St Bede's School, Hailsham

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For the indepedendent school in Redhill, Surrey see St. Bede's School. See also Bede (disambiguation)

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St Bede's School

Type	Public School
Religious affiliation	Anglican
Location	Hailsham England
Gender	Boys & Girls
Website	St Bede's School Website

St. Bede's Senior School is an independent, fee-paying secondary school in the rural village of Upper Dicker, near Hailsham, East Sussex, England, with a total of about 850 pupils. Its grounds cover around 80 acres of the local area. Founded in 1978, St Bede's has a non selective policy, is co-educational and has a rich sporting pedigree. It is a Boarding School with 5 Boarding Houses; additionally, approximately 60% of students are Day students. The school has a large proportion of international students, with approximately 25% of students from Overseas. It is linked with St Bede's Preparatory School, based nearby in Eastbourne.

Entrance to the school is usually by Common Entrance or the school's own tests, interview, and reference. The school does not select on academic grounds, but offers a wide range of scholarships including Academic, Music, Art and Sports.

1 History
2 Facilities
3 Academic Programme
4 Activities
5 Uniform
6 Fees
7 Alumni
8 References

[edit] History

Founded in 1978, the school is young and consequently does not have a historical legacy. However, the sprawling school campus occupies the home and land of Horatio Bottomly, a Victorian MP who lead a colourful life as a financier. The first headmaster of the school was Roger Perrin, who lead the school until 2001 and was instrumental in founding the liberal diversity of the school. Since then the school has been under the headship of Steve Cole.

[edit] Facilities

The school has extensive sporting facilities, including tennis courts, riding stables where livery can be provided for students' horses, a practice golf course, flood-lit AstroTurf, playing fields, athletics tracks, and a range of indoor facilities including fitness studio, squash courts and swimming pool.

The Arts are well provided for, with extensive Art studios including facilities for photography and ceramics. Music, Drama, and Dance are also encouraged and catered for. The school houses the Legat School of Dance, which provides training in ballet and modern dance in dedicated Performing Arts facilities.

The school also has facilities for Home Economics and Design Technology.

[edit] Academic Programme

The school endorses a largely flexible programme, aiming to tailor to the needs of individual students. Students with learning difficulties may have extra support tuition in addition to, or in place of, some subjects, while able students may take examinations early, or study extra subjects. Pupils sit GCSEs, AS levels and A levels, usually at the age of 16, 17, and 18, as is conventional. A very wide range of subjects is on offer, and students have unusual flexibility in their ability to choose subjects to suit their strengths.

[edit] Activities

The activities programme is held as one of the the school's main attractions. Each term, students elect 5 activities out of a very wide range, to develop individual talent and broaden horizons daily. It is within this programme that students pursue sports, music, drama and extra-curricular activities ranging from the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Army Cadet Force, archery and paragliding to chamber music ensembles, silk painting and debating. Flexibility within this programme allows for talented pupils to dedicate a large amount of time to particular activities in order to facilitate future careers.

[edit] Uniform

Lower year boys wear a black blazer, grey trousers, white/blue shirt and house tie. Lower year girls wear a white shirt, black jumper, and a school or house kilt. Sixth form students wear suits. Sporting clothes are generally green, the colour of the school logo.

[edit] Fees

As with many independent schools, fees tend to rise each year above the rate of inflation. For the academic year starting 2007 the fees, excluding extra tuition and activity costs, were:

For Boarders: £7,410 per term
For Day Pupils: £4,555 per term