Copleston High School 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...

 for ages 11–18 in Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, England. It is a community

Community school

The term "community school" refers to types of publicly funded school in England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to a school that serves as both an educational institution and a centre of community life. A community school is both a place and a...

 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...

 and has had 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...

 Sports College

Sports College

Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...

 status since 2001. It caters for around 1,800 students, as well as between 340-370 students in the sixth form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

 which is shared with Holywells High School

Holywells High School

Ipswich Academy is a secondary academy in eastern Ipswich, Suffolk for children aged 11 to 16. Holywells High School entered special measures in 2001 and left it in May 2004...

. A 2009 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 rated its overall performance as good with outstanding features.

History

The school first opened in 1939 as two separate boys and girls secondary modern schools.

2006 arson attack

A severe fire on August 27, 2006 damaged the school's gym, classrooms and staff room, which prevented many students from returning after the summer break while repairs were being carried out. Former pupil Ashley Norman plead guilty to starting the fire at Ipswich Crown Court in January 2007, whilst a second boy denied the charges. They were both found guilty of arson

Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

 and charged with 3 and 4 years respectively in a young offenders institution

Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution

Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institution is a type of British prison intended for offenders aged between 18 and 20, although some prisons cater for younger offenders from ages 15 to 17, who are classed as juvenile offenders...

.

Two separate fires were started on site. The first in the staff block of the main building and the second in the girls gym where a trampoline was set alight. For a time the school used an old air raid siren to signify the end of classes after the fire destroyed the old bell system.

2010 Sixth Form Revamp

The sixth form centre, built in 1996, received a £70,000 refurbishment during 2010. This allowed the development of specialist individual study areas with computer access.

Enterprise

In 2007 a scheme by students to run a "juice bar" selling smoothies in cooperation with a local firm earned one of the students the title of East of England Student of the Year and attracted interest from other schools in the county. The myjuice bar subsequently closed due to the closure of the company behind the idea.
A coffee bar now stands in its place today. However, in the Summer of 2010, the previous myJuice bar was selling 'Summer Smoothies', under myJuice branding, advertised on a Chalk Board. The myJuice branding, when Smoothies are available, can still be prominent.