South Camden Community School (SCCS)
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| South Camden Community School | ||
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| "A brilliant place to learn" | ||
| Founded: Replaced: Sir William Collins School 1970-1994 | ||
| Type: Secondary School | ||
| Location: Somers Town, London, UK | ||
| LEA: Camden | ||
| Ofsted number: | ||
| School Category: Public | ||
| Headteacher: Rosemary Leeke | ||
| Staff: | ||
| Students: | ||
| Age Range: 11-18 | ||
| Gender: Mixed | ||
| Website: http://www.sccs.camden.sch.uk | ||
South Camden Community School (SCCS) is a mixed gender comprehensive secondary school with a sixth-form educational institution, specialising as an arts college in the United Kingdom. The headteacher was Huw Salisbury OBE but he left South Camden in 2001. Rosemary Leeke is the current headteacher and is also the first female headteacher in the School's history.
SCCS has extensive ethnic and cultural diversity, with a majority of its student population comprising of Bangladeshi students. There is a large male-bias in the school's student population, although the gap is slowly narrowing. Currently, the school's average GCSE and A Level results are below the average for the LEA and national government records; however, there have been steady improvements.
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[edit] Location
The school is in the London Borough of Camden in England. Its postal address is: South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1 1RG.
[edit] History
SCCS has a long and interesting history and, over the last century, South Camden Community School has come to be known by many different names. In 1993 its name was finally changed to what it is now, from Sir William Collins, run for many years by a well respected Huw Salisbury OBE who made various effective changes to the school.
[edit] Ofsted Report
An Ofsted Report from 2001 suggested behaviour was under-average, but teaching was good at SCCS.
[edit] What SCCS Owns
[edit] City Learning Centre
South Camden Community School is regularly mistaken to own the City Learning Centre (CLC), but in fact has as much a right to use it as other local borough schools, such as Haverstock School and Richard Cobden School, but it does have some special rights concerning use, such as the heads of the CLC setting up the large Computer/Internet network. The network itself has strict rules, such as 'No games', 'No music', 'No swearing', and generally protecting the student and teacher computer accounts from the realities of life — this has caused numerous problems for teachers, as websites intended for use in lessons are often blocked (by accident, or because they fall dubiously into one of the prohibited categories). The CLC itself is connected to the SCCS building on Charrington Street. The CLC is jointly owned by the London Borough of Camden and London Grid for Learning (LGL).
[edit] Somers Town sports centre
Somers Town sports centre is not owned by SCCS at all, but they are in a partnership as the building is located on school land and CCTV footage on the side of building belongs to Somers Town. The sports centre is owned by Sports England and South Camden has a small share.
[edit] Other
- There is a Youth Centre located in an old SCCS building, which isn't owned by the school, though South Camden is the landlord of the building and the centre is still watched by the school keeper.
[edit] School Uniform
The school uniform as SCCS is compulsory. All students Year 7 through Year 11 are required to wear:
- Light blue school polo-shirt with the SCCS logo
- Navy blue school sweatshirt with the SCCS logo
- Black trousers or, for girls, plain black skirt or navy blue shalwar kameez
- Black shoes or black trainers
An optional navy blue school fleece with the SCCS logo is also available, and girls may wear a plain navy, black, or white headscarf for religious reasons. Other than the usual criticism of uniform (hindrance to expression, outdated, little evidence of benefit, so forth), the SCCS uniform has been criticized for over-prescriptiveness, lack of consultation before implementation, and its price.
[edit] B.F.L.
The disciplinary system at SCCS is known as Behavior for Learning (B.f.L.). This behaviour code replaced departmental (e.g., The English Department, The Languages Department) detentions and rewards. It is the first school in Camden to use this system. A series of school assemblies were used to explain its workings, and posters were placed around school printed with the rules and system ideologies. It has caused (and continues to cause) much controversy and has seen several amendments, but no substantial changes since its induction (this is not to say the system hasn't been ameliorated over the last few years).
[edit] Major Arguments For B.f.L.
- past systems have been too disorganized
- few detentions were attended during prior systems
- B.f.L. is said to have worked well in other schools
- good behaviour results in better education
[edit] Major Arguments Against B.f.L.
- B.f.L. has inconsistencies
- it is harder to appeal against mistakes, because it is computerised
- the punishment may not always reflect the crime (the shortest detentions are 45 minutes)
- it was introduced without student consultation
- no education (or any sort of activity) takes place in detention; the time could be better spent
[edit] School Council
SCCS has its own school council, which, in this sense, is a body of student respresentetives voicing the concerns and issues of their peers to ensure cooperation between students and staff when making decisions that affect the school. The council is backed by the school's management, and receives a moderate yearly budget. It began to change systemically after the 2006 school-council elections, and this process is ongoing. As two delegates from every class attend, the old system resulted, theoretically, in council meetings of up to sixty students. This was unworkable, so the council is now two-tiered — several year councils and one whole-school council. The efficacy of the school council is generally slight, but its influence is growing, particularly as meetings become more regular.
[edit] References
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