Blenheim High School
Encyclopedia
Blenheim High School is a secondary school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located at Longmead Road, Epsom
Epsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...

, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 that opened in 1997. It is a coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...

al, local authority
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

 school that educates children from ages 11–18, with over 1,400 on the role. A foundation school
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....

, Blenheim became a specialist school
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

 in science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 in September 2004.

Academic standards

In the report on the February 2007 Ofsted
Office for Standards in Education
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 inspection the school is rated Good, point two a four point scale, and described as "Blenheim High School is a good school with many outstanding features.". Notably, the categories:
  • How good is the overall personal development and well-being of the learners?'
  • How effective are leadership and management in raising achievement and supporting all learners?

were rated Outstanding.

Another Ofsted
Office for Standards in Education
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 inspection was carried out in February 2010. The report said the school was a Grade three School-Satisfactory,three on the four point scale.

Admission arrangements

The school is oversubscribed. On 5 October 2001 the admission arrangements were reviewed by an independent adjudicator
Adjudicator
An adjudicator is someone who presides, judges and arbitrates during a formal dispute. The term adjudicator essentially means a judge, without invoking the legal term. An ombudsman is a type of adjudicator in local government in the United Kingdom....

 who decided:
  • The school should not name priority wards because this would discriminate in favour of children from the Borough of Epsom and Ewell
    Epsom and Ewell
    Epsom and Ewell is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England, covering the town of Epsom and the village of Ewell. The borough was formed as an urban district in 1894, and was known as Epsom until 1934. It was made a municipal borough in 1937...

    , to the disadvantage of those who live in the London Borough of Sutton
    London Borough of Sutton
    The London Borough of Sutton is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It is one of the southernmost boroughs of London...

    .
  • The priority given to children of governors or staff should be removed.

Parliamentary mentions

On 26 October 2001 Stephen Timms
Stephen Timms
Stephen Creswell Timms is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for East Ham since 1994. He is a former Cabinet Minister having served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2006 to 2007...

, then Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

 for School Standards, in a written answer, gave an assurance to Chris Grayling
Chris Grayling
Christopher Stephen "Chris" Grayling, PC, MP , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Shadow Cabinet from 2005 to 2010 and was the party's Shadow Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010. Following the 2010 general election, he was appointed a Minister of State in the...

 MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 that the funding of the school would be safeguarded despite the ending of grant-maintained
Grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...

 status.

Aims

The school aims are: For all students to achieve their potential and to acquire a love of learning; to enjoy a sense of self worth and have the understanding to value the differences in others; to be well equipped for a fulfilling adult life as a valued member of the community; to be a model of good practice for developing new skills, knowledge and understanding in Science, Maths and ICT in an increasingly scientific age.

Houses

The school has four houses named, as the school is, after racehorses
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 that have won the Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

.
  • Nashwan
    Nashwan
    Nashwan was a thoroughbred racehorse bred and owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum.The chestnut colt was sired by the 1977 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Blushing Groom out of Height of Fashion, a daughter of Bustino previously owned by Queen Elizabeth II. He was a thus half-brother to the Group...

     - Red
  • Octavius
    Octavius
    Octavius or Eudaf Hen is a figure of Welsh tradition. He is remembered as a King of the Britons and the father of Elen Luyddog and Conan Meriadoc in sources such as the Welsh prose tale The Dream of Macsen and Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae...

     - Green
  • Sinndar
    Sinndar
    Sinndar, is a retired Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. He is notable for his unique achievement in winning the Epsom Derby, Irish Derby Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the same year.-Background:...

     - Blue
  • Tulyar
    Tulyar (horse)
    Tulyar was an Irish bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the Epsom Derby, the St. Leger Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Ormonde Stakes and the Eclipse Stakes setting a record for a single season's earnings in England...

     - Yellow


The ties (burgundy with diagonal white stripes) feature the school logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

situated just under the knot, over a stripe of the colour denoting the house of the student.

External links

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