| Type | Community School |
|---|---|
| Headteacher | Mrs J Turvey |
| Specialism | Science |
| Location | Jacobs Gutter Lane Totton Southampton Hampshire SO40 9FT England |
| Local authority | Hampshire |
| DfE URN | 116434 |
| Students | 1215 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–16 |
| Houses | beulieau,rhinefield ,knightwood,bolderwood |
| Colours | blue,red,purple,green |
| Website | www.hounsdown.hants.sch.uk |
Hounsdown School is a secondary school in Totton, near Southampton, Hampshire, England. The headteacher is Ms Turvey. Classes are held in recently renovated 1960s buildings and new specialist blocks built since 2000. The school has 1,215 pupils, spanning ages 11 to 16. In 2005 and 2008 Hounsdown received a judgment of "outstanding" from Ofsted, the latter inspection receiving "outstanding" in all categories.[1] It has been operating a house system since September 2008 and has also begun work on its leadership courses.
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Hounsdown gained Science College status in 2005, and the school changed its official title to 'Hounsdown School - A Science College'. With the new title came a new logo, new uniform and a £500,000 government grant to be spent on science equipment. However, rather than spending all the money on science equipment, part was spent to buy a new sports hall.[2]
Pupils begin at the school in year seven, most having attended one of the three feeder primary schools: Abbotswood Junior School (majority), Bartley Junior School or Foxhills Junior School. Until KS3 SATs were abandoned nationally, pupils studied the Key Stage 3 syllabus until the SATs. In 2005, instead of taking SATs in year nine, the decision was taken that students would take them in year 8 to give students an extra year of GCSE help. They then pick a cycle of three subjects at the end of year 8 (e.g. drama, music, history) and a language to carry on into year nine. Students then try out these subjects and pick their final GCSE options at the end of year nine, which they could drop at any time during year 10. Many schools in Scotland and Wales use a more traditional system, which, in year nine, has pupils consolidating their learning from primary school and KS3. GCSE courses start for all subjects in year 10, with the examinations held during the summer term of year 11. Pupils can then enter employment, or continue their education at 6th Form College.
Colleges which most students go onto from Hounsdown are Totton, and Brockenhurst.
All pupils in years seven and eight study a range of subjects in the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3.
Unlike most schools, pupils at Hounsdown start studying for their GCSE in year nine, rather than year 10. The pupils choose their GCSE options at the start of year nine, but they can be changed at the start of year 10 at the pupil's behest.
The Resources Centre provides a wide range of materials for pupils to use for their coursework in different subjects.
The library keeps audio tapes, CDs, and computers, the latter of which include word-processing programs. Photocopying and document-production is also available at the library.
The Resources Centre is involved with the Hampshire Book Award, and pupils regularly review new books for the school's library service.
Hounsdown School has a swimming pool, a sports hall, tennis courts, two rugby pitches, two football pitches, a gym, a dance studio and a cricket pitch. The sports hall and the swimming pool are available for reserved community purposes outside of school hours and during holidays.
Hounsdown has an eco-school system that consists of 72 representatives (2 from each tutor group). There is an eco-school club that runs every Monday at lunchtime, which is led by the science department's community links class teacher and is run mainly by the lead team that consists of pupils from all years that have shown a high interest in Eco schools. The school has won the bronze and silver awards and achieved the green flag which was raised on 22 October 2009.
Organic Garden Project
The Organic Garden Project is project funded by the Young Roots Lottery fund. The project is a pupil-led, fully functional organic garden behind the drama and sports hall it was opened by Chris Packham in 2009.
