Stroud High School

Stroud High School
Motto "Trouthe and Honour, Fredom and Curteisye"
Established 1904
Type Grammar school; Academy
Chair Mrs. Jacqui Phillips
Location Beards Lane, Cainscross Road
Stroud
Gloucestershire
GL5 4HF
England Coordinates: 51°44′46″N 2°13′58″W / 51.746°N 2.2327°W
DfE URN 136874 Tables
Ofsted Reports Pre-academy reports
Students 860
Gender Girls
Ages 11–18
Houses Capel (C), Griffin (G), Kimmin (K) and Stanley (S). All four houses are named after mills in the Stroud valleys.
Website Stroud High School

Stroud High School (SHS) is a grammar school with academy status for girls aged 11 to 18 located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It shares a Sixth Form with the local boys' school, Marling School.

History

Stroud High School was founded in 1904 as the Girls' Endowed School by a group of local citizens led by solicitor Mr. A. J. Morton Ball, who decided that the girls of Stroud and the surrounding areas deserved a secondary school to match Marling School for boys that had been founded some years earlier. As a suitable building was not available, the school was initially housed in rooms in the School of Science and Art in Lansdown, Stroud. Miss D.M. Beale, niece of Dorothea Beale the founder of St Hilda's College, Oxford and long-term headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies' College was appointed as the first headmistress.

In 1912, D.M. Beale, her staff and seventy girls moved into a new purpose built building in the Queen Anne style which still stands today at the heart of the current school complex.

In 1939, a school hall was added.

In early 1940, girls from Edgbaston High School in Birmingham were evacuated to Stroud High School, returning only when suitable air raid facilities had been constructed at EHS.[1]

In 1964, the Stroud Secondary Technical School for Girls merged with Stroud High School.

In 1988, the school became a grant-maintained school and in 1998 a foundation school.

In 2003, the school achieved the status of a Specialist School for Science and Mathematics.

The school engages in a range of charitable fund-raising activities, which are largely organised by the students themselves. In 2004 Stroud High School won the Giving Nation Award for raising money to help build a school in the Philippines.[2]

In 2008, Tim Withers was appointed as its first male head in over 100 years.

In 2009, the school also achieved a second specialism in Modern Foreign Languages.

In 2010, Stroud High School, operating through the Afri Twin organisation, twinned with Rustenburg School for Girls and Mfuleni High School, in the greater Cape Town area of Western Cape Province, South Africa.

Although the traditional school motto is "Trouthe and Honour, Fredom and Curteisye", Stroud High School now uses the styling of "A Learning Partnership valuing Respect, Personal Best, and a Spirit of Fun".

Academic standards

Stroud High School has consistently achieved a GCSE Level 2 threshold (the equivalent of 5+A*-C) of 100%.[3] The latest Ofsted Report, which graded the school as 'Outstanding' was compiled in December 2010.[4] In 2010 the GCSE results were among the best yet, with 76% of grades awarded at A* or A[5]

Stroud High School main building

More about Stroud High School

The school can accommodate approximately 900 students. Due to the geography of Stroud and its environs, these students are drawn from a very wide geographical area of central and southern Gloucestershire, usually from over 60 different feeder primary schools.

Over the last five years, SHS has undergone an improvement programme to its accommodation. All classrooms are now either new or have been modernised and are equipped with interactive whiteboards. In addition there are six ICT suites including a multi-media facility together with a small recording studio and video conferencing equipment. In 2009, the Junior School site also had a refurbishment with the addition of a dance studio, kiln room and art room.

Historically the demand for places at Stroud High School has always exceeded its capacity. Each year prospective students sit an NFER Verbal Reasoning test and the top scoring 120 students are offered places automatically.

In the academic year 2010/11 the school has approximately 640 students in Years 7 to 11 (128 girls in each year). A joint Sixth Form, of over 500 students is organised with the neighbouring boys’ grammar Marling School. This joint Sixth Form also forms part of the Stroud District Partnership which includes Marling School, Maidenhill School, Archway School, South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, Rednock School and Katherine Lady Berkeley's School. The Stroud District Partnership is a grouping working to build a shared curriculum from the ages of 14 to 19.

Academy status

In February 2011, Stroud High School began a consultation process with stakeholders, principally parents, staff and students which it stated might lead to the school converting to an Academy later in the year. Stroud High School then became an Academy on July 1, 2011, a month before its partner school, Marling School.

Sixth form education

Students are able to continue their education beyond the age of sixteen in the school's co-educational Sixth Form operated jointly with Marling School. The two schools also share a number of facilities on their adjoining sites. The joint Sixth Form block has recently been extended[6] to double the size of the accommodation and to include a new one hundred and sixty seat Lecture Theatre. Students from other educational establishments are also allowed to join the Sixth Form, provided they satisfy the joint-schools' entry criteria.

Notable former pupils

Uniform

The school uniform consists of a burgundy fitted blazer (compulsory) with the SHS logo embroidered on the left hand side, a grey skirt in a choice of 3 styles: a pleated skirt, a one-pleat skirt and a pencil skirt, or grey trousers, with a pink and white candy striped blouse. There is also an optional burgundy sweater for colder weather. Students may wear a scarf of any style providing it is plain burgundy, plain black or plain grey. Year 11 are currently allowed to choose to wear a black V Neck alternative.

Make-up is not allowed in Years 7, 8 and 9, apart from a small amount of concealer or foundation. However discrete make-up is allowed in Years 10 and 11. Extreme hair colours are not allowed. Boots may only be worn to and from school in the winter. Shoes must be plain and black in colour.

Before the academic year 2009/2010 the uniform consisted of a grey pencil skirt and black tights or black, white or grey socks or grey trousers, plain black shoes, a pink and white candy striped blouse and a maroon sweatshirt with the school logo on it. This was changed to the current uniform after a survey showed that the majority of parents, teachers and pupils would prefer a change of uniform.

References

  1. ↑ Edgbaston High School website
  2. ↑ Giving nation action plan
  3. ↑ Department for Children, Schools and Families
  4. ↑ December 2010 Ofsted Report
  5. ↑ Stroud High School GCSE and A Level Results, Daily Mail website
  6. ↑ Stroud News and Journal Article

External links