Kenton Comprehensive School

Infobox UK school


size=200px
name=Kenton Comprehensive School
motto=All Different, All Equal
phone=0191 2142200
fax=0191 2142207
established=
type=Comprehensive, Sixth form
head=David Pearmain
street=Drayton Road
city=Newcastle Upon Tyne
country=England
enrollment=2013 (as of February 2006)
lower_age=11
upper_age=19 (Sixth form)
publication=
website=http://www.kenton.newcastle.sch.uk

Kenton Comprehensive school is a secondary school situated on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Situated on Drayton Road, Kenton, the school is one of the largest schools in the United Kingdom, educating in excess of 2000 pupils. The school comprises 3 main buildings, with numerous additional support buildings, which situate the extensive technology department. The school also has its own sixth form which is situated on site. The sixth form building is used by both sixth formers and pupils attending the main comprehensive school as well as working as a local community college (Kenton College). The school also has its own swimming pool, which is used by pupils on a daily basis.

IT facilities

The school has Technology College status and as such has an extensive range of technical services, including approximately 1000 PCs, a server farm of 14 servers with a 5TB SAN. The school has also developed its own intranet/extranet and remote access facility, in partnership with Sentinel Products' Ranger Suite.

Even though the school's KS3 SAT results and GCSE pass rate (5a*-c including maths & english) is below the national average, the school is still improving.

New school plans

The school is due to be rebuilt on the same site in the summer of 2008 as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in conjunction with the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The old school buildings will be knocked down and re-landscaped. The in-house caretaking and ICT support staff have been outsourced by tender as part of the PFI bid. The new school is due to be opened in November 2008 and because of this, the pupils at the school will get 2½ weeks holiday.

Departments

Music

The School employs three full time music teachers, along with numerous additional specific instrumental teachers, including teachers, for percussion, guitar, piano, woodwind, brass, strings and vocal tuition.The School also boasts a full 24 track recording studio with its own studio engineer.Notably, the guitar tutor is lead guitarist for the North East's "premier rock band", "The Force".

The music department as a whole comprises three large classrooms, along with several practise rooms. All music classrooms provide student access to keyboards, with many being linked via a MIDI interface to the school network computers. Pupils can therefore record what they play on the keyboard straight onto the computer, using the in-built Cubase SL software which is invaluable for composition projects. In addition, there is access to MIDI compatible guitars, using the same principle as the keyboards.

Technology

Largely due to the school's title as a "technology college", the school has some of the best technology provision in the country. Employing 18 full time teachers, covering a range of subjects, such as textiles, graphics, resistant materials, food technology, electronics, systems/control and engineering, Kenton delivers excellent technology provision, a fact which has been reflected in repeated success in GCSE results. Kenton School provides a unique Manufacturing course, where pupils thoroughly enjoy projects such as the pros and cons of an ice scraper.

Projects

The Costa Rica Project 2008

In summer of 2008, Kenton College pupils will be travelling to Costa Rica to build homes for impoverished Costa Rican families. The project is in association with 'I-to-I', a worldwide company which aims to give young people a chance to make a change. 15 students will be taking part in the scheme, and are each required to raise £800, which they are planning on doing so through sponsored events, such as abseiling off the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, as well as through donations from local charities and community work.

Project DetailsThe project works with The ‘Fundación para la Vivienda Rural Costa Rica-Canadá’. This foundation was established in 1989, when the Costa Rican - Canadian Rural Housing Programme, was founded thanks to a contribution from the Canadian Government. The people from 'Fundación' have become specialised in rural housing and they operate with a network of rural organisations, which are responsible for proposing families for a house to help them fulfill the established requirements, to advise them during the construction process, and to collect the monthly loan payments. Therefore, it is not a charity giving away homes but a foundation. Each project is a cooperative effort incorporating the home recipient, volunteers from inside and outside the immediate community, and the foundation. The labour contributed by home-owners and volunteers, which we call "sweat equity", keeps housing costs affordable.

The Fulcrum Challenge

Duke of Edinburgh Award

External links

* [http://www.kenton.newcastle.sch.uk Kenton School website]
* [http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/?101676&Retry= Good schools guide]
* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/dfe1x1_04.pl?Mode=&Code=&School=3914485&Type=&back=&No=391 DFES listing for Kenton School]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/06/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/391_4485.stm BBC News article regarding results]
* [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?urn=108528&providerCategoryID=32 Ofsted Inspection Report]