Highlands School, Grange Park

Infobox UK school
name = Highlands School


size =
latitude = 51.6489
longitude = -0.1078
dms = yes
motto =
established = 2000
approx =
type = Comprehensive school
religion =
head_label = Headteacher
head = Bruce Goddard
r_head_label =
r_head =
founder =
specialist = Languages, Technology
street = 148 Worlds End Lane
city = Winchmore Hill
county = London
country = England
postcode = N21 1QQ
phone = 020 8370 1100
fax = 020 8370 1110
LEA = Enfield
ofsted = 132256
staff =
enrollment = 1307
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses = Beech
Oak
Rowan
Willow
colours = green
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.highlands.enfield.sch.uk/

Highlands School is a comprehensive school in Grange Park in the London Borough of Enfield in England.

History

The £18m building was built on playing fields next to Enfield Golf Club under the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to help solve Enfield's shortage of places for secondary school pupils. It opened in September 2000 with one year's intake of 240 year 7 students, although a plaque in the entrance hall states that it was officially opened in February 2001 by the prime minister, Tony Blair. It was the first secondary school to be built under the PFI in London. [ [http://society.guardian.co.uk/labourspublicservices/story/0,,742835,00.html Guardian Unlimited] ] At first, much of the capacity of 1300, which had been originally planned as 1240, [ [http://projects.4ps.gov.uk/new/User/userPrjDetails.aspx?stID=311 4ps] ] was unused, as the school was filled from the bottom up by taking in a new year 7 each September. It reached full capacity in September 2006.

The first head teacher was Monica Cross, and she continued in this capacity until 2006, when the present head teacher, Bruce Goddard, took over.

Houses

Highlands School has four houses, Willow, Beech, Oak and Rowan. Each of these houses is split into north, south, east and west in each year, and they are each a form of 15, which are paired with the same of the year above or below, e.g. 7&8, 9&10, until year 11 when they are alone. The Classes are grouped as North and South or East and West. The students wear a green uniform with a green tie with a stripe of the colour of their house on it. Beech is blue, Willow is green, Rowan is red and Oak is purple but used to be silver (grey). The first year the house system was introduced was 2003, and the first house to win the house cup was Rowan house.

pecialist School Status

It was designated as a Specialist School with combined specialisms in Languages and Technology in September 2005.

International Baccalaureate

It has been an International Baccalaureate World School since December 2004, and sixth form students may take the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) instead of A-level examinations. Since the sixth form opened in September 2005, the first year of IB students took their exams in 2007, and 55% failed. Seven students were disqualified for alleged malpractice. [ [http://icnorthlondononline.icnetwork.co.uk/enfieldadvertiser/tm_headline=exam-cheats-exposed-at-flagship-school&method=full&objectid=19450424&siteid=74078-name_page.html Enfield Advertiser, Exam cheats exposed at flagship school, article from July 13th 2007] accessed July 29th 2007] Bruce Goddard, the headteacher, was quoted as saying, "In some cases we are currently lodging appeals against this." The school has since decided to drop the IB and revert back to A-levels.

External links

* [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/school_06.pl?Mode=Z&No=3084043&Type=LA&Num=308&Phase=k&Year=06&Base=c Department for Education and Skills]
* [http://www.ibo.org/school/002219/ International Baccalaureate]
* [http://www.enfield.gov.uk/About%20Enfield/demographic%20information/Highlands2004.pdf Highlands Ward profile]

References