Lytchett Minster School
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| Lytchett Minster School | |
| Headteacher | Mr S R Clark |
| Specialism | Arts College |
| Location | Lytchett Minster Poole Dorset BH16 6JD England |
| LEA | Dorset |
| Ofsted number | 113863 |
| Students | 1376 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11 to 18 |
| Website | http://www.lytchettminster.dorset.sch.uk/ |
| Coordinates: | |
Lytchett Minster School is a comprehensive school, with around 1200 students and 50 teachers, located just outside (4 miles) of Poole near (1 mile) the smaller village of Upton, in southern Dorset located in southern England. It contains seven academic years: year 7 (age 11 to 12), year 8 (age 12 to 13), year 9 (age 13 to 14), year 10 (age 14 to 15) and year 11 (age 15 to 16). The other two years are non-compulsory 6th form, year 12 and 13, age range 16 to 18.
The school, unlike many local schools, uses a house system to arrange the students. This is due to the belief that a Head of House that remains constant will be able to form a better teacher/pupil relationship as the pupil has the same Head of House for the whole 5 years of compulsory education. In the upper school there is no house system as the amount of students is smaller than that of the lower school, but the 6th form holds a separate community of its own.
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[edit] Lower School
The Lower School comprises the compulsory education pupils, years 7 to 11. School pupils are required to wear a fixed uniform, whilst Sixth Formers can wear office-suitable clothing (described as "smart-casual" by the uniform rules), but not a strict dress code (there are some rules to ensure the formality of the Sixth form lessons). The uniform includes: Striped ties, blue and white pinstriped blouses/shirts and a blue v neck sweatshirt.
The House system only applies to the school, as previously mentioned, and therefore in activities such as Sports Day, the houses compete against each other for the Sports Day Trophy. There are also the Inter-house sporting activities, such as football, netball, rugby and other sports. There is a trophy for most of these sporting events, as well as the inter house chess contest most of these events (apart from sports day) are held by individual teachers that have a keen interest in that sport/activity. The House names and colours are: Gault-Yellow Kimmeridge-Purple Purbeck-Blue Portland-Red Wealden-Green
The lower school are involved in theatrical productions, such as Godspell and The Sound of Music with the sixth form and years 10 and 11 playing the lead roles.
[edit] Sixth Form
The school has a sixth form, years 12 and 13, of students studying for, among others, GCE 'A' Level exams. The Sixth Form has its own Sixth Form Centre, housing the Common Room, offices of the Head and Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Sixth Form Staff Room and 2 classrooms. There is also a sixth form study room in the school's manor house building which was opened in September 2006; it contains a computer room, work room and small reference library.
The Sixth Form student responsibility structure has a Head Boy and Head Girl with 6 deputies in Year 13. Each of the 6 deputies chairs a Sixth Form Committee. In the year 2006/7 these committees were; Social and Common Room Committee, Lower School Liaison Committee, Public Relations and Media Committee, Cultural Committee, Sports Committee and Charity and Fundraising Committee. There is also the Sixth Form Forum which is made up of 1 elected student from each tutor group, the Head Boy and Girl and the Chairperson of the School Council. The sixth form students also have a responsibility of caring for younger students. eg. Selected sixth formers are 'mentors' for younger students guiding them to make better choices in life.
[edit] Achievements
The school uses its Arts College status to improve its Musical and Dramatic performances. The School often scores well in Battle of the bands, a County wide competition where amateur bands play to impress a crowd and judges. Also, the school performs in the England School Rock Challenge, and has reached as high as 2nd place over the whole of England but has come 1st on many occasions in the sub-category of "Best Costume."
[edit] The 2000 Fire
The school was targeted by an arsonist in June 2000, just before the turn of the academic year. The fire was started in a science lab, and then expanded (with the aid of the gas filled supply taps to all science labs) to devastate the whole of the Science, Maths and Humanities blocks. As the building was completely destroyed, and an investigation had to be undergone by Police and Fire marshals, the school was forced to remain closed, adding an extra 2 weeks onto the 6 week summer holiday.
The blocks that were destroyed have been replaced with temporary classrooms on the other side of the playing field (known as "the village"). This has led to problems, such as the need for travelling time between lessons, to enable pupils to walk the 400 m from the main site to the 'village' without missing education time and also that the government has to pay the land owners to use the land. Currently there is a new building being built which will replace the village. the new building will have the science labs, maths departments, and humanities demartment plus two houses (Wealden and Kimmeridge).
[edit] Building Plans
The building for the new dinning hall, science, humanities and maths classrooms started in end of October 2006 after major conflicts between the head teacher (Mr. Clark) and Dorset County Council. These plans were disputed by a number of issues. The preparation work for the new building has now begun. Large areas of the school site have been sealed off for building work including the playground which has been demolished. The final plan for the building interior has been chosen and is very modern and exciting. This has caused great excitement for the younger students. The building is due to finish ready for the new academic year in September, but there seems to be a delay of a few weeks. The outside walls are beginning to take place and the building is starting to look like the computerised image. The predicted time of completion is around October 2008.
[edit] External links
- Ofsted website - Lytchett Minster School 2002 Ofsted report
- Lytchett Minster School - School website
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