The Corsham School

The Corsham School is a large secondary school, with a sixth form, in Corsham, Wiltshire, England. The school has academy status, and in January 2015 had 1,307 pupils.^[1]

Background

Students attend from the market town of Corsham and nearby villages such as Colerne, Neston, Box, Lacock and Shaw, and from more distant towns such as Chippenham and Melksham and the city of Bath.

Layout

The school is split into five blocks. It has three playgrounds and one big field.

• S block or the Science Block - a three-floored building in which Science is taught. Also contains the main hall, the school canteen, one of the schools' two gyms, changing rooms and several offices.
• T Block or the Technology Block - where Art, Food Technology, some Design Technology and Photography are taught.
• R Block or the Richards Block - named after Clive Richards, who taught at the school for a significant number of years. It is the newest building in the school, built in 2003, and is used for English, Maths and Geography.
• L Block or the Library Block - contains the main library, the staff and reprographics rooms as well as Main Reception and the offices of the senior staff.
• H Block or the Humanities Block - the largest building in the school in which History, Religious Studies /People and Community Studies, Modern Foreign Languages, Drama and Music are taught, among others. H Block contains the second, more commonly used gym, changing rooms and a dance studio, usually used for the dance aspect of PE. It also contains two drama studios, two fully equipped Music Rooms and the sixth form common room.

Academic standards

The Corsham School was described as "exceptional" in increasing the number of pupils attaining top level GCSE grades by Bob Wolfson, Wiltshire's education director, in January 2004. More than two-thirds of Corsham's pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE in 2003, a big improvement from just over half the students in 2002.^[2]School Standards Minister, David Miliband, announced that he was keen to see the strategy spread to most schools in the country.^[3]

In 2009, the school received an 'outstanding' Ofsted report. In December 2012, the school achieved a rating of 'good'.

History

The Corsham School opened as a comprehensive school in 1972,^[4] replacing Corsham Secondary Modern School which had opened in 1955.^[5]

The school specialised as a Visual Arts College until the closure of the Specialist schools programme in 2011.^[6]

Student Leaders

The Corsham School is noted for its alternative approach to student leadership. After removing the traditional student council system in 2014, a new system was introduced whereby there are Student Leaders appointed from the sixth form.^[7] There are different Student Leader departments (currently: Events, Broadcasting, Publishing, Innovation, Charity & Fundraising) in addition to an Internal and an External Director. In the academic year 2015/6, under the premierships of Oscar Wilson and Ben Hayday, there were over 200 Student Leaders aged 12 to 18. The current Directors of the Student Leaders are Martha Benedict and Elena Bateman.^[8]

Some of The Corsham School's Student Leaders' work has included:

• Organising a trip to the Palace of Westminster and a Q&A session with Michelle Donelan MP.^[9][10]
• Supporting Corsham Churches Food Bank with food collections, design competitions and volunteering events.^[11][12]
• Championing students' issues with headteachers, governors, councillors, and Members of Parliament.

Notable past pupils

Jessica Decca Aitkenhead - Guardian Columnist

Caroline Norris - BBC Television Producer of Horrible Histories

Gavin Schmidt - NASA climatologist

Stephanie Millward - British Paralympic swimmer

Zoe Sugg - Youtuber

Joe Sugg - Youtuber

Darren Eadie - former Premier League and England footballer

Jennifer Biddall - actress

References