Frensham Heights School

Frensham Heights School is an independent school located in Surrey, England, run by the registered charity, Frensham Heights Educational Trust Ltd. It was founded in 1925 and formed as part of the movement for progressive education. From the start it took boarding and day pupils and was fully co-educational, which was then unusual.

Foundation and location

The school was founded by Mrs Edith Douglas-Hamilton and established under joint headmistresses, Mrs Beatrice Ensor and Miss Isabel King. It became firmly established under the headmastership of Mr Paul Roberts (1929-1949) and was recognised as efficient by the Ministry of Education in 1935.

It currently has over four hundred students ranging from the ages of three to 18 years.

Based in a mock-Tudor mansion and its estate, built by the brewer Charrington in 1902, the school is located on a hill several miles away from the small town of Farnham. Frensham Heights offers stunning views over the surrounding countryside. Because of this, Frensham Heights is often used as a reception for weddings during the summer moths.

The headmaster

The current headmaster is Mr. Andrew Fisher who replaced the previous headmaster Mr. Peter de Voil in 2004. Prior to becoming headmaster of Frensham Heights, Andrew Fisher was deputy headmaster at Wrekin College in Shropshire.

Former pupils

Ex-pupils () include
*Claus Moser, who came to the school as a refugee from Germany
*Jon Pertwee, comedian and former Doctor Who actor.
*Nick Mason, drummer for Pink Floyd
*Crispin Mills, musician
*Hattie Morahan, actress
*Tobias Menzies, actor
*Carl Ng, actor
*Jamie Glover, actor
*Jim Sturgess, actor
*Rufus Hound, comedian
*Travis Oliver, actor
*Alec Carlin, filmmaker
*Bill Pertwee, actor
*Todd Crooks Bassist for Counterfeit Genes

Ethos

Frensham Heights is often seen as a liberal school. For example there are no mandatory school uniforms (unlike many other private schools) and the dress code is broad. The school's motto, We are all members one of another, was adopted by Mr Paul Roberts who was headmaster of Frensham Heights from 1928 to 1949.

The school's ethos revolves around the idea of mutual respect between teachers and pupils and as such, staff are referred to by their first name by pupils. The idea of individuality is also encouraged so that an individual's talents and personality are developed. Because of the belief in the importance of the individual, Frensham Heights has a very active Sixth Form Committee and School Council which play an active part in the running of the school.

While Houses do exist (Ensor, Douglas, Nevill and King) alongside termly sporting events, there is little competition between the Houses for House Points and prizes.

One pupil from the 1980s writes "I was at Frensham for 5 years, and had an incredible time, that formed much of who I am - I discovered much about myself, the world, and girls there, but now, some 20 years later, is the first time I have learnt that there were houses, let alone what they were called, and I have no concrete evidence to suggest I was ever in one."

Instead of a means to encourage competition and as a divisive force, the role of Houses at Frensham is to act as a socializing force once a term as each year group (7-8, 9-10, 11-13) plays a variety of House matches in a sport (football, basketball, netball or hockey). In the summer term there is a 'Sports day' in which the houses compete against each other. Aside from these events, however, houses have little impact on school life.

Projects

Frensham Heights is the site of many projects. Over recent years this has seen the construction of the award-winning Performing Arts Centre (PAC) which is the venue for drama and dance performances as well as school notices and the 'Morning Talk' on Wednesdays when a speaker talks about a particular topic. The school now has a new Music School and a new sixth form centre. As well as numerous studies for both day and boarder pupils, this new sixth form centre will also act as a boarding house for sixth form boarders.

Socially, the school is involved in many projects including an active School Council and much charity fund raising, currently for the Liberty Foundation in Belize. The school also plans to send a team of pupils to Belize in July 2008 to work with the Liberty Foundation. The school is also involved in World Challenge, every two years sending a group to a country to participate both in adventure and charity work. In the summer of 2009, the expedition will be to India, while previous destination have included Tanzania, Chile and Costa Rica and numerous other countries. Money for each expedition is raised by the students themselves and have, in recent years, included the raising of money through ice cream sales during the summer term and organising school discos, most of which being the 'Spring Fling'.

Facilities

The school now has a fully functioning music centre including the Sixth Form Centre. The Performing Arts Centre is the Frensham venue for drama activities, with external theatre companies sometimes performing there. The school also has a Photography Suite, Sports Hall, Dance Studio and 'Outdoor Education' facilities.

Music

Frensham Heights prides itself in being able to develope musical ability in their pupils. It is customary in the first school to play violin. From year 4-8 you must play in the orchestra if you play an orchestral instrument. However pupils can also choose extra musical pursuits, as there is a string orchestra, jazz group, brass group, and chamber orchestra to join.

Over the last two years, many pupils have formed rock bands, which have been showcased in concerts (organized by the pupils). The promising bands that have been showcased are "Sour Orange" (Who have played many concerts in public including the havering county show and in the farnham maltings with the cream tribute band "Creamy"), "Elysium", "Breach My Heartbeat", "Counterfeit Genes" (played at Uproar 08) and "Electric Echo"

Extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities (ECAs) are a large part of Frensham life and all students from year 7 to year 13 are required to take part in at least some ECAs each week. For years 7-11, the minimum number of ECAs per week is three while in sixth form, the minimum is only two. There is a wide variety of extracurricular activities run both at lunchtime and after school and occur every day (including Saturday mornings when things like Saturday Photography and a Ballistics ECA take place.). Examples of ECAs include swimming (in the summer term), five-a-side football, photography, chess, card games and many others. Individual teams and music, dance or drama groups also have ECAs running outside of lesson times which often occur after school (such as Cantamus and the wood wind group).

The ECAs available vary from year to year and from term to term (the latter due to variations in weather) and as such, new ECAs may be introduced. For instance, at the start of the 2006/2007 Academic year, a Mandarin ECA was begun which may continue to GCSE level. 2005/2006 saw the introduction of GCSE Archaeology as an ECA but due to the examination being discontinued, from the commencement of the 2006/7 academic year this no longer took place.

port

Despite being a somewhat small school, Frensham Heights hosts several sports teams in various fields of sport and played at all age ranges. These include common sports such as football, hockey, basketball, netball and cricket. Taking part in sport each week is compulsory until year 13 when students can opt to use the time usually allocated to sport for extra revision and study, although this is only allowed if a student attends a sport ECA.

Between year 7 and year 11, there are two sessions of sport each week, while only one for the sixth form. From year 11 upwards, students can choose which sport to do each term with options being basketball, football, table tennis, hockey and golf, as well as swimming, tennis and rounders during the summer. Prior to year 11, students partake in sports including rugby, basketball, hockey and football and athletics, rounders and swimming in the summer term but have no choice in which the activity occurs.

Outdoor education

As a subsidiary to sport, outdoor education (or simply 'outdoor-ed') is compulsory for all students between year 7 and year 11. Different from sport in that it does not stress athletic qualities, instead it encourages teamwork, co-operation, individual courage and leadership, ideals which reflect the school's ethos.

Outdoor ed typically involves team-building activities in the woods including activities such as climbing 'Jacob's Ladder' and a high ropes challenge near the Sports Hall. The school runs regular Outdoor Education trips to places such as a climbing trip to Dartmoore and to Harrison's Rocks in Kent. The school also runs the Duke of Edinburgh award at all levels.

Academic Performance

Frensham Heights came 319th in the Sunday Times table of the top 500 independent schools in 2007. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/parentpower/league_tables.php?t=independent_secondary_schools&orderBy=ST_RANKING_2007&direction=ASC&page=16]

External links

*http://www.frensham-heights.org.uk
*http://www.libertyfoundation.org.uk/