The Bishop's Stortford High School

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The Bishop’s Stortford High School is a six-form all-ability secondary school, with an integrated sixth form, located in Hertfordshire, England, UK. The School admits boys aged 11 to 16 in the first five forms, with a mixed sixth form of boys and girls aged 16 to 18. ^[1] A Specialist School in Mathematics and Computing, the School focuses on these areas, as well as music, drama, sport, possessing state-of-the-art in-house computing facilities and providing assistance to local schools in this area. The Headmaster is Mr Andrew Goulding BSc. ^[2]

School meals and IT maintenance are managed in-house by school staff and so without the need for contractors.

From the 1980s onwards in particular, the School has extensively added to its original buildings. More classrooms, new buildings, a dedicated Sixth Form Centre, the Turing Suite (a vocational learning and training centre with extensive computing and ICT facilities, named after Alan Turing), a large drama studio named “Broadway”, an on-site sports pavilion as well as large set of playing fields (Jobber’s Wood) with modern facilities located some four miles away from the main school site. This was opened by the former Minister of Sport Kate Hoey.

The School is oversubscribed.

In pastoral care (tutorial groups, etc.), the year groups (Years 7 to 11; 12 to 13) are grouped together into ‘schools’, and the pupil mix in pastoral care:

Lower School (Years 7 and 8)
Middle School (Years 9, 10 and 11)
Upper School (Years 12 and 13 – Sixth Form)

There are also six ‘Houses’, which are essential for extra-curricular activities. The head of the house system is Mr David Hows. These Houses centre on local areas or history in the town:

Chantry
Dane
Meads
Rhodes
Twyford
Waytemore

The Houses apply to all year groups, and individual pupils are assigned to a House. The School believes this emphasises extra-curricular involvement and provides a sense of competition.

Each House is run by students known as "House Officers". The officers are:

Chantry: Joe Boulton (Captain), Frankie Bell & Jack Curtis (Deputies)
Dane: James Poulten (Captain), David Cole, Anthony Cork & Alex Mumford (Deputies)
Meads: Ollie Banks (Captain), Robert Conquest, Stuart Paskins, Will Sargeant & Tom Stewart (Deputies)
Rhodes: Callum Glass (Captain), Ed Johnson, Ryan Lanham & Stuart Watkins (Deputies)
Twyford: Yassir Al-Rafie (Captian), Matt Day, Fran Seldevida-Perry, Matt Shaw & Tom Trennery (Deputies)
Waytemore: Aathavan Raviraj (Captain), Andy Fleming, Andrew Hughes & Ed Randall (Deputies)

Each House is also run by a teacher called a "Head Of House". Their job is to make sure their house is being run properly by the House Officers. The Heads Of House are:

Chantry: Miss Katherine Smith
Dane: Miss Vicky Ball
Meads: Mr John Dwyer
Rhodes: Miss Alison Bass
Twyford: Mr David Hows
Waytemore: Mr Andrew Hood

Rhodes refers to Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) and a former resident of Bishop's Stortford.

During out-of-school hours, including during lunchtimes, weekends and holidays, pupils and staff provide a wide range of clubs and activities. These centre on sport (which includes an extensive list of fixtures), music, drama, ICT, art, Youth Speaks, Christian Union (students), Young Enterprise and others.

Launched in December 2006 was FOSHA, The Friends of Stortford High Association, which replaces SHOBA as TBSHS' Alumni organisation. FOSHA was launched with a website (http://www.fosha.org.uk) allowing former staff and student's to re-connect with the school over the Internet.

The Sixth Form The Sixth Form plays a huge part in the day to day life at the school. The Prefects, 6th Form Committee, Senior Prefects, Duty Team Leaders (DTL), Deputies and Head Boy / Girl have responsibilities ranging from doing the break and lunch-time duties (under the charge of two DTLs) to raising money for charity and for re-investment into the school (under the watchful eye of Interact [Reg. Charity] and the 6th Form Committee).

The senior prefects etc. currently stand as: 2006/2007

Head Boy/Girl

Edmund Archer, Mel Brittle

Deputies

Jamie Fallon, Claire Pattie, Brad Savage, Mathew Thompson

Senior Prefects / Duty Team Leaders

Ian Bell, Simon Bird, Vicki Brown, Martin Child, Hannah Dean, Katy Durrans, Tom Farrow, Ben Giddings, Luke Gobell, Fran Henegan, Elizabeth Hughes, Annie Johnson, Laura Kay, Keri O'Riordan, Arbi Phelps, Robbie Richardson, Eloise Robins, Matthew Slough, George Thiongo, Ollie Thurley, Heidi Turner, Charlotte Wald, Chris Wallis, Ollie Williams.

They will be replaced by a new team after the Easter break.