Southend High School for Girls
Encyclopedia
Southend High School for Girls is a grammar school situated on Southchurch
Southchurch
Southchurch is now part of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. However, it was an independent parish until 1894 and has a documented history going back to the ninth century AD....

 Boulevard in the east of Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...

, 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...

. It has students from the ages 11 through to 18 years old. The current headteacher is Mrs A.D. Clewlow.

Academics

The school achieved an overall Grade 1 (outstanding) following an Ofsted
Ofsted
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 2007. Generally the school was rated as outstanding in all aspects except Teaching and Learning which was rated as "Good"

Southend High School for Girls became a language college in 2002, and all Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14...

 students study two languages from the following three - French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 or Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

.

Similar to other Southend on Sea district grammar schools, it achieves excellent results at A level and various other examinations which are consistently above national averages. The school does however continue to lag behind its neighbours in terms of Level 3 Contextual Value Added
Contextual value added
Contextual value added is a statistic used by the government of the United Kingdom to assess the performance of schools.The statistic is intended to show the progress children have made whilst attending a particular school...

 results.

In science , mathematice, English and geography all students take a two year key stage 3.
In year 7 all students participate in 'Flexible Friday'. Where every other Friday is a cross curricular activities day.
6th formers have the option of taking the extended project and gaining the AQA Baccalaureate.

Subjects taught at AS/A2 include
  • Biology
    Biology
    Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

  • Chemistry
    Chemistry
    Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

  • Physics
    Physics
    Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

  • Maths
  • Further Maths
  • History
    History
    History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

  • Geography
    Geography
    Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

  • Religious Studies
    Religious studies
    Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...

  • English Literature
    English literature
    English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

  • English Language
    English language
    English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

  • Business and Economics
  • German
    German language
    German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

  • French
    French language
    French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

  • Spanish
    Spanish language
    Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

  • Government & Politics
    Politics
    Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

  • Applied IT
    Information technology
    Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

  • Media Studies
    Media studies
    Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...

  • Music Technology
    Music technology
    Music technology is a term that refers to all forms of technology involved with the musical arts, particularly the use of electronic devices and computer software to facilitate playback, recording, composition, storage and performance. This subject is taught at many different educational levels,...

  • Photography
    Photography
    Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

  • Product Design
    Product design
    -Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...

  • Psychology
    Psychology
    Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

  • Sociology
    Sociology
    Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

  • Textiles
  • Art
    Art
    Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

  • Physical Education
    Physical education
    Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

  • Food Technology
    Food technology
    Food technology, is a branch of food science which deals with the actual production processes to make foods.-Early history of food technology:...

  • Resistant Materials
  • Dance
    Dance
    Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....


Sports

The school competes in various sports, including football and cross-country, and most recently girls have been given the opportunity to represent the school in showjumping. Sports Day is a chance for the athletic girls to win the sports day winning title, and each house competes in a range of events, such as shot putt, javelin, sprint etc.
They recently had a major extension providing them with a new and highly equipped sports hall.

In 2009 the school won the National junior and Internmediate athletics cup.
The school represented England in the World School Athletics in Tallinn 2009 and came third.

House system

Until recently the houses were assigned to students at random, unless the new student had a sibling previously at the school, in which case they were placed in the same house.
  • Artemis (red)
  • Athene (purple)
  • Hera (yellow)
  • Hermes (blue)


This was changed in 2003 to match the number of classes per year. The new house was chosen by the students.
  • Artemis (red)
  • Athene (purple)
  • Aphrodite (white)
  • Hera (yellow)
  • Hermes (blue)


In September 2008, the House Cup was re-introduced. House points are awarded for various achievements.

Clubs

There are many extra curricular clubs on offer at this school such as:
  • Dance Club
  • Manga Club
  • Maths Club
  • Cross Country Club
  • Volleyball Club
  • Book Club
  • Jazz Band
  • Junior Band

and many more

Traditions

The school celebrates its birthday at the end of October, where each form group, sixth form, old girls association, governors etc. buy presents for the school. Two hymns are also sung during the course of the birthday assembly. On this day, students are encouraged to enjoy themselves and take part in various planned activities. As part of the celebration, Upper Sixth Formers put on a pantomime for the rest of the school. There are usually no lessons on this day.

Notable former pupils

  • Prof Lorna Casselton
    Lorna Casselton
    Professor Lorna Ann Casselton FRS is Emeritus Professor of Fungal Genetics in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Oxford, and is known for her genetic and molecular analysis of the mushroom Coprinus cinereus.The daughter of William Charles Henry Smith and Cecile Smith , she...

    , Professor of Fungal Genetics at the University of Oxford
    University of Oxford
    The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

     from 1997–2003
  • Brigadier
    Brigadier
    Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

     Jill Field CBE, Matron-in-Chief of the Army and Director of Defence Nursing Services from 1989–92
  • Jo Richardson
    Jo Richardson
    Josephine Richardson was a British Labour Party politician. At the time of her death she was Member of Parliament for Barking, a post she had held since 1974.-Early life:She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne...

    , Labour MP for Barking
    Barking (UK Parliament constituency)
    Barking is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It has elected Labour MPs since its creation in 1945, usually with strong majorities.- Boundaries :The...

     from 1974–94
  • Rachel Riley
    Rachel Riley
    Rachel Annabelle Riley is an English television presenter. Since 12 January 2009 she has been the co-host of Countdown. She replaced Carol Vorderman from the 60th series onwards...

     - co-host of Countdown
    Countdown (game show)
    Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...

    from 2009.

Arson

In April 2003 the school was closed for two days following a fire in an art room started by a student. On the day of the re-opening another fire was started; eventually three students were arrested in connection with the incidents. In total three fires were started in the space of a single month leading to several parents withdrawing their daughters from the school.

The school was again attacked in December 2005 causing several thousand pounds worth of damage to the school kitchen and a number of classrooms at the front of the school. Despite the then headteacher David Mansfield's strong rhetoric, the damage was so extensive that the Christmas holiday break was extended for students of years 7 and 8. Reconstruction work took almost a year whilst a new kitchen, dining room and reception area were constructed and a number of classrooms had to be fully refitted.

External links



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