Morpeth School

Morpeth School

Established	1910
Type	Secondary
Religion	None
Headteacher	Takleab Mengesha-Berhe
Specialism	Arts
Location	Portman Place London E2 0PX England
Local authority	Tower Hamlets
DfE URN	100967
Ofsted	Reports
Staff	100 teaching; 90 support
Students	c. 1166
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–16
Houses	1
Colours	Light and dark blue
Website	Morpeth School

Coordinates: 51°31′36″N 0°02′51″W / 51.5266°N 0.0476°W / 51.5266; -0.0476

Morpeth Secondary School is a secondary school in east London, situated in Bethnal Green with nearly 1200 pupils.

The current headteacher is Sir Alasdair Uist MacDonald, under whose tenure the school has undergone a renaissance. Since his arrival at the school, Morpeth's results at Key Stages Three and Four have improved substantially (most notable was the 76% A-C GCSE pass rate at the end of the last school year 2006). In the last Ofsted Inspection Report, leadership and quality of teaching were both credited as 'outstanding'.

Its students come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, over half are from Bangladeshi background, one-third are white British, while the remaining are from other backgrounds.^[1]

In 2009, the school was identified as one of the top 12 outstanding schools in England, according to reports by Ofsted.^[2]

Specialist Status

Morpeth is a specialist Arts College in Arts and Music, but has also gained some fame in junior table tennis, and offers a wide range of extracurricular activities. Its new Performing Arts building opened in October 2007 and was officially opened by Danny Boyle in May 2008.

Guests

Special guests who have visited Morpeth School have included Tony Blair the then British Prime Minister (First Lord of the Treasuary and the Minister for the Civil Service) who visited the school during his first month in office. In 2001 Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II also visited the school, greeting teachers and pupils. Other guests include the Rt. Hon David Blunkett MP (Education Secretary at the time) who opened the school library. Sir Trevor McDonald officially opened the 'Portman' building in 1995.

Most recently on 18 July 2007, within his first 2 weeks in power, the new serving Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to Morpeth School with the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, MP, attending the first meeting of the new National Council for Educational Excellence at Morpeth Secondary School. The Council was set up in early July to drive forward the Government's long-term aspirations for children and young people's education.

As mentioned above, Danny Boyle, a British film director and producer (and a former Morpeth parent), visited the school to officially open the Performing Arts building in May 2008.

On 12 June 2008, Morpeth School played host to the Film Club launch. Many prestigious guests turned up to the event, including Emma Thompson and Jason Isaacs. On 19 October 2010, Morpeth School welcomed Ian McKellen who talked about homophobia.

Celebrities that have attended Morpeth school are Cheryl Baker from Bucks Fizz,Also Dean Rowland from hit sky1 Tv show Pineapple Dance Studios

Sixth Form

Morpeth are able to provide a Sixth Form in many subject areas, which will greatly benefit pupils who would like to stay on at the school to Years 12 and 13. The Sixth Form opened in September 2009 and is a joint three way partnership between Morpeth, Oaklands and Swanlea. The main building is found on Cambridge Heath Road, but there are other campuses, one of which is situated in Morpeth itself called the Wessex Centre.

Projects

Morpeth School is fortunate to be able to offer a wide variety of projects and trips for its students which prove to be worthwhile opportunities. Through Years 10 and 11, a select group of pupils take part in a space project, in which they get to visit universities and space museums in order to find out more about the subject of space. At the end, a few get the chance to go to America and visit NASA. There is also another project run by The Timberland Company, in which pupils get an insight into the world of retail and how the company helps the environment - there is also a day trip to Paris for all of those involved.

In Year 8, as part of the curriculum, pupils get to take part in two "Year 8 Projects". Once a fortnight, pupils spend 3 hours in a project of their choice, which are: Rock Factory (Music), Cine Club (Film making), Sports & Leadership (PE), Space Cadets (Science), Arsenal Double Club (Spanish/football) and Living World (ICT).

Headteacher Honoured

The headteacher of the school, Alasdair Uist Macdonald, was among hundreds of those listed in the New Year List of 2007. He has been knighted for services to education, with his extensive work on improving the school, by improving teaching skills and achievements by pupils in their SATs and GCSEs results. He now holds the title of Sir' Alasdair Macdonald'.^[3]

Notable Teachers

The baritone and opera singer, Benjamin Luxon CBE, taught English at Morpeth prior to the launching of his professional career in 1962.

Notable Alumni

One notable alumnus of Morpeth is Dr Derek Plumb (Morpeth: 1956-62) who, following obtaining a First Class degree in History whilst at Corpus Christi, Cambridge and a subsequent PhD, also at Corpus, taught as a house master at Dulwich College and subsequently, became Head of History at Brentwood School. The late Dr Plumb was an authority on the Lollards and the English Reformation.

Ethnic Groups

Morpeth School is located in the part of the East End where there are high numbers of people from many different backgrounds and cultures. Approximately half of all pupils have Asian Bangladeshi heritage, about one third are white British and the remaining pupils are from a wide range of other minority ethnic backgrounds. The number of pupils who speak English as an additional language is quite high. In the Ofsted report of 2004, based on the annual school census, showed 50% enrolled were Bangladeshi, 32% White, and 9% Afro Caribbean & mixed race. ^[4]

Subjects

The school has a long tradition of success, and has an excellent reputation throughout London Art Departments. It provides pupils with creative activities with direct observation – looking selecting, recording and learning and understanding through the experience of art. processes.

The school teaches both French and Spanish in Year 7 while in Year 8 talented students will continue learning both languages and people who don't will only learn one subject.

The Bengali department is always developing new materials for use at all levels in Bengali. Available to pupils from Year 8 to Year 9, or for GCSE. The subject however is mainly chosen by Bangladeshi pupils. Majority of these pupils speak the dialect of Bengali known as Sylheti, and therefore most have very limited knowledge of the standard Bengali language.^[5]

The syllabus is based on the examination board of Edexcel. Pupils will study the introduction to Business, based on marketing issues, and communications of software. Pupils are assessed on their examinations on line, and by coursework.

Courses and work based on Food, Textiles, Graphics and Resistant Materials.

The drama departments use basic studios with lighting and sounds. Currently it has transferred into a Performing Arts building, with more facilities available. At Key Stage 3, pupils are assessed and graded using the National Curriculum level descriptors as highlighted in the Arts Council's Drama in Schools publication. For GCSE 100 spaces are only available for pupils. The departments visits many workshops and trips for pupils.

Morpeth's music department has been extremely busy over the past few years. Most years, the Concert Band and the choir have been on overseas tours to Paris and Madrid and in February 2008, went to Liverpool. Upcoming trips include Iceland, China and New York. The department, run by Peter Romhany, has 3 well-equipped classrooms, a computer suite, practice rooms and a recording studio that offers pupils access to a range of high-tech facilities that furthers their understanding and creativity. As part of an annual Globetown Project, Morpeth performs at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. They have also performed in other prestigious venues such as the Barbican and Claridge's. In May 2008, the music department turned the theatre, in the Performing Arts building, into a jazz club and hosted a jazz concert, joined by the John Bennett Band.

This subject is offered to pupils when starting their GCSEs in Year 10 and 11. The department has a dark room, for printing purposes of photographs, and with all necessary equipments needed for developing films and printing.

At KS3 explorers through all religions, then at GCSE first year views Christianity and Islam. And optional second year for Islam, Religion and Society or Christianity.

Currently for GCSE it has taken a new course called Twenty First Century Science since 2007.

Uniform

Girls

Morpeth School blazer, Morpeth School skirt or plain black trousers, Morpeth School cardigan, or v-neck jumper, or sleeveless v-neck jumper, Morpeth School shirt: either light blue, open neck, long sleeve worn without a tie, or light blue, round collar, long sleeve, worn with a school tie or Morpeth School Shalwar Kameez, with Morpeth School headscarf

Boys

Morpeth School blazer, plain black Morpeth School trousers, Morpeth School cardigan, or v-neck jumper or sleeveless v-neck jumper, Morpeth School shirt: light blue, long sleeve, worn with a school tie

Statistics

GCSE

Percentage of Pupils achieving the Level 2 threshold - equivalent to five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and maths. In comparison with the Local Authority Average and the National Average^[6]:

Year	Morpeth	+/-	Local average	National average
2004	33%	~	28%	42.6%
2005	41%	+8	30.2%	44.3%
2006	48%	+7	33.5%	45.3%
2007	47%	-1	36.3%	46%
2008	54%	+7

Percentage of pupils achieving A*-C grades in GCSE since 1997. The year 1998 recorded the lowest achievement with only 29% pass-rate, and the year 2006 with the highest at 76% - a gain of 47%.^[7]

Year	A*-C
1997	40%
1998	29%
1999	32%
2000	33%
2001	50%
2002	54%
2003	47%
2004	44%
2005	69%
2006	76%
2007	75%

Key Stage 3

Percentage of pupils who achieved at the National Average level or above, from 2002:

Year	English	Mathematics	Science
2002	42%	49%	41%
2003	42%	58%	46%
2004	54%	60%	44%
2005	77%	66%	53%
2006	78%	72%	63%
2007	69%	66%	57%

See also

• Education in the United Kingdom
• Education in England
• GCSE
• Tower Hamlets
• Education amongst Bangladeshi pupils

References

1. ^ Morpeth School - Insepection Report Ofsted. Date: 21 November 2007.
2. ^ Why some schools excel against the odds where others struggle Ofsted.
3. ^ Head teacher and sweeper honoured BBC News.
4. ^ Ofsted Report 2004
5. ^ Sylheti Bengali Hampshire Schools. Retrieved on 2009-05-23.
6. ^ Secondary Schools in Tower Hamlets - BBC
7. ^ Schoolsnet - Morpeth School Tower Hamlets