Woodside High School (London)

Infobox UK school
name = Woodside High School


size =
latitude = 51.6035
longitude = -0.1009
dms = dms
motto =
motto_pl =
established =
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Comprehensive school
Community school
religion =
president =
head_label =
head = Joan McVittie Bsc (Hons), MA Ed, NPQH
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label =
chair = Andre Davies
founder =
founder_pl =
specialist = Business and Enterprise
specialist_pl =
street = White Hart Lane
city = Wood Green
county = London
country = England
postcode = N22 5QJ
LEA = London Borough of Haringey
ofsted = 102158
staff =
enrollment = c. 1100
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 16
houses =
colours =
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.woodsidehighschool.co.uk/
website_name = Woodside High School

Woodside High School is a large culturally mixed comprehensive school in Wood Green, London N22. The pupils and staff between them speak an estimated thirty-four languages. In September 2006, new uniforms were introduced and the school was re-named to Woodside High from White Hart Lane.

Location and buildings

The school is located on White Hart Lane in Wood Green, in the London Borough of Haringey, North London.

Redevelopments

Over recent years approximately five million pounds has been spent on refurbishment and rebuilding works.

In December 2002, Prince Andrew, Duke of York opened a new building called the "York Building", now used for catering and IT courses for GCSE and sixth form students. These facilities are also available to some neighbouring schools.

Cultural diversity

Wood Green is a London suburb with an ethnically mixed population. Its property prices attract new arrivals from throughout the world, the largest communities being West Indian and Cypriot. In March 2005, the school featured on BBC London's "Inside Out" documentary program. The segment highlighted that most children's and staff's first languages were not English.

Bi-lingual teaching

In 2000 the proportion of pupils leaving the school with five or more GCSEs at grade C or above was ten percent. By 2004, this figure had grown to thirty-three percent. As the largest group of children whose first language is not English are Turkish Cypriots, Mathematics and Science are both taught in Turkish for those who need it. Pupils are also encouraged to study their mother tongue at GCSE, to improve the likelihood of their leaving school with at least one GCSE.

The practice has now reverted back to teaching the pupils in English with support for those pupils for whom it is a second language. This was implemented in 2006 together with a new regime for teaching throughout the whole school.

pecialist status

The school was given specialist status in Business and Enterprise in September 2004.

Ofsted reports

The OFSTED report 2000 said that the behaviour of pupils was sufficiently bad to have it put on the 'serious weakness' list.By 2002, the school had improved sufficiently to have it removed from the list. Investment in the improved gymnasium and sports hall and the completion of the York Building contributed to the achievement.

The latest OFSTED report for the school has improved and the school has been praised for a lot of the improvements implemented since the changes in all aspects of the school's previous methods of teaching.

Woodside high school has started to underachieve in its performance as only around 40% of its students in year nine in 2007 past their sats examinations.

References

* [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews/articles/18033630?source=Evening%20Standard Evening Standard Article April 20, 2005]
* [http://www.haringey.gov.uk/white_hart_lane_.htm Council Press release March 2005]

External links

* [http://www.woodsidehighschool.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/05/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/309_4034.stm BBC Education page on the school]
* [http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/children_and_families/education/secondaryschools/sec_list_of_schools/woodside_high_school.htm Haringey Councils School information page]