Sir James Smith's School

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Sir James Smith's Community School
Established 1679
Type Comprehensive
Headteacher Mr Jon Lawrence
Specialism Humanities College
Location Dark Lane
Camelford
Cornwall
PL32 9UJ
England
LEA Cornwall
Ofsted number 112039
Staff 60
Students 716
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11 to 18
Houses Chydeme, Tredeme, Poldeme & Landeme
School colours Bottle Green and Red
Website http://www.sirjamessmiths.cornwall.sch.uk
Coordinates: 50°37′18″N 4°41′04″W / 50.62170, -4.68434

Sir James Smith's School is a small humanities college in the town of Camelford, North Cornwall, UK; providing education at secondary level. The current headteacher is Jon Lawrence, who succeeded Angela Perlmutter in January 2007.

Founded as a grammar school in 1679, at a property overlooking the town, the school has been state-run since 1962 when it moved to its current premises in Dark Lane. It was the first purpose-built comprehensive school in Cornwall.

The catchment area for Sir James Smith's is largely rural and covers an extensive and sparsely populated region of north Cornwall, stretching along the coast from Crackington Haven down to Port Isaac, and reaching inland as far as St Breward and the isolated hamlets and farmsteads of Bodmin Moor. Other villages in the catchment area include Tintagel, Boscastle, Delabole and St. Teath. The catchment area covers one of the most economically deprived areas of the EU. Available employment is frequently part-time and/or seasonal and the average wage is the lowest in the UK; whereas property and living costs are among the highest. The school currently has approximately 600 pupils aged 11-16 and a further 50 students in VIth Form. It is one of the smallest state secondary schools in the UK. For comparison, neighbouring secondary schools boast between 1200 - 2100 pupils aged 11-16 and 200+ 6th formers.

The last decade has seen several important site and educational developments. These include: an extension to the adult education building; the Salon United for careers in hair and beauty therapy (2007); the West End music and drama suite (2004); a new reception and office suite (2003); a new Maths block (2001) and The Princess of Wales Design Centre (Arts and Technology) (1992). The school is currently undergoing further building work to facelift sections of the exterior (whose concrete facade has not aged well in the prevailing westerly coastal climate). In October 2007 it was announced that the school's VIth form block would be closing with immediate effect. No new students were to be taken on the following September. The news was greeted with grave concern among many teachers, students, parents and locals. The current year 12 will, however, be permitted to finish their studies at the school. Future year 11 graduees will henceforth have to travel to other VIth form centres at Wadebridge, Bude or Truro College.[1]

Contents

[edit] Uniform

The school uniform consists of;

In 2001 a protest by students, requesting that shorts to be added to the uniform, resulted in many being locked out of the school. As of 2008, shorts have not been added to the uniform. In 2007, a redesigned P.E. kit was introduced, consisting of a blue shirt with a black horizontal band.

[edit] Deme system

In 2004 the deme system was introduced: Deme being a Latin term for a house or group. The demes are equivalent to the House system followed by many neighbouring schools. An in-school competition followed to name them: those selected were all from the Cornish language, with deme added to the end. Despite the comparatively recent adoption, some demes have already attained distinctive characteristics: Tredeme, for example, have a reputation for academic prowess whereas a stereotypical Landeme student would be expected to excel in sport.

  • Chydeme- Blue
  • Tredeme- Orange
  • Poldeme- Purple
  • Landeme- Yellow

[edit] Humanities

In 2005 Sir James Smiths school became the first specialist humanities college in Cornwall.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232510&home=yes&more_nodeId1=232470&contentPK=18759496

[edit] External links

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