West Hatch High School

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West Hatch High School


Motto	"The Best That I Can Be"
Established	1957
Type	State School & Sixth Form College Ages 11-18
Staff	80 full time
Students	1300
Location	South Essex, Essex, IG7 5BT
Headteacher	Francis Howarth
Website	http://www.westhatch.essex.sch.uk/.org

West Hatch High School is a secondary school located in Southern Essex. The area now occupied by West Hatch was previously the western gate (or hatch as it would have been known) into Epping Forest; it is from these routes that the school proudly derives its name. The day school educates 1300 students from the local catchment area and nearly 200 sixth form pupils from North West London and South Essex. Built in 1957 on Chigwell High Road the grounds have been renovated on numerous occasions developing the several hundred-acre site into 7 main teaching buildings.

1 Ethos
2 Facilities
3 Criticism
4 Notable Alumni
5 External links

[edit] Ethos

West Hatch has a low work ethic and all pupils are fully aware of this. "Good teaching enables students to do well, yet GCSE results are just around average". (OFSTED Report 2001) In 2006 just60% of pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades. A level results are nationally average too, a 59% pass rate at full A Level meant the school attained an average of 285 UCAS point score.

[edit] Facilities

West Hatch has been under major renovations of late with recent additions including a Music Suite (2002), Maths Dining & Drama Block (1999), Ruby Theatre (2000 built by students attaining Gold The Duke of Edinburgh Award Status), Sixth Form Centre (2000) and Business and Enterprise Block (2003) which enables a range of community courses to be run. A new english block is planned for 2007. The school currently consists of seven main teaching buildings including science, technology and the 4-storey classroom block.

[edit] Criticism

West Hatch has come under some criticism in recent years. The school competed with hundreds nation wide in 2003 in a bid to receive a multimillion pound grant from the Department of Education for specialist ‘Business And Enterprise’ status. Shortly after the announcement of the grant, the school began construction on a Business and Enterprise block although the necessary funds were lacking at the time. It is widely speculated that West Hatch constructed the new enterprise building to boost their chances of receiving the grant, which was ultimately a successful venture. Winning the grant allowed West Hatch to admit a further 21 pupils on the basis of ICT aptitude as permitted within the specialist schools’ regulations. This first step towards selectivity was received poorly by the local community and PTA. School councillor, Ann Haigh, criticised the expansion plans for West Hatch High School, claiming the move was "about league tables not about children's needs".