Wildern Secondary School

Wildern School is an 11 - 16 co-educational comprehensive school serving the Hedge End, West End and Eastleigh areas of Southampton, Hampshire. It currently has in excess of 1800 students on roll.

The school is a Specialist Arts College and is currently the holder of many accolades including The Charter Mark, Investor in People and Investor in Careers certifications alongside the Schools Curriculum Award, School Achievement Award, Artsmark Gold accreditation, Sportsmark accreditation, Becta ICT accreditation and National Training Award 2004. In a 2006 report, Ofsted found the school to be judged "outstanding" in every category. [ [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=116414&inspectionNumber=279822&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\school\116\pip_116414_20060425.xml Secondary education ] ]

Academic Performance

As part of a Department for Education and Skills initiative the majority of pupils at the school complete the Key Stage 3 curriculum in two years rather than three, with a large number going on to complete a similar ‘accelerated’ course at GCSE level.

In 2007, the school received a 100% pass rate at GCSE level (as it has since 2005) with 84% of students gaining 5 or more A* - C grades, 99% gaining 5+ A* - G grades and 68% gaining 10 or more A* - C grades [http://schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk/8504127/school-profile/ School Profile - Wildern School ] ] , results that put it as one of the top 50 performing schools in the country. This also gave the school a KS2 - KS4 top value added score of 1013.6.

In 2007 KS3 SAT examinations, 85% of Year 9 students achieved a Level 5 or above in Maths, 84% in English and 88% in Science. For early entry Year 8 students, these figures were 93%, 86% and 97% respectively.

History

The school was originally built in 1933, opened by its first Headmaster Mr H. S. Shelley who upheld his role until retirement after the Second World War. He was succeeded by a Mr. Simmons and his assistant Mr J. Shirley, (who eventually left his post to become a teacher himself). During Mr Simmons' time as Headmaster, plans were drawn for the construction of new larger school. Building work on this project began in May 1960, finishing in 1963 before the new building was opening by Lord Ashburton on 19th September.

It was at this time, that the school was first divided into its four houses – Duke, Bedford, Paxton and Sovereign. Contrary to popular belief, the names of these houses were not derived from different types of strawberry, but rather arose from the time at which the Duke of Bedford owned land nearby to the school and lent this land to Joseph Paxton, the man who developed the Royal Sovereign strawberry.

In 1971, the school officially became Wildern Comprehensive School and saw significant development in the form of the purchase of a second minibus and construction of a new art block that was completed in 1974. Development of the school site continued through the 1970’s.

In 1976, Head of the Lower School – Mr Owen – retired and, as a final gesture, raised a large sum of money for the school which he donated to it in aid of construction of an on-site swimming pool; this pool was built in the subsequent years and opened 1979.

Mr, Owen was then replaced by a Mr Durnell, who was at the school in 1977 when it saw increasing vandalism around the site cumulate in an explosion in one of the biology laboratories.

From 1997 to 2007, Headteacher was Jeffery Threlfall, who remained at the helm of school (his first headship position) for 11 years before his death on 11th October 2007 due to Leukemia. Since that date, then Deputy Headteacher Miss M Litton has undertaken the role of Acting Head.

Digital Technology and Apple Training Centre

Wildern School is known for its extensive development of the use of digital technology, much of which involves the use of Apple technology. [ [http://www.apple.com/ie/education/profiles/wildern/ Apple (Republic of Ireland) - Education - Profiles - Wildern School ] ] The school is, in fact, known for being that with the most Apple Mac computers in the country [ [http://www.apple.com/ie/education/profiles/wildern/index2.html Apple (Republic of Ireland) - Education - Profiles - Wildern School ] ] - currently home to over 300.

The school is also a regional Apple Training Centre, giving it the opportunity to coach primary and secondary school teachers in the use of Apple's award-winning software packages.

Alongside Apple technology, the school uses an array of other devices including roughly 300 Windows based computers and has - in recent years - seen the construction of a new "wireless technology centre" (Block 9.) It has also become a pioneer of mobile networking in education through the launch of it's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) a few years after the wireless centre.

School Site and Community Use

The school enjoys an extensive site plan that has seen major development in past years with the construction of a new Wireless Technology Centre (Block 9 - ICT, English and Science;) Performing Arts Building (the D@rt;) the new Wildern Leisure Centre; and, most recently, the WAVE cinema.

All but the first of these buildings are open to the public, making the school a developed community school. While the D@rt offers the use of it's digital editing suite, recording studio, 2 music rooms, 2 drama auditoriums and professional dance studio, the Wildern Leisure Centre is open 7 days a week with the use of its indoor heated pool, large sports hall, multi-use hall, and new fitness suite. Construction of the WAVE Building in 2007 also saw the school open as a local cinema.

External links

* [http://www.wildern.co.uk Wildern School Official Site]
* [http://www.wildernleisurecentre.co.uk Wildern Leisure Centre Site]
* [http://www.wildern.org Wildern D@RT Community Site]