Dorothy Stringer High School
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| Dorothy Stringer High School | |
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| Motto | Industry and Integrity |
| Type | Comprehensive |
| Headteacher | Mr Trevor Allen |
| Specialism | Sports College |
| Location | Loder Road Brighton East Sussex BN1 6PZ England |
| LEA | Brighton and Hove |
| Ofsted number | 114580 |
| Students | 1564 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11 to 16 |
| Website | http://www.dorothy-stringer.co.uk/ |
| Coordinates: | |
Dorothy Stringer High School is situated in Brighton, England, UK. It has around 1,600 pupils and 120 members of staff led by the head teacher, Mr Trevor Allen. Dorothy Stringer is a comprehensive school that has a specialism as a Sports College.
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[edit] Location and history
Dorothy Stringer is on the same campus as Balfour Primary School, Varndean Secondary School and Varndean College Sixth Form College. The campus is bounded by Surrenden Road, Loder Road, Balfour Road and Friar Crescent.
With the exception of Balfour Primary School, each of the institutions used to exist in a different educational form. Dorothy Stringer was a secondary modern school, whilst Varndean College and Varndean School were the Boys' and Girls' grammar schools respectively.
In 2003, the school was the subject of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme involving several other schools (including neighbouring Varndean Secondary School, Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form College and what was the COMART College of Media and Arts) and the construction firm Jarvis. For Dorothy Stringer this involved the construction of a new sports hall and associated facilities, new music suites, art studios and very recently some new ICT suites. However, the contract is highly controversial since it rearranges the way in which the school and the Local Education Authority owns its property and because Jarvis has often been seen as inefficient and failing in its duties to maintain the buildings.
[edit] Awards and initiatives
Dorothy Stringer gained the Green Flag award for environmental awareness and activism in 1998. It remains the only secondary school in Brighton to hold this award. In the late 1990s, environmental changes at the school were focussed on recycling, energy and improving the look of the school, such as with flower beds. Over the period 2000-2005, environmentalism at Dorothy Stringer increased dramatically, becoming the Dorothy Stringer Environmental Partnership and encompassing more areas of the environment. Attention turned to the biodiversity of the woodland that surrounds the school, and in 2004, a dilapidated classroom building set amongst this woodland was renovated as part of the PFI scheme. From this base, Dorothy Stringer has become the lead environmental school in Brighton and Hove, forming international links with St Joseph's School in Le Havre [1] for which funding from the Franco-British Council [2] was won, forming local links with neighbouring schools and, within the school, involving a large number of students in educational environmental activities.
Dorothy Stringer became a specialist sports school in 2002 and sport is an important feature of Dorothy Stringer. Pupils receive two hours of sport education a week, in line with government guideline [3] . Becoming a sports school has entailed the demolition of the sports hall and the construction of a new venue twice the size, with an additional dance studio, gym and changing rooms. As part of the school's responsibilities as a sports school, Dorothy Stringer undertakes work to promote sport in local primary schools, which is chielfy done through the JSLA and a new scheme which involves establishing and nurturing dance clubs at Brighton primary schools and organising a mass performance at the Brighton Dome.
Dorothy Stringer is also a part of the Healthy School initiative, a Partnership Promotion School [4] , a Training School [5] , a recipient of money from the Big Lottery Fund [6] for the school newsletter, and benefits from the European Union's III A programme [7] . Dorothy Stringer has long owned an outdoor pursuits centre near Bangor, north-west Wales. This facilities allows the school to organise many trips for its pupils and lease the building for the use of other organisations and individuals.
[edit] The extra-curricular school
The academic year of Dorothy Stringer school is marked by a series of extracurricular activities and events.
| Name | Approximate Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Prize Giving | Thursday in late November | Academic and extracurricular prizes are awarded to pupils for work and performance in the previous year. This occasion sees the presentation of around 120 prizes, including those for (i) attainment and effort in the lower school, (ii) subject-specific attainment in the upper school and (iii) prizes for contributions to music, drama, the environmental projects and other activities. Many of these prizes are named after prestigious former members of staff. The formal evening also includes speeches delivered by the Head Boy and Head Girl and a guest speaker, who was the The Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell in 2007. The choir and orchestra, and increasingly, other groups such as Vox, the Jazz Band and soloists perform. |
| Carol Service | Last Thursday of term, in December | Taking place in St Peter's Church this traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols brings together a large school choir of up to 150 pupils and a congregation of some 200-300. Michael Maine [8] has played the organ for this service for many years. |
| School Play | Four nights, beginning on the first Wednesday in February | Performed on four consecutive nights, with the dress rehearsal on the Tuesday and the technical rehearsal on the Monday, the large whole-school event includes the contributions of many pupils, ranging from 70 to 150, depending on the type of show, musical or play. Past performances have included Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak (performed 2003), Anything Goes by Cole Porter (2004), The Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney which is based on the Sophocles' Antigone (2005), Oliver! by Lionel Bart (2006) and an adaptation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies (2007). 2008 will see a performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. An alternation each year between a musical and a play is the expected system. |
| Spring Concert | Spring term | This evening event used to feature the Second Orchestra and the Junior Choir, made up of year 7 pupils. Today, it has transformed into a celebrated opportunity for other musical styles to perform. Vox, the a capella singing group and the Jazz Band now regularly perform severall items, alsongside the orchestra and GCSE pupils playing their own compositions. |
| Dance Show | Two consecutive days including a Wednesday in the early summer term | This is the occasion on which many different groups perform dance routines practised over the previous year. Groups vary in size from two to over twenty-five. |
| Summer Concert | Summer term | This is the final occasion in the school year on which the choir and orchestra perform. This event is particularly significant for year 11 pupils, many of whom joined the musical groups when they entered the school, because soon after this final concert, they leave school to concentrate on revising for their GCSE examinations. |
| Sports Day | Friday of third to last week of term | Taking place at the local Withdean Stadium pupils from years 7, 8 and 9 spend the entire morning competing in track and field events and considerable prestige is attached to the winning form class. The commentary has become an institution in itself. |
| Activities Week(s) | Penultimate week of term | This week has traditionally been set aside for time to take pupils out of lessons and on a variety of activities. These include school orchestra trips abroad (such as to Prague in 2003), environmental trips abroad (such as to Le Havre in 2004), trips to Dolawen in north-west Wales, and other, smaller excursions. |
| DiSH and Year Book | Half-termly and annually | In 2006, Dorothy Stringer completely changed the format, layout and approach taken to the monthly newsletter. This was relocated to a new, dedicated office and an emphasis on student involvement led to the establishment of a permanent (annual) student writing team. The newsletter (renamed DiSH) seeks to be relevant and interesting to the students of the school, and the balance of content has shifted away from academic department news towards a magazine that is opinionated, nationalist and in which pictures are integral. Partly flowing from this change, in 2007 the school followed the lead of many other education establishments and created their first official Yearbook. This included photos of the current Year 11 students from the time when they entered the school and a written and photographic record of trips and awards that the departing students had made and gained. |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Main school
Dolawen outdoor pursuits centre
