Jump to content

Aylesbury Vale Academy

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 龗 (talk | contribs) at 01:23, 2 July 2009 (→Site: no references). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Quarrendon School
File:QuarrendonSchoolLogo.jpg
Address
Map
Weedon Road

Aylesbury
,
Buckinghamshire
,
HP19 9PG

England England
Information
TypeCommunity Secondary modern
MottoSpecialising in Diversity
Established1957
Local authorityBuckinghamshire
OfstedReports
HeadteacherMr Jonathan Johnson
GenderMixed
Age11 to 18
Enrollment800
Colour(s)Green and Black   
Websitehttp://www.quarrendon.bucks.sch.uk

Quarrendon School, formerly Quarrendon County Secondary School and later Quarrendon Upper School, is a mixed, non-selective secondary school in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. It is a community school, which takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18. The school has approximately 800 pupils.[1]

The school was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh.[2] on 13 June 1958.[3] The school is currently (2008-2009) celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The school was placed on special measures, for the second time in five years, in September 2004. This was followed with regular inspections by Ofsted, which included interviews with pupils during lessons to determine their attitude towards the school and the teaching standards. The school came out of special measures in November 2006, after making satisfactory progress due to the improvements, which the school had implemented.[4] The school is now planning to apply to DCSF to become a specialist Science and Technology College.[5]

The school's sixth form reopened in September 2008.

The school's catchment area comprises parts of north Aylesbury, including Quarrendon, Elmhurst and Watermead, as well as the villages of Hardwick, Weedon, Whitchurch, Oving and Pitchcott. It also includes both the Berryfields and Weedon Hill developments.[6]

Academy

Buckinghamshire County Council originally planned to close the school in 2009, and to move to a new site, built as part of the Berryfields Major Development Area (MDA), with housing replacing the school on the current site. However, in 2006 there was some doubt as to whether this would happen due to funding issues.[7]

In 2007 it was proposed that Quarrendon would become Buckinghamshire's first Academy, jointly funded and controlled by the Local Authority and the Church of England.[8][9]

Under the proposal, Quarrendon would become a Church Academy with the Anglican Diocese of Oxford as the primary sponsor and Buckinghamshire County Council as a co-sponsor. It also proposed that Brunel University, would become a partner.[10]

Pupils and staff at the school will automatically transfer to the new Academy, with the exception of Mr Johnson, the headteacher, who will have to reapply for the position.[11] It was officially announced to parents of children at Quarrendon School, on the 27th June 2008, that Mr Johnson has been offered, and has accepted the job as the principal of the academy.[citation needed]

The proposal was accepted in November 2008. Quarrendon will become the The Aylesbury Vale Academy in 2009 and will have £1.5m invested in it over the next few years. It is planned move to its new purpose built site at Berryfields in 2011.[12]

Site

The school site is made up of a series of blocks.

  • Science block, built in 1971, with Humanities on the first floor and the school Library
  • English block, opened in 1975, also contains the Sports Hall, Dance/Performing Arts studios and SEN study centre
  • Administration block with Gymnasium, Assembly Hall, Canteen, main reception and headteachers office
  • Tower block for modern foreign languages, Mathematics , Business Studies and ICT
  • Technology block
  • Music block

Image

The school adopted a new logo of a jigsaw representative of the mixed races that are attending the school, and the fact the school fits together as a jigsaw does. Pupils were given their own piece of jigsaw to be placed on the assembly hall wall, each jigsaw puzzle will fit together with the names of each students on each. The project was completed in early 2007.[13]

The school adopted a new uniform from September 2007 which introduced black blazers and ties with the new school logo.

Quarrendon has close links with Mandeville Upper School in Aylesbury as part of the Aylesbury School Sports Partnership[14]. Quarrendon is also a member of the Aylesbury Vale Leading Edge Partnership[15] which includes The Grange School and Waddesdon Church of England School.

The school also has close links with Aylesbury College, and sends students there weekly .

Quarrendon also maintains links with its feeder primary schools and hosts an annual primary schools sports day.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ "Schools Directory". Buckinghamshire County Council. Retrieved 2006-08-03.
  2. ^ The Bucks Herald (2001) Memory Lane Aylesbury: The Post-War Years. Derby: Breedon Books
  3. ^ "Golden Anniversary Celebrations Commence". Quarrendon School. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  4. ^ "Monitoring Visits". Ofsted. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  5. ^ "Improving school lays out five-year vision". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 21 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-26.
  6. ^ "Quarrendon School Catchment Area Map" (PDF). Buckinghamshire County Council. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
  7. ^ "Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure..." Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 12 July 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-26.
  8. ^ "Quarrendon school could become an academy". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 5 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  9. ^ "School could be science academy". BBC News. 9 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  10. ^ "The Proposed Buckinghamshire Academy". Buckinghamshire County Council. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  11. ^ "Concern about head's job over school change". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 17 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  12. ^ "Academy status is a dream come true for Quarrendon". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 27 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  13. ^ "Quarrendon's jigsaw is completed". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 4 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  14. ^ "Aylesbury Partnership". Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes School Sports Partnership. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
  15. ^ "The Standards Site: Leading Edge Partnership programme". Department for Children, Schools and Families. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  16. ^ "Boyce done good!". BBC Beds, Herts and Bucks. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aylesbury_Vale_Academy&oldid=299803787"