Chatham Grammar School for Boys
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Chatham Grammar School for Boys (commonly abbreviated CGSB) is a grammar school in Chatham, Kent, England. There is evidence that it was originally established in 1817, but it has been changed in a number of important ways. The school moved to its current site in the 1920s, with its premises based around Holcombe Manor. After 1945 it became a specialist technical school and in 1982 it became a grammar school. Currently it has approximately 1200 students aged between 11 and 18.
| Chatham Grammar School for Boys | |
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Turning potential into reality
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| Location | |
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| Kent, England | |
| Information | |
| Locale | Chatham |
| Headteacher | Michael Oduyela |
| Students | approximately 1200 |
| Type | Selective grammar years 7-11, open mixed sixth form (see section) |
| Established | 1817 |
| Homepage | http://www.holcombecollege.co.uk |
Students achieve higher results than Medaway high schools, however the school achieved considerably worse GCSE and A-level results in 2006 than any other selective school in Medway[1].
Throughout the school's history it has had less than eight headteachers, including the incumbent Michael Oduyela. He is supported by three deputy headteachers, three Academic Leaders and Senior Academic Leaders, who replaced the Heads of Year from September 2006.
The School Captain's Team consists of five members of the sixth form who serve in the roles of School Captain, Vice School Captain and Deputy School Captains from Easter of Year 12 until the following Easter of Year 13. There are also approximately 50 prefects led by the Head Prefect and two Deputy Head Prefects, along with several senior prefects.
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[edit] Ethos and community
The school participates in the national Junior Maths Challenge, run by the University of Leeds. Following the example set by the headteacher, students are expected to adhere to traditional values which encourage pupils to become citizens of the future. Uniform for students in years 7-11 is as follows:
- school tie - varies according to status (lower school student, sixth form student and prefect)
- plain blazer with house badge - a coloured "C", which surrounds the Invicta Horse of Kent symbol.
- plain white shirt
- plain black trousers
- plain dark-coloured socks
The school has developed links in the local community through various initiatives. In 2001, the director of the Language College faculty of the school launched a programme with primary schools in Medway where students of the school took a travelling theatre, Linguafun, to entertain and educate Key Stage 2 pupils through songs, puppets and audience participation[2]. 2001 also saw adult language lessons begin once a week in French, German and Spanish. As of 2007, these still continue[3].
A number of Old Holcombians have achieved success in later life, which the school often attributes to their education at Holcombe. Notable Holcombians include David Harvey, an eminent geographer and social theorist, Len Hynds - now a senior policeman who helped set up and lead the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and is currently assistant director of its replacement, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and author and screenwriter Stel Pavlou.
Annually, the school hosts an evening talk with someone with a story to tell. Past speakers have included a Polish war veteran; Len Hynds, and a former Chief Constable of Kent Police. These evenings are known as the Holcombe Lectures.
[edit] Houses
There are six school houses, all named after ships constructed at the nearby Chatham Dockyard. They are, along with their house colour, Achilles (Red), Blake (Green), Challenger (Blue), Dryad (Yellow), Expedition (Purple) and Formidable (Orange). The houses compete against each other at events, for example; the school's annual summer Sports Day, the autumn Cross Country, sports events such as rugby and hockey, and also at other tasks including collecting the most merit marks, in order to obtain the House Shield trophy. Each year has six forms lettered A - F to reflect the houses, except the year that started in 2000, when there were only five houses but six forms, numbered 1 - 6.
[edit] Buildings
The school comprises several buildings, most notably the former Holcombe Manor. This was extended, replacing the conservatories, then expanded further with the construction of the atrium block, which houses the humanities faculty, opened in February 1997. In December 2006 new accommodation for art students was finally ready and opened by local artist Billy Childish. Consisting of a Skylab-style structure, it was built on stilts above the existing design technology ("D") block.
[edit] Accelerated Curriculum
From September 2005 students take their SATs a year earlier than usual - in year 8 - meaning GCSEs are also started a year early, in year 9. A variety of GCSE courses are available in years 9 and 10. The school achieved Language College status in 2001, and students starting between 2000 and 2003 had to study two languages from Year 7 to 11. As of 2006 this is no longer the case.
[edit] School trips
Students have the opportunity to take part in a range of off-site trips. The most popular are those abroad, to destinations including Thailand and Japan as well as closer to home including Italy, Germany and Disneyland Paris. Other trips include the annual year 7 Kent residential trip and the GCSE Geography trip to the Lake District.
[edit] Sixth Form
The school has the largest sixth form in Medway (This is not necessarily a good thing..... for example: Q = 1 / n2, where Q is the quality of learning, and n is the number of pupils) due to its open nature. A minimum of 2 A-U grades at GCSE or equivalent are required, and these must include English and Mathematics (there are exceptions to this rule, where if a C is not obtained in one of the two key subjects but is in the other, the student is given the opportunity to transfer into the sixth form and retake the failed subject). Though a large proportion of students at Key Stage 4 (year 11) progress to the sixth form, many students from neighbouring schools also join, including girls. In 2006, the Sixth Form forms were changed , partially due to increasing entry numbers, to have three forms for each house, comprising of a mix of Year 12 and 13. In December 2006 the school hosted an Ofsted inspection. The report produced by the inspecting team can be viewed here (in PDF and HTML format). The school was rated as "Good" in its teaching of pupils between 11 and 16. However it was rated "Satisfactory" for its sixth form, which is the second lowest status achievable. This is due to the rapid expansion of the sixth form since it was opened to pupils from other schools; it now draws pupils from over 10 other schools. Inspectors also commented that the rate of learning in ICT and the attainment in the sixth form should be improved. There were very positive comments made about particular subjects. Media Studies and Business Studies have been shown to rival the best in the region, and are recommended in the Good School Guide. The 6th form has now been selected by the Government for a lead role in its new Diploma programme both in ICT and Media Studies.
[edit] Student achievements
The pupils at CGSB demonstrate distinctive initiatives in a variety of ways. Recently they were both Medway and Kent champions in the national Young Enterprise competition, beating many other schools.[4] The school has its own working search engine, which is based on the search engine ask.com. The new search engine may be found at [1].
[edit] References
- ^ BBC News - Education - League tables. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
- ^ Linguafun (Google cache). Retrieved on 2007-05-01.
- ^ Adult Courses (Google cache). Retrieved on 2007-05-01.
- ^ Twangus Children's Books. Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
