Kennet School

Last updated

Kennet School
Kennet.svg
Kennet School's shield
Address
Kennet School
Stoney Lane

, ,
RG19 4LL

England
Coordinates 51°24′05″N1°14′55″W / 51.4015°N 1.2487°W / 51.4015; -1.2487
Information
Type Academy
Established1957
School boardLocal Governing Board
Department for Education URN 136647 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Head teacherGrace Rigg
Staff199[ citation needed ]
Gender Coeducational
Age11to 18
Enrolment1815
Houses4: St David, St Francis, St Michael, St Patrick
Colour(s)Navy blue and gold
  
PublicationKennet News (1975–1990)
Kennet Chronicle (2002–2004)
Website http://www.kennetschool.co.uk/

Kennet School is an academy secondary school in Thatcham, Berkshire, England. In 2011, Kennet was the highest achieving state school in West Berkshire using contextual value added results and third-highest using five good GCSEs. [1]

Contents

The school opened on 11 September 1957 as a secondary modern, before converting into a comprehensive in 1971 [2] and finally changing to an academy on 1 April 2011. [3] Ms G Rigg was appointed Acting Headteacher as Mrs G Piper stepped up to become CEO of the Trust in September 2022.

Kennet is one of few schools in England to have three specialisms: in September 2000 the school was given Technology College status. In February 2002 a new technology block was built on the north of the site to replace dispersed classrooms. In March 2005 the school received Arts College status [4] Most recently in April 2006 it was awarded the status of Language College. [5]

History

The Risman Library NewKennet library.JPG
The Risman Library

The Risman Library was opened on 23 September 1997 by Councillor Ann Risman, the Chairman of Berkshire County Council, who was accompanied by Chris Woodhead, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England. The library is designed to be a low energy environment by incorporating high levels of natural light and ventilation. [6] It stocks over 22,000 books, [7] has seating for pupils and has a separate Sixth Form study section, which doubles as a seminar room.

In 2016 accusations were reported of child sex abuse by former teacher Robert Neill (1986-2003). [8] The school was criticised for not following professional guidelines and missing opportunities to prevent the abuse, prompting an investigation by the West Berkshire Safeguarding Children Board. [9] In 2016, a local vicar Pete Jarvis was accused of child sex offences. [10] Jarvis was an active member of the school community and held youth counselling sessions with students. Since then, Kennet School has been reported by OFSTED to be 'highly vigilant' in keeping pupils safe. [11]

In September 2017, Kennet School and the West Berkshire Council had a legal dispute over £43,000 allegedly owed to the council over the use of the conjoined leisure centre. [12]

Awards

Kennet was awarded the Artsmark Gold by the Arts Council England in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013; and the Platinum award in 2018. [13] It was also awarded the Sportsmark by Sport England in 2001. [14] The school was also awarded the Challenge Award by National Association for Able Children in Education on 22 November 2006 and re-accredited on in November 2010 and November 2017 respectively, as recognition for its efforts to support Able, Gifted and Talented pupils. [15] Kennet was only the 16th school in the country to receive the award at the time.

Teaching awards

The previous headmaster, Paul Dick (1989-2017) was appointed an OBE for Services to Education in the 2000 New Year Honours. [16] Paul Dick was also the Category Winner in 2001 in The Leadership Trust Award for School Leadership in a Secondary School in South of England. [17] [18]

Sixth Form

The sixth form block under construction Kennet building works.JPG
The sixth form block under construction

There is a Sixth Form at Kennet for students who wish to continue their education after the age of 16. There is a section of the library provided for Sixth Form use only.

From the 2022/23 academic year, Kennet has two Head Students rather than a Head Girl and Head Boy. [19]

Extracurricular activities

Houses

When pupils join the school they become a member of a house. The house system provides a structure for pastoral care and competition through sports (including amongst others rugby, netball athletics, football hockey), music, performing arts and day-to-day studies through the award of house points and commendation.

There are four houses at the school: St Patrick, St Michael, St Francis, and St David. Now defunct houses are St George and St Andrew, which were dissolved in the mid to late 1980s. Each house is associated with a colour.

Facilities

Kennet News

Kennet News mastheads KennetKennetNewsTitles.png
Kennet News mastheads

The Kennet News school newspaper was first issued in May 1975 at the price of two new pence and ran until the late 1980s.

Ofsted

In 2005 the school was criticised in the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) report for lacking 'a daily act of collective worship' [20] and not reporting pupils' ICT progress in years 10 and 11, [20] both of which are statutory requirements. All maintained English schools must provide daily worship that is broadly Christian, although parents can remove their children and sixth formers may decline to attend. [21] Since the school is now an academy (not a maintained school) this requirement does not necessarily apply. The report also found that not all subject department heads have good enough monitoring systems to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

The 2008 reduced tariff report rated the school overall as "outstanding". The main recommendations of the report were to improve sixth form teaching including inconsistency in the quality of teaching between subjects and setting more accurately the right standard of work to stretch and develop pupils. [22] The local Member of Parliament, Richard Benyon, has in the past spoken out over shortfalls for the budget towards Kennet School's sixth form which could explain its under performance in relation to the rest of the school. [23]

The inspection in 2014, resulted in the school being rated as "Requires Improvement", although the sixth form was noted in the report as being "good". [24]

The May 2016 inspection resulted in the school regaining its "Outstanding" status which has been since reconfirmed via the November 2022 inspection. [25]

Notable alumni

Headteachers

Kennet's headmasters and headmistress, starting from establishment in 1957, are.

YearsName
Kennet Modern School
September 1957 to
December 1960
Ben Howe
January 1961 to
July 1971
George Hurford
Kennet Comprehensive School
September 1971 to
July 1978
George Hurford
September 1978 to
July 1982
Terrence Enright
September 1982 to
December 1982
Keith Iles (acting)
January 1983 to
July 1987
Nicholas Wheeler-Robinson
September 1987 to
December 1988
Keith Iles (acting)
January 1989 to
31 January 2009
Paul Dick
1 February 2009 to
31 August 2010 [27] [28]
Paul Dick (executive)
Susan Croft (associate) [29]
1 December 2010 to
31 March 2011 [27] [28]
Paul Dick (executive)
Paul German (associate) [29]
Kennet School (Academy)
1 April 2011 to
3 September 2012 [27] [28]
Paul Dick (executive)
Paul German (associate) [29]
4 September 2012 to
21 December 2017
Paul Dick [30]
4 January 2018 to September 2022Gemma Piper (interim until officially appointed Executive Headteacher in February 2018) [31]
September 2022Grace Rigg (interim until appointed in November 2022) [32]

Related Research Articles

The Morley Academy is a mixed secondary school located in Morley, West Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheldon School</span> Academy in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England

Sheldon School is a large mixed secondary school and sixth form in Chippenham, Wiltshire for students aged 11 to 18 and is the largest school in Wiltshire. Since April 2011, it has been an Academy. It is one of three secondary schools in Chippenham, the others being Abbeyfield and Hardenhuish. The school is headed by Peter Lynch, former Headteacher of Bradley Stoke Community School, who was appointed in September 2023.The school is off the Hardenhuish Lane in the southern region of Hardenhuish Park, which is all that separates it from Hardenhuish School to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Bartholomew's School</span> Academy in Newbury, Berkshire, England

St. Bartholomew's School has been a non-selective local comprehensive school since 1975. It is a co-educational state funded academy school whose predecessor schools were founded in 1466 in Newbury, Berkshire in the United Kingdom. It accepts students aged 11–18 within its local geographical catchment area, and has approximately 1,970 students on roll, including a sixth form of around 620. It is currently rated by Ofsted as "Outstanding".

Bishop Luffa School, named after a former Bishop of Chichester, Ralph de Luffa, is a co-educational Church of England secondary school located in Chichester, West Sussex, England. The number of enrolled pupils was around 1,400 in 2010, in eight 'Year' house-forms and the sixth form. The school, formerly a 'Technology College', is now a 'CofE Teaching School', holding Leading Edge status, with national Artsmark and Sportsmark also having been awarded. From its foundation to 2013 the school was a Voluntary Aided establishment, on 1 December 2013 the school successfully converted to Academy status.

The Kings of Wessex Academy, formerly known as the Kings of Wessex School, is a co-educational secondary school in Cheddar, Somerset, England. In 2015, it had 1,176 students aged 13 to 18, of both sexes and all ability levels including 333 in the sixth form. In November 2016, the academy became part of the Wessex Learning Trust which incorporated eight academies from the surrounding area. Kings is a Church of England school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stantonbury School</span> Secondary school in Milton Keynes, England

Stantonbury School is a coeducational secondary school located in north Milton Keynes, England, established in 1974. It is the second largest secondary comprehensive school in the United Kingdom with more than 1,600 school students aged 11–18, as of January 2020. It is built as part of a community site, including shared facilities including 'Stantonbury Sports & Leisure Centre', 'Stantonbury Theatre', a health centre and a church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lytham St Annes High School</span> Foundation school in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England

Lytham St Annes High School is a community school maintained by Lancashire County Education Authority. It is an 11–16 Comprehensive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Aidan's Church of England High School</span> Academy in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England

St Aidan's Church of England High School is a mixed Church of England secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. It currently houses over 2500 students of both lower school and sixth form age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Wilfrid's Catholic High School, North Featherstone</span> Academy in England, West Yorkshire, England

St Wilfrid's Catholic High School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. It has Vocational specialisms.

Jubilee High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in Addlestone, Surrey, England. The school holds Artsmark Gold Award and International School status.

Alvechurch Church of England Middle School is a coeducational Church of England middle school located in the village of Alvechurch in Worcestershire, England. As of 2020 it had around 430 pupils from ages 9 to 13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Crispin's School</span> Academy in Wokingham, Berkshire, England

St Crispin's School, founded in 1953, is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located in Wokingham, Berkshire, England. There were 1,164 students at the school in 2017, of whom 234 were in the Sixth form. The school is on the London Road, just outside Wokingham town centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bury St Edmunds County High School</span> Academy converter school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England

Bury St Edmunds County High School, previously Bury St Edmunds County Upper School, is a 13 to 19 co-educational comprehensive part of the Bury St Edmunds All-Through Trust, comprising County High School, Horringer Court School, Westley School and Barrow CEVC and Tollgate Primaries.

Guilsborough Academy is a co-educational academy school in Guilsborough, Northamptonshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Willink School</span> Comprehensive community school in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

The Willink School is a comprehensive community school in Burghfield Common, Berkshire, United Kingdom. Founded in 1957, the school is co-educational and has an enrolment of 1,218 students aged 11–18. The headteacher is Nicolle Browning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theale Green School</span> Academy in Theale, Berkshire, England

Theale Green School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the village of Theale, Berkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Piggott School</span> Academy in Wargrave, Reading, Berkshire, England

The Piggott School is a Church of England academy secondary school in Wargrave in Berkshire, England. The school has approximately 1,516 pupils and around 185 teaching staff. The school specialises in Modern Languages and Humanities. It has been awarded International school status by the British Council. The most recent inspection from Ofsted achieved an overall effectiveness rating of 'Good'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadoak Academy</span> Academy in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England

Broadoak Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England.

Henry Tyndale School is a special school located in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, catering for pupils of all academic ages (2-19). The main building accommodates 100 pupils up to Year 11, with a further 15 pupils in a purpose-built Sixth form college.

St Edmund's Catholic School is a co-educational Roman Catholic secondary school located in Dover, Kent, England. The school is named after Edmund of Abingdon, and is under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark.

References

  1. BBC News – Secondary school league tables in West Berkshire
  2. Kennet School prospectus for 2013/4, page 2
  3. Department for Education EduBase
  4. Newbury Today – Kennet awarded third specialism Archived 3 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. DCSF specialism listing – Language College (Excel file) Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. SWA Architects- Education Projects
  7. Kennet School prospectus page 11 Archived 7 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Staff, Agency (9 March 2016). "Kennet School teacher Robert Neill jailed for rape of a pupil". getreading. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  9. "'Opportunities missed' to stop sex abuse". BBC News. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  10. "Vicar jailed for abusing teenage girls". BBC News. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  11. "Kennet School found to have effective child safety measures" . Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  12. "Kennet School and council in dispute over £43,000 payment" . Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  13. Artsmark master record
  14. March 2005 OFSTED report (page 37, section 118)
  15. NACE – Challenge Award achieving schools Archived 18 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  16. BBC News – For services to education
  17. Guardian – Working together
  18. The Teaching Awards 2001 – Mr Paul Dick Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  19. https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/school-elects-new-student-senior-leaders-9352297/ [ bare URL ]
  20. 1 2 March 2005 OFSTED report (page 7)
  21. Department for Education – Collective worship
  22. Ofsted reduced tariff school inspection report 2008
  23. Newbury Today – Benyon speaks out on sixth forms Archived 25 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  24. "School inspection report" (PDF). 3 March 2014.
  25. Ofsted Communications Team (25 July 2022). "Find an inspection report and registered childcare". reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  26. "New UKIP leader's local links" . Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  27. 1 2 3 "Another accolade for Kennet School, and some small temporary changes from 1 February 2009"
  28. 1 2 3 Newbury Today "Superhead to save troubled Trinity" Archived 23 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  29. 1 2 3 "Letter from West Berkshire Council December 2008"
  30. Kennet School July 2012 newsletter
  31. "Interim headteacher takes the reins at Kennet School" . Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  32. Twitter https://twitter.com/kennetschool/status/1597295387659804672 . Retrieved 3 December 2022.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)