Sponne School
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Sponne School is situated on Brackley Road in Towcester, Northamptonshire, just off the A5 road (Watling Street).
Part of the school was originally Towcester Grammar School, until Grammar schools were abolished in Northamptonshire. In 1969, the Grammar school was joined with the next-door Comprehensive School, and the school was re-named Sponne, after Archdeacon William Sponne, who was Rector at the nearby St. Lawrence Church in the 15th Century. It was he who had originally founded the school. Sponne is the oldest secondary school in Northamptonshire, and one of the oldest in the country. [1]
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[edit] Layout
The 1st floor of the "E Block", formally the Comprehensive School, is used to teach Business Studies, psycology although most of it is dedicated to the 6th form as a common room. The 2nd floor is for modern languages such as French, German and Spanish and the 3rd is dedicated to Mathmatics. The Ground Floor has a classroom used for ICT. The "W Block" is the old Grammar School building, rebuilt in 1928 after a fire. This area is for Humanities, English, Business Studies and Drama.
Other "Blocks"
S Block - Used for all the Science Subjects
H Block - This is the main hall, canteen and smaller rooms used for offices.
D Block - This is where all the technology subjects are taught, this is the newest area of the school.
A Block - Location for the main staff-room Reception and Offices
C Block - Consists of all the art rooms and most of the computer rooms. It is also used for pschology.
T Block - Not actually a block but temporary mobiles, used for humanities and as substitue rooms.
M Block - Seperate from the rest of the School, is used for Music
P Block - The, bigger, Sports Hall and changing rooms, located opposite the "E Block"
LRC - This is part of the C Block but is a room containing computers, books, newspapaers and desks for the students to work in. It is ran by a team of teachers who are assisted by group of students who work for "merits".
There are two residential houses in the school, they both used to be occupied by the care-takers. Now one of them is used for extra-curricular activities. There is also a 4 acre field at the back of the school. It is repainted in the summer and the winter with two football pitches, a hockey pitch, 2 rugby pitches, a 400m track and a 100m track. It also has two long jump sandpits, and 2 discus circles. Adjacent to the field is a set of tennis courts. Sponne is a mixed gender Secondary School and Sixth Form College, with 1236 students on the roll, 174 of which are in the 6th Form.[2] It is registered as a specialist Technology College. As of 2004, the current head teacher is Jamie Clarke.
[edit] School Terminology and Traditions
The front of the school has an oddly shaped building, A Block. Some people refere to this building as the lemon sqeezer or UFO because of its distinguishable shape. At the top of this building is a glass point, year 11's traditionally place something on the top of this point on there last day, usually a traffic cone depending on how imaginative the students are. For example one year a dead pigs head was placed on the point. The school time-table is run on a two week rota, blue week and red week, so called because of the two colours of the schools badge.
[edit] Head Teachers
2003-Present Jamie Clarke
1991-2003 Ian Brown
1969-1991 John Mayes
1960-1969 Jack Searle
1955-1960 Mr Beacock
1920-1955 P.G.F.Clark
1890-1920 Mr John Wetherell
[edit] Uniform
Boys Black Trousers White Shirt School Tie (black with red and blue stripes) Black Shoes
Girls Black Trousers or Skirt White Shirt Black Shoes as of 2003 girls no longer had to wear ties
