Thornden School

Subjects

The following subjects are taught at Thornden School: Art, Business and Economics, Dance, Drama, Design and Technology, English, Geography, History, ICT, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), Music, Physical Education, Religious Education and Science.

Classes

The tutor groups consist of French, Spanish and German sides. There are ten tutor groups in each year, (AF, AG, FF, FS, FX, GX, KF, KS, MF, MS)) after the yearly intake increased and nine was no longer enough. The last year group to have nine tutor groups left in the Summer of 2007. Each tutor group has a maximum of 28 pupils, however pupils joining in 2014 and later are in tutor groups with up to thirty, as the intake increased.

Each year group has their own head of year who stays with them as they progress through the school, and will respond to serious problems that arise between students. Students are also sorted into tutor groups, headed by members of staff to enable students to be monitored throughout their time at Thornden, to deal with more day-to-day problems. Each tutor group has their own designated "tutor room" where students must report to at the start of the day to be registered, and then may return here at lunch to socialise, before another register is taken at the end of lunch. If a tutor group has a PE, Tech, dance or drama teacher, different arrangements will be made and they will have a room used by a teacher who does not have a tutor group, such as a head of year. However, tutor groups who have Science teachers are not allowed in the labs at break or lunch, and can only enter with the permission and presence of the teacher.

The naming convention for the tutor groups dates back from former house system that was scrapped in 1995. Since then houses only held relevance during the annual Sports Day, with the different houses competing, although this has also been removed in favour of competition between individual tutor groups. The houses are Albatross, Falcon, Kestrel and Merlin. At this time there were only French and German sides of the houses. FX and GX were additional tutor groups added, with the X standing for Extra.

In Year 9, pupils choose their options for GCSE. At Thornden, all pupils are strongly advised to select at least one modern foreign language from either French, German or Spanish. Some pupils may take up a second language for Year 9, which was usually Spanish, prior to its introduction at Year 7. KG and MG tutors have now been phased out as a result of this change.

Staff

There are 94 members of staff at Thornden School, some of which are Heads of Year or Senior Staff members. Dr. Robert Alwyn Sykes is the Headteacher. Sue Whelan is Associate Headteacher and will take over as Head Teacher at the start of the 2016-17 academic year.

Productions

As Thornden is a performing Arts College, many productions take place inside Thornden Hall involving Thornden Pupils and the wider community. The Thornden Operatic and Musical Society have performed dozens of musicals, most notably Les Misérables, Follies, Aladdin, Oliver!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Fiddler on the Roof. Summer of 2007 was when Smike was presented. Aladdin took place just after Christmas 2007 and The Diary of Anne Frank took place in early April 2008. It starred pupils from year groups 9 and 10.

Other performances take place throughout the year for example, Teacher's Got Talent and Thornden's Got Talent in aid of charity, and the yearly Star for a Night which takes place over 2 nights. Auditions were held on 10 September 2008 for Oliver! and Dracula, the Musical.

Academic Performance

98% of pupils at the school achieved at least 5 A*-C GCSE grades in the Summer of 2011 . The most recent inspection was in June 2007, when Thornden achieved an 'outstanding' grade from OFSTED inspectors. Including English and Maths, the figure was 98% - the best state comprehensive school in Hampshire.

Thornden's results were already at a very high level. The corresponding figures for 2010 were 97% and 98%. To have secured improvement even at these very high levels is a fantastic achievement. The provisional figures also indicate that the value added results (which take account of the level of achievement of the pupils when they entered the school) will also be very high again. There is a distinctive ethos at Thornden which combines a relatively informal and friendly approach with a prime focus on achievement of each individual student.

Thornden Hall

See Thornden Hall

Thornden Hall is part of a performing arts centre, which was awarded a Commendation in the Civic Trust Awards 2005. Thornden Hall was opened in May 2003 in the presence of percussionist Evelyn Glennie. It is a concert hall designed with acoustics for music performances, with a stage large enough to accommodate a full orchestra and an audience capacity of 388 people. The venue can be adapted for other dance and drama events, presentations and lectures. In addition to the concert hall there are two specialist drama studios, two music rooms and a dance studio, as well as foyer and bar area.

Thornden Hall is the home of the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra, Eastleigh Area Schools Orchestra, Thornden Community Wind Band, TOMS, Stagecoach Theatre Arts, and Tribe Community Arts, who all rehearse or hold classes in the performing arts centre throughout the week. The concert hall is also used for meetings and presentations such as the Hampshire Sports Awards, Blake Lapthorn Linnell Challenge Lecture and Women's Institute "Evening with Kate Adie".

Fire In 2002

In the Winter of 2002 (on December 1, 2002) there was a fire at the school which caused extensive damage to the food and textiles rooms. It also damaged the maths classrooms above. The fire spread rapidly through a wing of the building and took 50 fire fighters from four areas three hours to bring under control. Temporary classrooms were used during repair work, including huts. Two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, were charged with arson in connection with the fire which severely damaged the school. The school was closed for two days as a result.

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