Bradon Forest is a secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 located in Purton

Purton

Purton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire. The civil parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Restrop and Widham....

, near Swindon

Swindon

Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...

 in the English

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...

 county of Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

. The school is famous for its theatre works, and that actress Billie Piper

Billie Piper

Billie Paul Piper is an English singer and actress.She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine...

 once attended the school, as did footballers Matthew Mills

Matthew Mills

Matthew Claude "Matt" Mills is an English footballer who currently plays for and is the current captain of Leicester City in the Npower Championship.-Southampton and Manchester City:...

, his younger brother Joseph Mills

Joseph Mills

Joseph Nathan Mills is an English footballer who plays for Reading. He is the younger brother of Leicester City defender Matthew Mills and can play at either left back or left midfield.-Southampton:...

 and former Swindon Town player Michael Pook

Michael Pook

Michael David Pook is a footballer who is a product of the Swindon Town youth system. He is currently at Southern Premier Division side Brackley Town after being released by League Two club Cheltenham Town.-Swindon Town:...

. The headmaster of Bradon Forest at the current time is Mr L M Spiers. The school holds specialist Arts College

Arts College

Arts Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, the performing, visual and/or media arts...

 status.

Theatre

The school hosts many theatre shows from either professional companies or from the students themselves. Glasshouse Productions, Firebird Theatre and Gonzo Moose companies have performed at the Bradon Forest theatre. Fairly recently, the school hosted a theatre production called "The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswoman's Guild Dramatic Society's
Production of Macbeth". The cast consisted of year eleven GCSE students.

School Achievements

Between 2002 and 2006, 70.7% of students gained 5 or more A* to C grades in GCSE's (excluding English and Mathematics). 51% gained 8 or more A* to C grades. The mean number of A* to C grades per student was 6.93, a very satisfactory number.

Big Top Festival

In June 2009, Bradon Forest ran an Expressive Arts festival at the school called the Big Top Festival. It hosted The Clive and the Master. Local Primary School Brook Field Primary's Year 6 Students also acted at the Festival acting Bugsy Malone.

External links

• The Bradon Forest Website http://www.bradonforest.wilts.sch.uk
• Bradon Forest's "Learning Platform" http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=70653
• The Big Top Festival Website http://www.BigTopFestival.co.uk/