Barking Abbey Secondary School
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Barking Abbey Secondary School (sometimes referred to as Barking Abbey School: A Specialist Sports College or just Barking Abbey) is a secondary school located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
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[edit] History
Barking Abbey was founded in 1922 as the first co-educational grammar school in England. At the time, it was situated in a largely rural area, with fields and farmland close by. Gradually, as Barking began to expand as a residential centre, the school became the focal point for the community with an educational provision of national standing. In 1970, Barking Abbey Grammar School was merged with Park Modern School to form what has now become Barking Abbey School: A Specialist Sports College. It is also a registered humanities college, this is how the school paid for the massive humanities block and all of the blocks electronic applications.
In 1997, the school celebrated its 75th anniversary. Ex-pupils from all over the world, as far away as Canada, the USA and New Zealand, met to review seventy-five years of progress and achievement.
[edit] National Achievements
In 2003, Barking Abbey took on a national challenge of being the first school to have the sat's taken in Year 8 resulting in spending 3 years studying for GSCE's.. The students came out with outstanding results, which has now made it a permanent fixture for students in the school to take their SATs in Year 8.
[edit] The School Today
Barking Abbey is a mixed school of approximately 1650 pupils. It is traditionally heavily oversubscribed and each year takes 270 new pupils. The school draws its pupils from a large number of primary and junior schools, particularly from those in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, London Borough of Redbridge and London Borough of Newham, although the majority are drawn from the three link partner primaries, Manor Junior School, Northbury Junior School and St. Margaret's Church of England School.
Barking Abbey has a very large Sixth Form (over 280 students). A large range of AS, A2, AVCE, BTEC and GNVQ courses are available to 16-19 year olds.
The school operates on two sites which are just under a mile apart. Years 7 and 8 are housed at the Longbridge Road site, and years 9 to 13 at the Sandringham Road site.
[edit] Success
In recent years, the school has enjoyed great success across many areas. In 1997 it was among the first six schools to be awarded Specialist Sports College status. At the same time a grant of £2.1 million from the Sport England Lottery Unit and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham enabled the building of a large Leisure Centre, with full time nursery provision. In 1999, the school was nominated by the Government's Chief Inspector as one of the most improved schools in the country. A series of awards has continued through to the present day, including the Schools' Curriculum Award in 2000, the Government's Achievement Award for Excellence in 2001 and the Technology Colleges Trust "Most Value-added Schools" Award in 2002.
[edit] The Future - ICT Testbed
Barking Abbey has been selected by the DfES as one of only five secondary schools in the county to be an ICT Testbed Pilot School. This means that over £2 million will be spent in the next three years on computer technology equipment. Students and staff will have access to state-of-the-art technologies to enhance their teaching and learning, both of which will be transformed as a result of this programme. This has allowed the building of a brand new block on the Sandringham Road site. It has created a new Art, Geography and History department building, which allows students to use new technology in their studies. This allowed the refurbishment of the Art rooms, creating 2 new ICT classrooms, both with over 30 computers and plenty of space.
