Cardiff High School
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| Established | 1970 |
|---|---|
| Type | Public (magnet) secondary |
| Students | 1,500 |
| Location | Cardiff High School Llandennis Road |
| Website | http://cardiffhigh.cardiff.sch.uk/ |
Cardiff High School is a comprehensive school in the Cyncoed/Lakeside area of the city of Cardiff in South Wales. Cardiff High School stands in grounds some two miles from the city centre in the Cyncoed/Lakeside district, serving a neighbourhood of privately-owned houses.
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[edit] History
The school was established in 1970 as a mixed 11-18 comprehensive following the merger of two single-sex grammar schools (which shared the name Cardiff High School) and the Ty Celyn Secondary Modern School. The school was unified on a single site in 1973, and is successful, popular and over-subscribed.
The accommodation in 1973 consisted of the old Ty Celyn School with a new building attached, designed for six form entry. A considerable amount of internal alteration and refurbishment has been carried out on the original building, funded by the School over the past 25 years.
Cardiff High School became a seven form entry school in September, 1998, when a third feeder primary school, Roath Park, was added to the two existing feeder schools, namely Lakeside and Rhydypenau. It has a total pupil roll of 1,382, of whom 329 are following 'AS and A' level courses in the sixth form. On average about 125 students or more a year continue their education at university. For September 2001, eight students were offered places at Oxford and Cambridge. For September 2002, seven pupils were offered places at Oxford.
The school enjoys an extremely high level of parental interest and support. The establishment of a new Cardiff High Partnership with parents in 1998 both built on the strong, existing Parents' Association links, and launched new initiatives, including a covenant scheme. It also expanded the range of educational, social and fund-raising activities.
According to the latest inspection report by Estyn the school has a pass rate of 80% (based on 5 GCSEs, grades A-C). This means that that the school is currently ranked in joint 5th place in Wales with Eirias High School in Colwyn Bay. It is ranked 2nd place in Cardiff, behind the Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School.
The school also enjoyed a decade long spell as Cardiff's Bare-knuckle Boxing centre with regular fights staged 'over the Oval' on weekday afternoons. Bouts ranged from the truly epic (Sid V Dean) to the truly hilarious (Felman V Turnbull).
[edit] Building
As a result of the building programme and other refurbishment, the school is now well equipped to cater for the seven form entry. At present all departments are suited into adjacent rooms, and, in addition the school has: 11 Science labs; 5 Design & Technology rooms; A Home Economics suite including Catering kitchen and Textile rooms; A Sports Hall, Gymnasium, Dance Studio and all weather pitch; Facilities for disabled pupils and a Learning Resource Centre; A new extensive Learning Resources area; A Creative area incorporating recording studio, music rooms and theatre study facilities and a hall for performance; A new dining hall and canteen; A new sixth form administration area and student common room; and 5 IT rooms, one attached to the LRC.
[edit] Curriculum
Whilst the school is proud of its record of academic achievement, it also places great emphasis on other important features of pupil development, including extra-curricular activities, theatrical and musical opportunities, recreational sports and community links. In a developing European scene, programmes for pupils' exchange visits with their European counterparts are well established. The school also has a rich international dimension, with students from many parts of the world currently studying at the school. The school believes strongly in the principle of continuous self-improvement, and to this end has introduced a considerable number of new initiatives in recent years, all designed to improve the quality of educational provision. A key objective for the last four years has been the promotion of effective teaching and learning strategies, which has helped improve value added performance at each key stage. The various INSET programmes organised by the school enabled internationally renowned educationalists to deliver whole-school INSET on teaching and learning, linked closely to subsequent dialogue and discourse at departmental level. The senior management team plays a key quality assurance role by managing an annual departmental review and departmental self-review process. In addition, great emphasis is placed on the generation and analysis of quantitative data to both set challenging targets and critically analyse results retrospectively. Each senior manager is linked to a cluster of departments (which meets twice-termly) to enable two way consultation and communication to take place between all staff.
[edit] Current staff
Headmaster: Michael Griffiths
[edit] Former pupils
Famous former pupils include the physicist Brian Josephson, popular writer Craig Thomas, politician Tom Horabin, newsreaders John Humphrys and Jeremy Bowen, NUS National Tresurer and eternal student David Lewis, Welsh Language Activist, Gareth Kiff former chairperson of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society)..
