Reepham High School and College

Reepham High School (Academy)

Motto	Comprehensive Excellence
Established	1961
Type	Academy
Principal	Mark Farrar[1]
College Director	John Randall[1]
Location	Whitwell Road Reepham Norfolk NR10 4JT England  England Coordinates: 52°45′29″N 1°06′27″E / 52.75799°N 1.10744°E / 52.75799; 1.10744
Local authority	Norfolk
DfE URN	138829 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Publication	RHSC Review
Website	www.reephamhigh.norfolk.sch.uk

Reepham High School and College is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Reepham, a small market town in the English county of Norfolk. It is a specialist Science, Applied Learning and Mathematics & Computing centre^[2] and has around 1050 pupils on roll.^[3] The majority of the students live in outlying villages. Prior to September 2009, when Reepham College opened, it was known as Reepham High School. Mark Farrar is the current principal.^[4]

History

The school opened with around 200 pupils in 1961 as a secondary modern school. The first head was Edward Riddell Smith.^[5]

College

The college, which was previously an 11 to 16 school, added a sixth form in 2009 with a £6,000,000 sixth-form centre investment.^[6] A new £280,000 playing field,^[4] and additional science classrooms have also been added in recent years.

Achievements

In 2006, the Eastern Daily Press reported that Reepham High was the only school in Norfolk to carry Ofsted’s “Outstanding” ranking.^[7] In September 2008, the school was ranked “Outstanding” for a third time, and the school scored the overall grade possible.^[8] The school’s website heralded the news thus:

This is Reepham High’s third consecutive “Outstanding” Ofsted report which is, I believe, a record. It is certainly the highest scoring report ever issued to a Norfolk secondary school. An inspection report contains 27 judgments made on a 1–4 scale with 1 being outstanding and 4 being inadequate. Reepham scored 27 out of 27 grade 1s. This is a Norfolk secondary school first.

—Christopher Hassell, Reepham High School website

In the early 2006/07 school year rumours circulated that the school’s authorities were attempting to apply for an ‘Arts College’ specialism to add to their belt. However, at the Year 11 Awards Evening on 18 November 2006, Hassell revealed that the specialism would in fact be ‘vocationalism’, and since then Reepham High School and College has become a specialist Science, Mathematics and Vocational school.

The school has been included in the Sunday Times “Best Schools Guide” for achieving the 23rd highest GCSE pass rate at A*–C as a percentage of examination entry in Britain’s state schools.

Notable alumni

Norwich City goalkeeper Jed Steer attended the school as did Carl Rogers, captain of Norfolk County Cricket Club from 2009 to 2010.^[9]

Matthew Fletcher

Matthew Fletcher, 3 months before his death from Leukaemia.

Matthew was a sufferer of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, which took his life on the 23 November 2006^[10] at age 16. Born 26 September 1990, he lived all his life in Cawston.

First diagnosed in November 2005, Fletcher achieved fame for his constant struggle against the illness while studying at Reepham High School, Norfolk, UK. He is credited for doing much to raise awareness for Leukaemia sufferers, particularly through his work with the Anthony Nolan Trust.^[11] His work and life earned him considerable attention in the local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press, often to the size of double-page-inside spreads.

Matthew recorded an audio diary for BBC Radio Norfolk. Extracts from this audio diary were played on the BBC Radio 4 programme Pick of the Week presented by Robin Lustig.

The week before his death Matthew was given the “Community Student of the Year” award from Reepham High School and a recorded video message from him was played to the school.

References