Downlands Community School is a maintained comprehensive

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 for pupils aged 11 to 16. It currently caters for around 960 pupils. It is recognised as a specialist

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...

 Science

Science College

Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 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, science and mathematics...

 and Mathematics

Mathematics and Computing College

Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools Programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools focus specifically on their chosen specialism but must also meet the requirements of the...

 school and also has the Sportsmark

Sportsmark

Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.Sportsmark awards are given to secondary schools for provision for sport and physical education. They are currently being reviewed along with Activemark awards...

.

Location

The school is located in the West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

 village of Hassocks

Hassocks

Hassocks is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. Its name is believed to derive from the tufts of grass found in the surrounding fields....

, and has been considerably enlarged in the recent past with the addition of a new maths block, sports hall and generation three AstroTurf

AstroTurf

AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...

 open air training pitch. The sports hall and astro turf pitch are managed, on behalf of the school, by Freedom Leisure

Freedom Leisure

Freedom Leisure is the largest provider of community leisure in Sussex.Freedom Leisure is a not for profit organisation with a strong company ethos on providing value for money. The company does this by reinvesting surpluses back into the centres to ensure this happens...

 and are extensively used by the local community out of school hours.

Clubs & Activities

• Science Club
• Textiles Club
• Individual Study /Homework Club
• Cipher Club
• Choir
• Debating Society
• Art Club
• Black & White Photography
• Bookshop
• Advanced base level narcotics herbology club
• Chess Club
• School Magazine
• Stamp Club
• Warhammer Club
• Year 11 Yearbook Committee
• Year 11 Prom Committee
• Eco-club
• Christian Union
• Multi faith alternative religious support union

Academic achievement

In 2009 the school achieved 62% of pupils with the equivalent of 5 or more GCSEs grade C or above including English and Maths.

External links

• OFSTED Report 2006