Desborough School

Desborough School

Motto	Strenuis Ardua Cedunt - Difficulties Yield To Diligence or Hard Work Conquers All
Established	1894
Type	Comprehensive community school
Religion	Secular
Headmaster	Andrew James Linnell
Chair of Governors	Mrs Joy Jones
Founder	A.E. Brooks
Specialism	Language College
Location	Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 2QB England
Local authority	Windsor and Maidenhead
DfE URN	110099
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1,087
Gender	Boys with mixed Sixth form
Ages	11–18
Houses	Dickens, Constable, Brunel and Elgar
Colours	Purple and Gold
Website	www.desborough.org.uk

Desborough School is a comprehensive school on Shoppenhangers Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. Until 2009 it was solely an all boys school; however, the Sixth form has since become co-educational. It was founded as Maidenhead County Grammar school in 1894 under its first Headmaster Mr A. E. Brooks. In the 1970s due to reform in the Royal Borough that stated all schools must convert to comprehensive status, it changed its name to Desborough school after Lord Desborough, a prominent Maideonian. Its current Headmaster is Mr. Andrew Linnell.

History

The school was founded as Maidenhead County Boys School in 1894. In September 1973 it converted to comprehensive schooling. The school is the subject of a book, 100 and not out, written by David Evans, a history and RE teacher, to celebrate the centenary of Desborough School.

During the 1990s Desborough School became a grant-maintained school providing it with increased funding and a greater degree of autonomy. The passing of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 abolished grant-maintained schools and Desborough reverted to LEA control.

In 2003, the school won Language College status. Additional languages are offered as extra curricular subjects. Japanese is now taught on Tuesdays after school.

A major renovation of the historic main school building was completed in 2006. This upgrade saw a new library and staff room, more classrooms and the removal of the school reception to the old music house. A new music department has been built in the place of the old temporary buildings.

The latest Ofsted inspection rated the school as "outstanding"^[1].

School houses

There are four school houses in Desborough which relate to important figures in British history, each with its own colour:

•      Brunel
•      Constable
•      Dickens
•      Elgar

On their arrival at Desborough, every new boy is placed into a house where they can compete in various areas such as sporting events or other extra curricular activities. At the end of every major term an end of term assembly is held where the houses' points are collated from competing in various areas such as chess, rugby, hockey, and so on and then the house with the highest amount of points is awarded with a trophy for the period of the next term. The colour of each house is displayed on the students tie with a series of stripes and on their house polo shirts as the primary colour.

Alumni

Notable alumni include:

Peter Jones at the school in 2008

• Nick Hornby, best selling author whose novels have been adapted into film (About a Boy, High Fidelity)
• Countdown director Derek Hallworth
• John O'Farrell, author
• Mark Richardson, GB 400 m runner
• Guy Fletcher, Dire Straits keyboard player
• Charles Hart, lyricist (Aspects of Love, The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies)
• Peter Jones, multi-millionaire entrepreneur who returned to the school in September 2008
• Toby Anstis, radio DJ for London's Heart FM
• John B, Drum and bass DJ and graduate of molecular biology
• A former pupil, Dicky Patounas, became one of the youngest ever Red Arrows in 1997 at the age of 27^[2].
• Stuart Manning, actor best known for playing the role of Russ Owen in the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks

Recently Toby Anstis visited the school to take part in the BBC school report^[3].

Headmasters

The current headmaster is Andrew Linnell, the former head of Reading School who took over in 2005 from David Eyre who moved to Brighton Hill Community College^[4] at Basingstoke. The mentioned names are just two of the contemporary Headmasters of Desborough. With its history of over 100 years it has seen many Headmasters with varying characteristics, styles, and quirks. The original Headmaster of Desborough School was A. E. Brooks, the namesake of the Brooks building which houses the Modern Foreign Language College and the Geography department.

Senior management

The school is managed by a group known as the senior management team which is made up of the four Deputy and Assistant Headteachers who all have their key areas of expertise. Each of them takes on their own role such as discipline, curriculum, the language college and student welfare. However, should problems arise in the school such as class disruption, fights or any other form of anti-social behaviour the nearest possible member of the team will be called upon to put an end to it.

Sixth form

Desborough school's sixth form is led by the head of key stage 5 education, Wayne Stewart, as well as two Heads of Year, Helen Duncombe and Julia Barry. The sixth form facilities include a private section of the library, accompanied by a large selection of specialist books, three private computer suites and a quiet study room. There is a strong community spirit between the sixth form, consolidated by the Head Boy and his four Deputies who partake in community service, in and out of school and try to liase between the sixth form, the staff and the rest of the school.

The school has joined the consortium program along with Altwood, Cox Green and Newlands School and Furze Platt senior school in 2003. The consortium allows sixth form students to take a subject which is not offered at their school and study it at another school. Subjects such as geology and politics are among the subjects that Desborough offers to the other schools. Transport is provided between schools.

Desborough sixth form now offers full time places to female students, thus making it a mixed sixth form. The idea was introduced after many females from the consortium said that it would be a great place to learn.

Ties with the Berkshire College of Agriculture

As part of the wide choice of options available when a year 9 student makes his decision on what to study for his GCSE course over the next two years, Desborough has outlined options for students who prefer a more practical type of course or one that will stand them in good stead should they decide to go into public services. As a school it is not possible for it to provide such courses within it so it has made links with the Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA), which provides the desired courses for them along with transport to and from the institutions twice a week. Examples of these courses include sports coaching, construction, public services and others. Students who elect to take a course at the BCA can only do that one off campus subject a week with their remaining two options taken at Desborough from the selection of 'in-house' subjects.

External links

• Desborough School website
• Berkshire College of Agriculture website

References

1. ^ Ofsted Inspection Report for Desborough School (2006)
2. ^ "RAF Red Arrows Newsletter 1997"
3. ^ "Toby anstis showing his love for Mr lehain"
4. ^ Brighton Hill Community College

Coordinates: 51°30′58″N 0°43′36″W / 51.5161°N 0.7268°W / 51.5161; -0.7268