The Forest School, Winnersh
 | |
| Motto | Esse Quam Videri |
|---|---|
| Established | 1957 |
| Type | Academy |
| Headteacher | Mary Sandell |
| Chair | David Auger |
| Founder | Walter G. Jackson |
| Location |
Robin Hood Lane Winnersh Wokingham Berkshire RG41 5NE England Coordinates: 51°25′54″N 0°52′40″W / 51.43174°N 0.87773°W |
| DfE number | 872/4050 |
| DfE URN | 139853 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
| Staff | 210 |
| Students | 1503 |
| Gender | Boys |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Ashdown, Bramshill, Kielder, Langdale, New, Sherwood & Windsor |
| Colours |
Blue and Yellow |
| Formerly named | Forest Grammar School |
| Gender of Sixth Form | Mixed |
| Website | The Forest School |
The Forest School is an all-boys secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Winnersh, Berkshire, England. The school was judged to be "Good" with some "Outstanding" aspects in its most recent OFSTED inspection.[1] It is located on Robin Hood Lane, the B3030 road, next to Winnersh railway station.[2] Since September 2012, the Forest has educated academy players from local Football League Championship football club Reading FC.[3]
History
The Forest School began as Woodley Hill Grammar School in 1957, becoming the Forest Grammar School. The school was founded by Walter G. Jackson (also the mayor of Wokingham in 1953[4]) who was the first headmaster of the school. Mr Jackson retired in 1968, to be replaced by Mr J. Piercy.
In November 1965, the Nestlé company donated an Elliott 405 computer to the school, which was a first generation valve computer. The BBC science television programme Tomorrow's World broadcast an article on 5 February 1969 about how the school used this computer to teach the pupils.[5]
Houses during the grammar period were named after local watercouses, Kennet (red), Thames (yellow), Enborne (blue), Loddon (green).
The Forest School became a comprehensive school in 1974. It has been a Business and Enterprise College since 2003 and was appointed by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust as the "Enterprise Hub School for Berkshire" in 2006. On 1 July 2013 Forest School formally converted to academy status.
Sport
In 2006 The school U15 Football team won the National Cup. In 2007 The school U16 Football team (identical to the Under 15 squad) were runners up in the National Cup, losing narrowly to the opposition. In 2009 The school U14 Football team were runners up in the National Cup, losing 2 - 1 to Audenshaw School, the match was staged at Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium in front of over 600 Forest School supporters.
The school has also produced several fine rugby players, the most notable being Rhodri McAtee, ex-England school boy who is now consistently selected for the Welsh International Sevens team, whilst playing for Cornish Pirates in National League One.
Business and Enterprise Specialism
As part of its business and enterprise specialism, students at the Forest are encouraged to take part in a wide range of business-related extra curricular activities. These have involved enterprise days, work experience, mock interview days, a young chamber of commerce,[6] and more recently the Forest Podcast,[7] Wokingham Business Academy[8] and a Young Enterprise group.
Current enterprises
The school currently supports multiple student-led businesses.[9] such as Forest Design (A graphic design company run by selected students that create graphics for customers clients both within and outside of the school).[10] Another student run business is Forest Lockers, an internal company that offers metal lockers around the school for use of the students as a replacement for the old wooden lockers that were very run down and insecure, initially run by its creator, student Wing-Hou Chan, as an entry for the Tycoon in Schools competition, it now owns nearly all of the lockers in the school.[11]
Forest Sixth
The school is currently going through an upgrade on its Sixth Form facilites.[12]
Notable former pupils
- Dan Howell, professional vlogger, author and BBC Radio 1 presenter
- Nathan Tyson, Former Reading and England Under-20 side who was at Reading FC and now is playing at Derby County.
- Mike Lamb, Director at Pfizer.
- Samm Bate, a professional model working for London Modelling agencies, featured at London Fashion Week 2013 and in Vogue Italia.
Forest School
- Prof Ivor Goodson, Professor of Learning Theory since 2004 at the University of Brighton, and Professor of Education from 1996-2004 at the University of East Anglia.
- Prof Martin Chalkley, Professor of Health Economics from 2011 at the University of York, and Professor of Economics from 1999-2011 at the University of Dundee. President of the Scottish Economic Society, 2006-2008.
- Dr Trevor Hince, Director since 2004 of The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.
- Michael Anthony Price LVO, High Commissioner to Fiji from 2000-2.
References
- ↑ OFSTED Page
- ↑ "The Forest School, Winnersh". Geograph. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ↑ "Academy deal done". Reading FC. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ↑ {http://www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/civic/past-mayors}
- ↑ {http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0154hns Nellie: School Computer}
- ↑ The Forest School ::: Business and Enterprise
- ↑ Pupils create first Forest School podcast - Education - News - getwokingham - The Wokingham Times
- ↑ Wokingham Business Academy
- ↑ Forest Enterprises | The Forest School
- ↑ Forest Design | The Forest School
- ↑ Forest Lockers | The Forest School
- ↑ Sixth Form | The Forest School