Corfe Hills School

Corfe Hills School
Address
Higher Blandford Road Broadstone , Dorset , BH18 9BG England
Information
Motto	Comprehensive Excellence
Established	1976
Local authority	Poole
Specialist	Technology College
Ofsted	Reports
Headteacher	Mr Alan Hinchliffe
Gender	Coeducational
Age	13 to 18
Enrollment	1,618
Religion	Jewish, Hindu
Houses	Tom, Dick & Harry
Website	http://www.corfe-hills.dorset.sch.uk/

Corfe Hills School Main Entrance

Corfe Hills School, is a purpose built secondary school in the urban fringe between Poole and Wimborne, located in Broadstone, Poole, England. In 2001, the school was given Technology College status. The school has over 1600 students and over 100 teaching staff. It is one of the largest secondary schools in Dorset, and serves Corfe Mullen, Broadstone, Wimborne, Merley and Sturminster Marshall. It also has a small sixth form college. The school was established in 1976 and has since grown every decade, with a periodical expansion of buildings. The current headteacher is Alan Hinchliffe, appointed in 2003, succeeding Andrew Williams who lead the school for over ten years.

Uniform

For lower school students, the uniform is plain dark chocolate brown trousers or skirt, a 'camel' shirt and Corfe Hills brown tie sporting the school logo (for boys) and a brown sweatshirt with dark shoes. Sixth Formers wear smart office clothes with a tie for boys.

Productions

For over 25 years the school has produced a musical for a week at the Poole Lighthouse theatre, a regional arts centre. Further music and drama productions take place in the spring and summer terms - a Christmas carol service is held at Wimborne Minster and as a spring concert at the St. Nicholas church in nearby Corfe Mullen. The school also enters a team into the annual Rock Challenge Dance competition, coming second at the 2006 southern finals. Recent productions include Crazy for You, Godspell, Tommy, In to the Woods, Hot Mikado, "Anything Goes" and Sweet Charity. Most recently Fiddler on the Roof was performed at the Lighthouse.

Sports tour

The school has international links, of which its rugby, hockey and Netball tours are the best known. The most recent tour was to New Zealand and Cook Islands in summer 2007, and in recent years the teams have travelled to South Africa, New Zealand and Fiji, led by coaches Lyn and Di Lewis, Lyn being the chairman of the English Schools Rugby Association. The school sporting facilities include an indoor sports hall, gym, and outside area, including football and rugby pitches, a cricket strip, an all weather clay hockey pitch, a 400m running track and four tennis courts.

Ofsted attendance inspection, summary

Date of Inspection: September 2006

• The school has sustained an attendance rate over a number of years which compares very favourably with the local authority average. The modest increase in absence in 2005/6 is mainly reflected the application by the school of stricter rules for the registration of pupils arriving late.
• For the few pupils tracked on the inspection, levels of engagement and achievement were at least satisfactory and in many cases good.
• Academically the school GCSE results are above the LEA and the national average.

Quality of teaching and learning

• The school uses a good range of measures to emphasise to pupils and parents the links between attendance and achievement.
• The pupils interviewed who had been supported by the “TOPS” facility within the school spoke particularly positively about the help they had received.
• However, most reported variations between members of staff across the school in terms of support when returning to lessons after a period of absence.
• The quality of teaching and learning in the few lessons seen on this visit were satisfactory.

Quality of curriculum

• The quality of the curriculum in supporting attendance is good.
• The school has substantially expanded the range of activities offered at Key Stage 4 and this has enabled more customised packages to be put together to meet pupils’ individual needs.

Leadership and management of attendance

• Leadership and management in relation to attendance are outstanding.
• Attendance is an integral part of the school’s overall development planning and is given high priority within this.
• The school makes good use of its very detailed registration information to analyse patterns of attendance for both individual pupils and groups.
• Attendance is monitored regularly and planning and review for individual cases is detailed and rigorous.
• Appropriate use is made of rewards and sanctions, both for pupils and parents.
• There is effective collaboration with other agencies and schools.

Inclusion

• The provision for inclusion in relation to attendance issues is good.
• All the pupils interviewed said that there was at least one member of staff who took a particular interest in their well-being and progress.
• All said similarly that there was at least one person who they could approach with confidence about any problems.
• There are a number of sources of individual support for pupils with problems.

External links

• School website
• Ofsted Report