Avon Valley College

Avon Valley College is a comprehensive school in Durrington, Wiltshire. Over its history it has been known as Durrington Senior School, Durrington Secondary Modern School, Durrington Comprehensive School and Upper Avon School.

History

It was established in 1922 on a site in Bulford Road, and in 1944 it became a Secondary Modern School in line with government policy. As the school grew in the 1950s a new site was built at the end of Recreation Road, at the north-eastern corner of the village, at a cost of £118,732. This new site opened on 7 September 1959, and the old site became Durrington Junior School. In the 1970s extensive new additions were made to the school buildings and in 1974 it officially became a comprehensive school. [2] Throughout its history the school has enjoyed limited academic success and went through a period of decline in the 1990s, culminating in it being placed in special measures in the year 2000 after a damning Ofsted report [3]. There was good news, however, when it had these measures lifted earlier than expected in 2002 [4] and the school has shown improvement in subsequent Ofsted reports.

Results

Academic results for the past decade have been consistently amongst the lowest in Wiltshire. The percentage of students receiving 5 or more GCSE grades at A*-C was 33% in 2001, compared to the LEA average of 55.5%. This then dropped to 30% in 2002 (LEA average 57%) before rising back to 33% in 2003 (LEA average 57.6%). In 2004 the percentage of students receiving 5 or more A*-C grades including Maths and English was 33% (LEA average 47.2%)[5]. In 2006 this percentage rose to 39%, but fell back to 30% in 2007, before rising again to 40% in 2008, then falling back again to 32% in 2009 [6].

In 2010 the school scored its highest overall GCSE results yet, with 43% achieving five or more GCSEs including Maths and English at grades A*-C, however this still only ranks the school at 29th out of 34 in the LEA (excluding the three schools which do not offer GCSEs). It fared significantly worse in the Government's new English Baccalaureate requirements, achieving just 2% which puts it 31st out of 34. This suggests that the improvement in grades has been largely due to more students taking less academic subjects.[7]

House system

Current

The house system has been abolished.

Historical

There were formerly three houses, each named after its respective head.