King Alfred's Community and Sports College
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King Alfred's | |
Established | 19th century |
Type | Foundation school |
Principal | Nicholas Young |
Specialism | Sports |
Location | Portway Wantage Oxfordshire OX12 9BY England |
LEA | Oxfordshire |
Ofsted number | 123263 |
Students | 1755 |
Gender | Coeducational |
Ages | 11 to 18 |
Houses | Ridgeway, Vale, White Horse |
School colours | Sky blue, navy blue and black |
Website | http://www.kingalfreds.oxon.sch.uk/ |
Coordinates: |
King Alfred's is a secondary school in Wantage, Oxfordshire. It is named after King Alfred (Alfred The Great) who was born in Wantage sometime between 847 and 849BC.
History
The general history of King Alfred's is vague and often debated over by local historians. The school amalgamated with Icknield (now East Site) and Segsbury (now West Site) in 1972.
It is unknown whether the West Site college building was built before or after the accompanying bike sheds. Many have argued the latter of the two and thus, this has become the generally accepted theory.
The second oldest known structure on any of the school grounds (first being the Bike Sheds) is undoubtedly the keep of what once was Segsbury Castle, it was recently converted into a Gymnasium with fitted changing areas. The portcullis is still intact and is often used to deter local vandals from damaging the contents of the Gymnasium.
One of the colleges was built on the remains of a Roman burial ground and numerous ghosts are said to haunt the buildings. One, often described as a fully armoured gladiator, is said to stroll around the gymnasium of the west site building, knocking over gym equipment and pulling down ceiling fittings.
The former Icknield site, currently known as East site, or more commonly known by local students as "East the least" has the similar appearance to a run down inner-city school, this is primarily due to the decaying, abandoned terrapin buildings and disused concrete picnic areas. A famous tour of the East site grounds includes; the infamous sites of "Smokers Corner" which is seldom used as an athletics area, the less pleasing canteen still exists on the East site grounds and its main purpose is to commit acts of fraud on local consumers while still retaining its bankruptcy status.
Achievements
The school is nationally praised as a choice of secondary education in the local area and has been promoted to a foundation college due to the successes of its staff and pupils alike.
In a recent OFSTED inspection, her majesty's inspector credited King Alfred's as a 'good school with outstanding features'.