| Established | 1945 |
|---|---|
| Type | Foundation Grammar School |
| Headteacher | James Skinner MA (Oxon) |
| Specialism | Technology College Language College |
| Location | Hartford Road Bexley London DA5 1NE England |
| Local authority | London Borough of Bexley |
| Students | 1,300 |
| Gender | Boys Co-educational (16+) |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Abbey Brampton Cray Eardley Hurst |
| Colours | Royal Blue |
| Website | www.beths.bexley.sch.uk |
Beths Grammar School, commonly known as Beths, is an all-boys foundation grammar school in Bexley, south east London. Students are admitted from the age of 11, with girls joining the sixth form in Year 12. Since becoming a grammar school in 1976, it has consistently performed well within the borough, typically attaining more than 95% A*-C grades at GCSE.[1]
Contents |
The school was founded in 1945 as Erith Technical School, specialising in technical subjects such as Mechanical Engineering and draughting. To facilitate the school's expansion in 1960/61, it was moved to its current site near Bexley Village, and its name was changed to Bexley/Erith Technical School to reflect its new location. A few years later, this was expanded to Bexley/Erith Technical High School; the name it maintained for several decades and giving rise to the school's common name, BETHS or B.E.T.H.S. The school was later granted grammar school status,[2] and became known as BETHS Grammar School for Boys until the most recent change to Beths Grammar School, in which all students were notified through an assembly.
In 1995, the school was awarded DfES Technology College specialist status,[2] which provides extra funding for Design and Technology, ICT, Science and Mathematics. In 1998 the school won the School Sports Award, recognising the achievement of the school in Rugby and Football, the two main school sports, and others.
The current headmaster, James Skinner, joined the school in 2002 and has overseen the school's most rapid period of expansion and development. In 2006, the school gained an additional specialism as a Modern Foreign Languages College.[3] Chinese Mandarin and Spanish are now taught at different levels throughout the school, in addition to French and German.
Every house elects two representatives for their Year Council, which meets weekly to discuss the views and opinions of the year's students. They have authority over prefects and the school captains. Two students are picked from each Year Council to be in the Full School Council.
The most notable accolade of the School Council thus far has been the successful suggestion of shortening the school day by 10 minutes. This suggestion was based on the fact that a new electronic registration system had been installed, that negated the need for afternoon registration. Therefore, the removal of this redundant 10 minute registration session has reduced the school day by 10 minutes, to a finishing time of 1530 as opposed to 1540.
The Prefect Team is formed of two groups of students: Prefects and Senior Prefects. There are normally 70 Prefects in total, 10 of which are Senior Prefects. Within the Senior Prefects are two Vice-Captains and the School Captain. All Prefects have the same responsibilities to fulfill their duties as agreed by the team. For ease of organisation, five smaller teams (one for each day of the week) are formed, each managed by a group of Senior Prefects who answer to the Vice-Captains and School Captain. The School Captain and Vice-Captains have the additional responsibilities of representing the Prefect team as a whole and managing the Prefect Team.
The Prefects' year starts at Easter. Students in Year 12 are nominated by members of staff for different levels of responsibility, with several nominated for School Captain. The selection process for School Captain usually involves interviews with each candidate with a panel of staff, including the Headmaster and Head of Sixth Form. At the end of the spring term, the new School Captain and two Vice-Captains are announced, along with the Prefect Team.
For students in years 7-11:
Sixth Form students are advised to wear "business dress"; a suit and school tie for boys, and formal work attire for girls. Make up and jewellery are tolerated only for girls and must be subtle.
Colours are awarded to students who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to extra-curricular activities. Traditionally, this was boys who competed in several school teams (such as Football, Rugby or Hockey) and show continued commitment. This was extended to include music and other areas of commitment by previous headteacher John Tobin who considered restricting colours to sporting achievement only was unfair.
The reward is realised as the school crest emblazoned with a gold 'COLOURS' banner, presented as either a badge, to replace the plain crest on the school blazer, or embroidered on a plain royal blue tie for sixth-formers.
The main school building, erected in the 1950s, is built into the side of a hill. The main corridor has 15 classrooms for maths and English (which used to be one-way is known as the B corridor) and reception are at ground level at the top of the hill. Above is the C floor, which has 5 classrooms and teachers offices and has a balcony overlooking the playing fields, and below is the A floor with 4 dedicated art classrooms. Originally, the building was centred around a grass courtyard, known as the Quadrangle (or Quad). This was paved in 2004 and a canopy built to cover the space, providing students with a dry area outside. This has since become the venue for the Beths Big Band Evenings that occur annually in May.
While the main building forms two sides of the Quad, the Design and Technology department forms the others. Opened in 1991, the department is a focus of the school, enhanced by the Technology specialism awarded in 1995. There are six workshops in the department, with one dedicated to Electronics and another to Industrial Production; all workshops are used for Resistant Materials and D&T at Key Stage 3. All of the labs have interactive whiteboards, as well as the computer suite within the department, and several CNC machines are used regularly in the Industrial Production workshop. There is a classroom with drawing desks for Graphics and theory lessons.
The school's first major expansion was the building of the New Block and Music satellite building in 1975. The New Block originally housed Art, History and Biology (with Chemistry and Physics in the main building) and a sports changing room.
To commemorate the Millennium, the Millennium Block was opened in 1999 by former student Steve Backley. This included a new sports hall and changing rooms, the Millennium Conference Centre and eight classrooms. History, Business Studies and Religious Studies moved into the new classrooms. This coincided with the addition of a fifth house, Cray, accommodating a larger intake in Year 7. In addition, a Performing Arts Centre was built in the old sports hall and changing rooms, providing a Drama hall with stage lighting, a Music Technology classroom and three music practice rooms.
In 2004, a new ICT building was completed on the morning of the first open evening of that year. The building has one large room with sixty computers, housed in foldable protective desks, which can be divided into two smaller classrooms. An additional classroom with ten computers for smaller classes is above.
The most recent development, in 2005, saw the New Block extended as the Science Block, bringing all three disciplines together. The old Chemistry labs were refurbished as Art classrooms and the Physics labs as English classrooms and a Media suite. Concurrently, the two smaller Sixth Form common rooms were adjoined across the Wind Tunnel, creating a larger Sixth Form Centre with a dedicated silent study room and an informal common room with kitchen facilities. In 2009 there was a major development built on top of the science block to create five new language classrooms including one named the "Language Lab" with 30 computers.