- Durrington High School
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Durrington High School 
Established 1973 Type Community Secondary school Headteacher Sue Marooney[1] Chair of Governors Angus Watts[1] Specialism Business and Enterprise College Location The Boulevard
Worthing
West Sussex
BN13 1JX
England
Local authority West Sussex[1] DfE URN 126083 Ofsted Reports Students 1394[1] Gender Mixed Ages 12–16 Website www.durringtonhigh.w-sussex.sch.uk Coordinates: 50°49′37″N 0°24′00″W / 50.827°N 0.40°W
Durrington High School is a community Secondary school located in Worthing, West Sussex. The school has operated as a high school since 1973, and as of 2008[update] serves around 1350 pupils aged 12 to 16 across four year groups as part of Worthing's three-tier provision. It is a Business and Enterprise college.
Contents
History
The school was opened as Worthing Junior Technical School for building in 1949 at Union Place, Worthing. It moved to its location on The Boulevard in 1955, being renamed as Worthing Technical High School. In 1973 the school merged with the county secondary girls' school, which had previously been housed at Ringmer Road since before World War II. At this stage, it took on its current name.[2] Under the direction of Paul Brown, then Head of Drama & Creative Arts, Durrington High School was represented in the West End with pupils performing in the production of "Fire Costs" at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue in October 1993 - a performance that was produced by the Home Office. The production was originally presented at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing in the Autumn of 1991 and was the result of a competition run by West Sussex Fire Brigade in which local schoolchildren were encouraged to submit stories based on the subject of fire. The winning entries were turned into a play by Paul Brown; Boundstone's Head of Drama, Tom Brown; the Connaught Theatre's Manager Stephen Holroyd and Mel Denman from West Sussex Fire Brigade. Durrington High was renowned for the quality of its drama department's public theatre productions, particularly under the team of Paul Brown, Hilary Lane and former head of music Richard Colbourne. During the course of the 1994/5 re-build, two high-quality Shakespearian productions were presented at the Barn Theatre, Field Place - including an open air Summer production of "The Tempest" and the pre-Christmas production of "Macbeth". The newly opened school included a purpose built drama studio,amphitheatre and overhaul of the existing Rodmell Hall stage. The exterior of the new drama studio (reminiscent of a mini version of Chicester's Minerva Theatre) includes stone heads representing Shakespearean characters that were designed by pupils who appeared in many of the productions during the 1994/5 school year. The school won the local heats of Rock Challenge in 2008 and 2009. They came 3rd in the Southern Rock Challenge Finals 2008. In 2011, they also placed 8th in the U.K. Maths challenge test.
Campus
The school shares a campus with Oak Grove College Special School. The building is purpose-built, offering facilities for all subjects, including science labs, technology suites and a music department. There is also a large field in which cricket pitches and goal posts are set up, and a MUGA (Multi Use Games Arena) for 6 a-side leagues etc.
Curriculum
Students join the school in Year 8 from local middle schools. [1] The school is a Business and Enterprise College, so Business Communication is a compulsory exam for all students in their final year. However, as of academic year 2011-2012, students will have a choice between Business and Communication Systems, Business BTEC, and ICT GCSE.
Companies
Durrington High School pupils are divided into six companies: Roddick, Shelley, Franklin, Mercator, Coubertin, and Da Vinci. All of these are named after famous people devoted to a certain subject or subjects, e.g. Franklin-Science and Music. There are tie colours to show which pupil belongs to which company. The colours are blue, purple, green, white, gold and red. There is a weekly assembly for each company. The purpose of the companies is to allow the younger and older students to bond together. The weekly company assembles include pupils from all years; replacing the traditional year group meetings, although sometimes there are year group meetings.[3]
Former students
- Jonathan Sevink - Fiddle player for band The Levellers.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Durrington High School - Inspection Report". Ofsted. 16 March 2007. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=126083&inspectionNumber=293462&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\126\\s5_126083_20070316.xml. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ Hudson, T.P. (Ed) (128). Worthing: Education. University of London & History of Parliament Trust. pp. 125. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18233.
- ^ "Companies". Durrington High School. http://www.durringtonhigh.w-sussex.sch.uk/companies.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ Sale, Jonathan (2008-09-18). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Jon Sevink of the Levellers". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-jon-sevink-of-the-levellers-933840.html. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
External links
Categories:- Business and Enterprise Colleges in England
- Comprehensive schools in West Sussex
- Worthing
- Educational institutions established in 1973
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