Tring School

History

In the early 19th century, the only education local children received was from the church-run school of St Peter and St Paul's, which taught around 240 pupils together in the Vestry Hall. However this was insufficient because the school only operated on Sundays and, in the opinion of the Brougham inspectors of 1811 at least, was severely unprovided for in comparison with Long Marston school, which contained only 92 students.

Tring National School was founded in 1842 by Church of England Revd Edward I. Randloph, with the assistance of a grant from the National Society, on land granted by the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford. At that time it was built on Aylesbury Road in the middle of Tring, where Tring Library now stands.

During the First World War, the school building was taken over as a military hospital.

In the 1930s the junior and secondary departments were re-organised as separate schools, though still occupying the same building. The junior school would later become Bishop Wood C of E Junior School. In 1956 the senior school, now known as Tring School, moved to its present site at the top of Mortimer Hill, to the east of the town, and in 1969 it was re-organised as an all-ability 11–19 co-educational school.

The school converted to academy status in August 2012.

Academic standards

Following their inspection in January 2006, Ofsted rated both the school and the sixth form Good, point two on a four-point scale. Ofsted commented "The overall effectiveness of the school is good. Since the last inspection standards in modern foreign languages have improved, better information is provided to parents about their children's progress. There are more science laboratories and a larger library ... Students make good progress and achieve high standards.". However, as an improvement point, they also said "Heads of departments do not always effectively share good ideas with staff."

In August 2007 head teacher Julia Wynd, a teacher of cookery, stated how pleased she was with that year's A-level results.

Awards

The school has attained Investor in People status, is a designated Specialist Humanities College, with History, Geography and English as its lead subjects. It has been granted a healthy schools status.

House System

The students of the school are separated into four houses, namely Ascott, Claydon, Halton and Waddesdon all of which are country houses from the local area, each of which has its own Head of House. They compete annually for a House Cup as well as for other cups and trophies throughout the year with the cup being presented after the final event of the year, sports day. So far only one house has never won the House Cup, Claydon. Halton have won the cup the most times. Each house has its own colour: Blue, Red, Green and Yellow respectively.

Since September 2009 Tring School's form system has incorporated vertical tutoring, with each tutor group including pupils from the same house across the age range of the school. Before this was implemented, each year had eight administrative forms with two belonging to each house which are distinguished by either the suffix X or Y.

Layout

Tring School's physical facilities consist of seven 'blocks', each of which has been named after a previous Headteacher of the school. Each block houses different subject areas. 'Beloe' is for Drama, ICT, Modern Foreign Languages, Religious Education (previously Economics and Business Studies) and Music. 'Desborough' is for Economics and Business studies (previously Religious Education) and also contains the main assembly hall and an ICT classroom. 'Fells' is administration, Sociology, Leisure and Tourism and Maths. 'Hobson' is also for Maths, and for Geography. 'Neville' contains English and History. 'Thomas' holds Art, and Design and Technology. 'Watkins' holds 'Science'. There is also a separate sixth-form block and a separate changing room area and gym (sometimes used as a hall for examinations) which are not part of any block.

In recent years only two Headteachers have not had a block named after them, Headmaster Harrison because the letter 'H' had already been taken by 'Hobson', and Headmistress Trueman because no building work has been done since she left. However, as 'T' has been taken by 'Thomas' it is unlikely she will have a block named after her.

Relations with other schools

Tring maintains relations with many schools both locally and internationally. Tring's music department maintains a regular exchange the music department from Carroll High School (Southlake, Texas), in which students from the bands and choirs of both schools go over to their respective counterparts and stay and play music with them for two weeks either way. The last trip to Texas took place in October 2012.

Tring also maintains relations with Ashlyns School, which has been awarded specialist school status as a Language College. Students from Tring sixth form who are taking a language for A-level go to Ashlyns while students from Ashlyns who are taking music for A-level come to Tring, whose music department is far better equipped than Ashlyns.

Relations with local primary schools such as Grove Road Primary School and Bishop Wood School are also maintained. Students from Tring visit the schools to help with sports days and to help students in year 6, the majority of whom will be moving to Tring the next academic year, to learn more about the school and to give advice about moving up to secondary school.

Sport

On Wednesday 14 December 2011, Tring School U18 Rugby Team won the U18 Hertfordshire County School Cup after defeating Bishop's Stortford High School 17-15 at Old Albanian RFC.