St. Bartholomew's School

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This article is about the Berkshire school. See Bartholomew School Eynsham for the school in Eynsham, Oxfordshire
St. Bartholomew's School
Motto Ad lucem
(Towards the light)
Established 1466
Type Comprehensive foundation school
Headmaster Stuart Robinson
Founder Henry Wormestall
Specialism Business and Enterprise College
Location Andover Road
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 6JP
Flag of England England
LEA West Berkshire
Ofsted number 110098
Students 1,600 total
Gender Co-educational
Ages 11 to 18
Houses 4
School colours Green, white and purple
GCSE results 466.9 points/student[1]
Website www.stbarts.co.uk
Coordinates: 51°23′31″N 1°19′55″W / 51.392, -1.332

St. Bartholomew's School (colloquially St. Bart's) is a co-educational comprehensive school founded in 1466 in Newbury, Berkshire in the United Kingdom. It accepts students aged 11-18 and currently has approximately 1,600 students on roll including a sixth form of around 400. The school is regarded as the 42nd oldest school in the UK, still in existence

It is one of only a few comprehensive schools to participate in the Combined Cadet Force (a programme sponsored by the Ministry of Defence), with around 200 cadets between the ages of 14 and 18 taking part in weekly training sessions and annual residential trips.

The school recently made history by becoming the first ever state school to triumph in the prestigious Schools and Universities Polo Association Cup.[2]

Contents

[edit] House System

The school operates a house system, whereby students are divided up into four houses, each of which is named after a former pupil who was killed in the First World War:

Colour(s) House House Head Deputy House Head
Alexander Davis Mrs Duly (maternity leave) Mrs Hodgkin
Robert Patterson Mr Brennan Mrs Palmer
George Ashwin Curnock Mrs Mounsey Mrs Kempster
Bertram Evers Mr Metcalfe Mrs Evans

[edit] Patterson House colours

Patterson house uses the colour gold, whilst purple is used occasionally in conjunction with the main colour. The fourth house in the boys' school formerly always used purple, but switched to the gold of the girls' school's fourth house when the schools merged in 1975.

[edit] Competitions

Each house enters into annual competitions in sports, music and drama versus the other houses. There is a great sense of competition between houses, with students forming loyalties to their respective house. The winning house in each competition is awarded a certain number of points, which are accrued during the academic year. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Championship. Junior/Senior House Colour Awards, in the form of ties for boys and sashes for girls, are awarded at the end of Years 10 and/or 12 to students who excel in a certain field, either academic or extracurricular. The ties are distinct from the normal school tie, in that they are solely the colour of the owner's house. The sash is white, with the house's colour striped through, and is worn by females on the waist.

[edit] Other House Events

Each house holds a house evening once a year, where students entertain parents and staff through music, dance, drama and comedic sketches.

Each house also has a house charity, students try to raise as much money as possible for the charity through sponsored events.

[edit] Facilities

  • St. Bartholomew's is based on two sites. The Luker site, at one end of Buckingham Road was formerly Newbury County Girls' Grammar School. The Wormestall site, at the opposite end of Buckingham Road, was formerly St. Bartholomew's Boys' Grammar School. The two grammar schools merged in 1975 to form a large comprehensive.
  • Both sites have large playing fields, tennis courts and sports changing rooms.
  • On the Wormestall site, there is a 25m indoor swimming pool, shared between local schools and the Newbury Swimming Club.
  • Across the Luker site, there are five dedicated ICT suites, as well as computer terminals in the library and other classrooms. Every student and teacher has a unique username/password combination to access their own area of the network; as of 2007, every permanent teacher has a laptop provided by the school, and all registration throughout the day is controlled through the student information system.
  • Each site has a large hall with stage. The Wormestall stage has a trapdoor. The Luker site has a drama studio in which some lessons take place.
  • St. Bart's is one of around 55[3] schools in England with facilities for playing Eton Fives. The facilities were cleaned up in 2006, and the school now has a functional team for the game.

[edit] Location

The school is located in a residential area and is split between two sites, Luker and Wormestall, that are located 200m from each other. The former was named after the first headmistress Jane Luker and the latter after its founder Henry Wormestall. There is also an administration site, situated in between the two, called Digby Croft. Digby Croft is a converted house; the road between the two sites has houses on both sides. Years 7 to 10 are based mainly at Luker and the sixth form and Year 11 mainly at Wormestall. The school also rents the Browns Meadow playing fields, and Emborne Road playing fields, for fixtures and general sports training for all years in the summer. Both are a ten minute walk from the main school sites.

[edit] History

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The school was founded in 1466 from the legacy of Henry Wormestall who set aside £12 2s 4d annually for "teching gramar scole of the whiche that toune hath grete nede"[4].

Date Event
1466 Male-only St. Bartholomew's Boys' Grammar School founded in a building near the junction of Pound St. and Bartholomew St. Moved to Wormestall around 1880.
1904 Female-only Newbury County Girls Grammar School founded at the Luker site.
1966 The school celebrates quincentenary.
26 May 1972 Visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She opens Luker Hall.
1975 Newbury County Girls' Grammar School and St. Bartholomew's Boys' Grammar School merge to form the present-day comprehensive school
September 2002 School designated as a Business and Enterprise College - a specialist school status
2009 Projected completion of the Ad Lucem Project

[edit] Alumni

The alumni of St. Barts are referred to as Old Newburians.[5]

[edit] Sixth form

The Wormestall site.
The Wormestall site.

St. Bartholomew's sixth form students are based on the Wormestall site, with their own Tutors and House staff. Membership allows students to mentor younger pupils in subject lessons, music and drama activities. Students have their own dedicated study area in the library, computer facilities, careers services, common rooms and canteen.

[edit] The Lifelong Learning Centre

The Lifelong Learning Centre, built in the summer of 2002, is a purpose-built library, conference and training facility that includes two large information technology suites.

The two technology classrooms are situated on the ground level, on opposite sides of the building. There are around 30 computers in each room, as well as an interactive whiteboard in each. Situated in the centre of the ground floor is a conference room that can be split in to two rooms that displays artwork. The Lifelong Learning Centre (including the computer rooms) are available to hire for conferences, training and seminars to members of the public and is used for school meetings at other times.

On the first floor is a library, with a range of books as well as 16 computer terminals, some reserved for sixth form. On the south-eastern end of the libraries is a sixth form study area, as well as a small careers room.

[edit] The Ad Lucem Project

On 23 November 2006 St. Bartholomew's was awarded a government grant to be used to rebuild its premises. The school was chosen ahead of three other schools in Berkshire: Kennet School, Theale Green Community School and John O'Gaunt Community Technology College. The rebuild project must be completed by September 2009.[7] It is still in the consultation stages, and building is due to begin in early 2008, under the name The Ad Lucem Project. Contractors Mace Plus Ltd. have been appointed to run the project.[8] Whilst several proposals were considered, the final application involved completely rebuilding the school, with access provided through Fifth Road. This application was approved by a West Berkshire Council Planning Committee on 20th February 2008.[9]

[edit] OfSTED Inspections

The school was last inspected by the Office of Standards in Education - OfSTED - in May 2007. The inspection was very positive, and praised the school.[10] The previous inspection in October 2001 was very positive.[11]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ GCSE results
  2. ^ "State pupils gallop to glory by beating public schools at their own game", The Times (Online), 1 August 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-13. 
  3. ^ Eton Fives Association - Courts in England and Wales
  4. ^ The Cotswold Pages - Newbury Grammar School
  5. ^ Old Newburians Society
  6. ^ Telegraph.co.uk obituary
  7. ^ Council vote for Newbury school to get government grant to help rebuild premises, newburytoday.co.uk, November 23, 2006
  8. ^ Mace Plus wins appointment on St. Bartholomew's School project, mace.co.uk, June 28, 2007
  9. ^ West Berkshire Council Planning Committe Decision Details on the Application to rebuild St. Bartholomew's School
  10. ^ OfSTED 2007 Inspection Paper, ofsted.gov.uk, May 5, 2007.
  11. ^ OfSTED 2001 Inspection Paper, ofsted.gov.uk, October 4, 2001.
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