Lawrence Sheriff School
| Lawrence Sheriff School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Clifton Road , , CV21 3AG | |
| Information | |
| Type | Voluntary aided grammar |
| Established | 1878 |
| Local authority | Warwickshire County Council |
| Specialist | Maths and Computing |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Headmaster | Peter Kent |
| Gender | Boys |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrollment | 800 |
| Houses | Caldecott, Simpson, Tait and Wheeler |
| Website | http://lawrencesheriffschool.com/ |
Lawrence Sheriff School is a selective boys' grammar school in Rugby in Warwickshire. The school is named after Lawrence Sheriff, the Elizabethan man who founded Rugby School. The school's name is often shortened to 'LSS'. In a recent OFSTED inspection the school achieved 'outstanding' in all fields of inspection.
History
Lawrence Sheriff School was founded to fulfill Lawrence Sheriff's original intentions to provide a school for the boys of Rugby, which was originally carried out by Rugby School. By the eighteenth century, Rugby School had acquired a national reputation as a public school and moved to its present site.
As the proportion of pupils from outside Rugby increased and the people of the town seemed to benefit less from Lawrence Sheriff's original bequest, local concern led to the nineteenth century proposal of a Lower School for local boys, with Foundation Scholarships to the Great School. The Lower School was opened in 1878 on the present site of Lawrence Sheriff School with a curriculum designed to meet the needs of a commercial education and preparation for Rugby School. By 1906, a compromise between the traditions of the Foundation and a proposal to hand the school over to the County, led to a Governing body chaired by the Headmaster of Rugby School and containing both Foundation and County Governors.
This partnership continued into voluntary aided status under the 1944 Act.
At the time the school opened, it was on the outskirts of the town, which in 1878 was considerably smaller than it is today. The original building (now called Big School), was extended in 1909 with science wings (now used for Chemistry and Physics) on each side. The school continued to grow with several extensions, including the Jubilee Wings (1926 and 1934), the library wing (1957), and major expansion in the early 1960s, which included new biology labs and a new gymnasium. Big School was badly damaged by a fire in 1983, but was immediately restored, so the only tell-tale signs of this event are the steel reinforcements of the ceiling timbers. The venerable school organ was damaged beyond repair and was replaced. The most recent period of growth started in the late 1980s and the school has seen many extensions and new facilities over the last fifteen years.
Present day
Lawrence Sheriff School is now the selective boys' grammar school for Rugby and the surrounding area, with the buildings owned and maintained by the Governors, and the running costs funded by the local Authority.
The school also has an old boys society: the Old Laurentians.
The school has been expanded greatly in the last five years with the construction of a new sixth form centre and the conversion of Penrhos House, originally a lower school common room, into a Music and Drama block.
The school also own nearby playing field, Hart Field, with four Rugby pitches and changing rooms.
Thanks to Sport England funding, the school also houses a regional and local table tennis centre.
Work on the new Learning Resources Centre has begun. This building will have 8 classrooms including a new Maths department and brand new library.
Recent changes
Many contentious changes have been made in the past academic year, including a new timetable and tutoring system. These have seen considerable debate outside of official forums, by staff and students alike. This system is being introduced in other schools around the country. Its common name is "Vertical tutoring", due to the fact that forms now consist of students from every year. In Lawrence Sheriff, forms are also organised so that only pupils from one house are in a form. Since the start of 2007, much more emphasis has been put on house competition by the senior staff, with forms now having to prepare banners and other "supporters' items" for the school's annual sports day. While there was a general consensus among students (and many staff members) about how vertical tutoring was not working, the new house-based activities have introduced renewed criticism, especially from the older students, as they are now expected to spend a not inconsiderable amount of their own time on these house-centric activities when they should be studying for exams. On the other hand, the senior staff like to point out that these activities should bring the students together as houses, and promote friendly – and possibly beneficial – rivalry between houses. They should also encourage students to make friends with people from other year groups in their form, which was not happening before these activities were introduced, even though the different year groups shared form periods with each other.
When asked about vertical tutoring, many students admit that within their form - unless forced to do otherwise by their assigned form tutor - the different years of the school usually keep to themselves within the form room, breaking off into small groups. This is mainly why the "form activities" concept was introduced, although the majority of students still refuse to participate in such things. Some form tutors disagree with the effectiveness of "form activities", as they are made to be used by all years of the form. As this ranges from 10 year olds to 18 year olds, many tutors find the activities to be a waste of time for the majority.
The new timetable also introduced the concept of "enrichment". This meant that pupils would spend half an hour of each day taking lessons in an activity of their choice, with Mondays and Fridays having form time during the enrichment period. Although technically a good idea – and a good effort towards the Department for Education and Skills' goal of "personalised education" – the school's young implementation of the system is widely considered by pupils and staff to be lacklustre. Although pupils were given a wide choice of which "enrichment options" they wanted to take, many were allocated completely different and altogether arbitrary ones. While this could be mitigated during 2006 by talking to the deputy headmistress, the school introduced a rule in 2007 that enrichment options could not be changed. This has left some pupils in a complete mess: one pupil, for example, was given "Warhammer club" as an enrichment option when he had never played Warhammer in his life, and had no intention of taking it up. Or students given German oral practice when they do not study the subject. Some staff have suggested that the system should operate more like a Freshers' Fair, with students being given the choice to find a different enrichment option if their first choice is fully-booked. To this day, there has been no modification to the Enrichment system. It is not unknown within the school that some pupils simply do not attend their enrichment classes, and certain classes do not teach what they are supposed to teach, simply because the majority of the pupils in the class did not choose or want to do the enrichment. Instead, pupils are generally left to do whatever they like.
Notable Old Laurentians
Former pupils at the school are called Old Laurentians and include:
- Steve Beebee — Author and journalist
- Arthur Bostrom — Crabtree in 'Allo 'Allo! (head boy at the school)
- Will Carruthers — singer
- Ben Croshaw — Producer of Zero Punctuation
- Wayne Clarke — award-winning broadcaster
- Reginald Foort — organist
- Robert George Spencer Hudson — geologist
- Jason Pierce — singer
- Mike Powell — Warwickshire cricketer
- James Bryans — Notable Film Critic
- Kevin Warwick — scientist
Other information
- The school has four houses: Wheeler, Simpson, Caldecott and Tait.
- The Parents' Association is in the Guinness Book of Records as the UK's oldest Parents Association
- The school has a partnership with Rugby School and twinned at Years 12 and 13 (the sixth form) of education with Rugby High School