Southend High School for Girls

Southend High School for Girls
Motto Latin: Ad Dei Gloriam
"Glory to God", previously "Vehicula Vehicula Vehicula; Amitae Tuae Prudentiae."
Established 1913
Type Grammar school
Academy
Headteacher Ms Fiona Brierley
Chair of Governors Mrs Francesca Edwards
Location Southchurch Boulevard
Southend-on-Sea
Essex
SS2 4UZ
England
DfE number 882/5428
DfE URN 136444 Tables
Ofsted Reports Pre-academy reports
Gender Girls
Ages 11–18
Colours Green and White
Website www.shsg.org

Southend High School for Girls is a grammar school with academy status situated on Southchurch Boulevard in the east of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. It caters for students from the age of 11 through to 18 years old. The current headteacher is Ms Fiona Brierley.

Academics

The school achieved an 'Outstanding' grade following a full Ofsted inspection in December 2011.The school was rated as outstanding in all 31 areas, one of less than 50 secondary schools nationally to be so assessed.[1]

Southend High School for Girls has a specialism in languages. All Key Stage 3 students study two languages from the following three - French, German or Spanish (replacing Latin in 2002, which is now available as an additional subject studied off-timetable).

Similar to other Southend-on-Sea district grammar schools, the school achieves excellent results at A level and various other examinations which are consistently above national averages, in part because of the selective entry system.[2]

In Science, Mathematics, English and Geography all students take a two year Key Stage 3 qualification allowing them to commence their GCSE studies early. In year 7 all students participate in 'Flexible Friday', where every other Friday is a cross curricular activities day. Sixth form students have the option of taking the extended project and gaining the AQA Baccalaureate.

Subjects taught at AS/A2 include:

Demographics

According to the school's most recent Ofsted report: "Most students are from a White British heritage, and a broadly average proportion is from minority ethnic backgrounds. No students are in the early stages of learning English. The proportion of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities is low and the proportion known to be entitled to free school meals is below average."[3]

Sports

The school competes in various sports, including football and cross country. Recently girls have been given the opportunity to represent the school in show-jumping. Sports Day is a chance for the athletic girls to win Sports Day titles. Each house competes in a range of events such as shot putt, javelin, sprinting and hurdles. In more recent years the school underwent a major extension providing it with a new and fully equipped sports hall.

The school represented England in the World Schools' Athletics in Tallinn in 2009 and came third and took part in the World Schools' Athletics Championships in Prague 2013 and finished in 5th place.

Southend High School for Girls has won the junior girls National Athletics title on 11 occasions, the summer of 2014 being the 11th title. The school also holds the record for being crowned Junior Champions the most times of any other school entering the competition. The school has also won the intermediate girls title on 4 occasions, the last time was in 2013.

Southend High School for Girls has also won the Junior Girls National Cross Country Cup twice (1985 and 2010) and the Intermediate Girls National Cross Country Cup title in 2011 and 2012.

House System

In September 2008, the House Cup was re-introduced. House points are awarded for various achievements.

Clubs

There are many extra curricular clubs on offer at the school including:

Traditions

The school celebrates its birthday at the end of October where students, staff and alumni buy presents for the school. It has become something of an in-joke to buy the school clocks for classrooms. Two hymns are sung during the course of the birthday assembly where "Happy Birthday" is also sung to the school. On this day students are encouraged to enjoy themselves and every other year undertake a sponsored walk for charity. As part of the celebration year 13 students put on a pantomime for the rest of the school. There are usually no lessons on this day and sixth form students all make and decorate cakes for the whole school. There was a particular theme for the decorative side of the cakes last year. The school celebrated its 100th birthday in October 2013.

Notable former pupils

2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Arson

In April 2003 the school was closed for two days following a fire in an art room started by a student.[6][7] On the day of the re-opening another fire was started; eventually three students were arrested in connection with the incidents.[8] There was also another fire started in Room 8a in the towerblock where the students set a record for the amount of time taken to leave the building. The second fire was started in close proximity to gas pipes. In total three fires were started in the space of a single month leading to several parents withdrawing their daughters from the school.[9]

The school was again attacked in December 2005 causing several thousand pounds worth of damage to the school kitchen and a number of classrooms at the front of the school. Despite the then headteacher David Mansfield's strong rhetoric,[10] the damage was so extensive that the Christmas holiday break was extended for students of years 7 and 8.[11][12] Reconstruction work took almost a year whilst a new kitchen, dining room and reception area were constructed and a number of classrooms had to be fully refitted.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ "Find an inspection report". Ofsted. 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  2. ↑ "Performance results for Southend High School for Girls". BBC News. 2010-01-13. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  3. ↑ "Southend High School for Girls inspection report" (PDF). Ofsted. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  4. ↑ "Professor conducted studies into sexual behaviour of mushrooms". Oxford Mail. 2014-04-10. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  5. ↑ Ian Gallagher (2008-11-23). "Rachel Riley's Countdown to 'the coolest maths job in the world'". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ "School fire 'may be arson'". BBC News. 2003-04-29. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  8. ↑ "Three arrests in school arson case". BBC News. 2003-05-22. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Suspected arson at girls school". BBC News. 2006-01-03. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  13. ↑

External links

Coordinates: 51°32′29″N 0°44′45″E / 51.5415°N 0.7459°E