing the school's staff and owning the school's estate.

Performing Arts

In recent years the school has hosted several dramatic and musical presentations including Jesus Christ Superstar, Alice in Wonderland and Cabaret. The school was the first in Europe to perform the School Edition of Les Misérables in 2002, and the first school ever to perform The Phantom of the Opera, in December 2011, in celebration of the musical's 25th anniversary. The state of the art theatre and auditorium is equipped with a range of musical instruments such as modern keyboards, electric guitars, drums and pianos. The latest lighting systems are installed in the auditorium and other performance areas. The Drama department also took part in the Royal National Theatre Youth Connection where pupils in years 10-13 performed a newly commissioned production entitled Success by playwright Nick Drake at the school, followed by a performance at the Wales Millennium Centre on 9 April 2009. Other schools also perform in Stanwell's auditorium, such as Albert Primary School with their production of Annie in 2009 and their production of Hairspray in 2010.

Senior Production (Years 10-13):

Junior Production (Years 8 & 9):

Vision statement

An imaginative and inspired use has been made of the school's postcode "2XL" by the school's vision statement of "Learning to Excel". Stanwell school remains clearly focused on learning and excellence as defined by "improving on your previous best". Many aspects of the school's educational standards have been recognised nationally, through awards, as areas of good practice.

Catchment

Most pupils transfer at age eleven from one of the four main partner primary schools: Albert Road Primary, Evenlode Primary, Victoria Primary and Sully Primary. The first three schools being within a walking distance and designated buses transporting the pupils from nearby Sully. Pupils are drawn from the full range of abilities although the majority of pupils are of average ability and above. Only three pupils have statements of special educational needs (SEN) and a further 143 have been identified as having particular needs.

Additionally pupils come from a wide range of social circumstances. The school feels that half are neither prosperous nor disadvantaged, with half equally divided between the other two extremes. Only six per cent of pupils are registered as entitled to free school meals, which is lower than both local and national averages. Few pupils come from ethnic heritages or have a language other than English as their first language. Very few (less than 1 percent) pupils speak Welsh as a first language or to an equivalent standard. Welsh is taught and examined as a second language only. Only one pupil currently receives support teaching in English as an additional language.

Results

Stanwell's 2008 A level results broke previous school records with 22 students achieving four A grades or better, with the top nine students achieving five grade As or better. One quarter of Stanwell pupils achieved three A grades or better, with the average points score per pupil exceeding three A grades (81 points per student).

Sixth Form and Beyond

At sixteen years of age, most pupils choose to remain at the school to continue with their studies in the sixth form. Stanwell has over 400 6th form students, over 95% of which also studied GCSEs at the school at Key stage 4. To be eligible for 6th form, a student must have achieved at least 5 A*-C grades at GCSE. The school has recently undergone building work to create a (approximately) 15x20m 'study area' (only available to the upper-sixth form; Year 13) with scenic views across the courtyard through the full-height windows, soundproof 'quiet rooms', an informal lounge seating area, 12 computer workstations, a hot beverage vending machine and tasteful shrubbery to add to the calming atmosphere.

A high proportion of students go on to continue their studies at university, and the school well exceeds the national average for Oxbridge acceptances (for state-funded schools).

Most recent ESTYN inspection

ESTYN is the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales. The most recent ESTYN school inspection report records:

School badge

The school badge represents the coat of arms of Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth.

Notable former pupils