Exhall Grange School
Encyclopedia
Exhall Grange School and Science College is a community special school located in Ash Green
just outside Coventry
in Warwickshire
, England
. The school caters for pupils ranging in age from two to 19 years, and who have a range of disabilities and learning difficulties, including physical disability
, visual impairment
and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Opened in 1951 as a school for visually impaired
pupils, Exhall Grange later widened its remit to include pupils with other disabilities. It was a boarding school for many years, but significantly reduced its boarding facilities during the 1990s and 2000s as its role as a special school changed, and it is now a day school. In 2001 Exhall Grange began to share its campus with Rushton Hall
, an RNIB school which relocated there from Northamptonshire. A children's hospice also occupies part of the site. Exhall Grange was the first special school to be awarded science college status in 2003.
In more recent years, a greater number of children with single disabilities have gradually been included in mainstream education, and Exhall Grange's role as a special school has adapted as a consequence. Many of its students now have multiple disabilities, while the residential facilities were phased out over the 1990s and 2000s. The school now caters largely for pupils living in the local vicinity, with the main catchment area being the northern part of Warwickshire
, including Bedworth
and Nuneaton
. Although it has a Coventry postal address, it actually comes under the control of Warwickshire Education Authority.
In 2001, Rushton Hall
, an RNIB school based in Kettering
, Northamptonshire
, relocated to the Exhall Grange campus. However, the two schools remain independent organizations.
In 2001 the school celebrated its Golden Jubilee.
In July 2003, Exhall Grange became the first special school to achieve specialist science college status.
In 2004 a syndicate of dinner ladies at the school won £2.4 million on the National Lottery
drawer.
In 2009 the school opened a new gymnasium and the old gym was demolished.
In June 2009 work got under way on building the region's first hospice
dedicated to the care of young children. Zoe’s Place will offer one-to-one palliative
and respite care
, and terminal
care for children up to the age of five who have life-limiting illnesses and special complex needs. An appeal to raise £650,000 to help fund the building of the hospice was launched in March 2008, and it was scheduled to open in Spring 2010.
In Autumn 2009 a coach hired by Exhall Grance for a student trip to France
was targeted by two Afghan teenage stowaways as the school party prepared to return to the United Kingdom
. The boys crawled into the coach's engine while the vehicle was parked in a supermarket car park in Calais
, but the duo were discovered by the driver and absconded.
In 2011 the school celebrated its Diamond Jubilee. Many celebrations have been planned, including the burying of a time capsule in the school grounds during the summer term, and the appointment of the new headteacher, Christine Marshall in March 2011, following John Trumans departure in December 2010. The Main Celebration Day was on 21 July 2011.
pupils at Exhall Grange were placed into one of six houses
, each of which had approximately 50 boarding and day pupils ranging in age from 5 to 18. The school was unusual in that all meals were taken in houses, as opposed to a central dining system. The boys' houses were named Canterbury, Lancaster, Warwick and Windsor. The girls' houses were Avon and Kenilworth. A seventh house, York House, was used for staff accommodation.
Beginning in September 1988 the house system was changed so that pupils were accommodated in various age groups. Canterbury and Lancaster housed juniors and those in the first, second and third years. Warwick housed fourth and fifth year pupils and Windsor accommodated boys from the sixth form. Avon and Kenilworth became Avon Junior and Avon Senior. Three superhouses were then created for the purpose of sporting activities. These were named Phoenix, Wyvern and Yale.
As the school's role changed during the 1990s and 2000s, much of the boarding accommodation was gradually done away with. Warwick and Windsor were the first houses to close in the early 1990s, followed later by Avon. Lancaster and Canterbury (by then known collectively as Lancaster) were the final houses to close when the school ceased to be a boarding school in 2004. The only boarding accommodation offered on the site now is at Rushton Hall. But today the houses are Easter - Pink, Edison - Green, Hawking - Orange and Ingram - Purple.
, who plays the role of Jack 'Jazzer' McCreary in Radio 4
's The Archers
attended the school.
Ian Moore, author of children's poetry book 'Poems, Beans and Chips' and co-director of children's poetry website www.poemsbeansandchips.co.uk attended the school between 1985 and 1994.
Paul Bowler, author of the science fiction novel Frozen in Time, also attended the school.
Ash Green, Warwickshire
Ash Green is a suburban village in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England.- Geography :Ash Green is located 3.5 miles north of Coventry and 4.75 miles south-south-east of Nuneaton...
just outside Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, 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...
. The school caters for pupils ranging in age from two to 19 years, and who have a range of disabilities and learning difficulties, including physical disability
Physical disability
A physical disability is any impairment which limits the physical function of one or more limbs or fine or gross motor ability. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders and epilepsy....
, visual impairment
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Opened in 1951 as a school for visually impaired
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
pupils, Exhall Grange later widened its remit to include pupils with other disabilities. It was a boarding school for many years, but significantly reduced its boarding facilities during the 1990s and 2000s as its role as a special school changed, and it is now a day school. In 2001 Exhall Grange began to share its campus with Rushton Hall
RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning
RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning is a school and children’s home for young people who are blind or partially sighted and who also have disabilities or complex needs....
, an RNIB school which relocated there from Northamptonshire. A children's hospice also occupies part of the site. Exhall Grange was the first special school to be awarded science college status in 2003.
History
Exhall Grange School was established in 1951 on the site of a former Second World War army base. The school originally specialised in teaching pupils with visual impairment, but later began to extend its facilities and to enrol students with other disabilities. It was, for many years, predominantly a boarding school with pupils attending from across the United Kingdom, and it was regarded as being among the best in its field.In more recent years, a greater number of children with single disabilities have gradually been included in mainstream education, and Exhall Grange's role as a special school has adapted as a consequence. Many of its students now have multiple disabilities, while the residential facilities were phased out over the 1990s and 2000s. The school now caters largely for pupils living in the local vicinity, with the main catchment area being the northern part of Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, including Bedworth
Bedworth
Bedworth is a market town in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England. It lies northwest of London, east of Birmingham, and north northeast of the county town of Warwick. It is situated between Coventry, to the south, and Nuneaton, to the north.In the 2001 census the town...
and Nuneaton
Nuneaton
Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...
. Although it has a Coventry postal address, it actually comes under the control of Warwickshire Education Authority.
In 2001, Rushton Hall
RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning
RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning is a school and children’s home for young people who are blind or partially sighted and who also have disabilities or complex needs....
, an RNIB school based in Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, relocated to the Exhall Grange campus. However, the two schools remain independent organizations.
In 2001 the school celebrated its Golden Jubilee.
In July 2003, Exhall Grange became the first special school to achieve specialist science college status.
In 2004 a syndicate of dinner ladies at the school won £2.4 million on the National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
drawer.
In 2009 the school opened a new gymnasium and the old gym was demolished.
In June 2009 work got under way on building the region's first hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
dedicated to the care of young children. Zoe’s Place will offer one-to-one palliative
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
and respite care
Respite care
Respite care is the provision of short-term, temporary relief to those who are caring for family members who might otherwise require permanent placement in a facility outside the home....
, and terminal
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
care for children up to the age of five who have life-limiting illnesses and special complex needs. An appeal to raise £650,000 to help fund the building of the hospice was launched in March 2008, and it was scheduled to open in Spring 2010.
In Autumn 2009 a coach hired by Exhall Grance for a student trip to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was targeted by two Afghan teenage stowaways as the school party prepared to return to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The boys crawled into the coach's engine while the vehicle was parked in a supermarket car park in Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
, but the duo were discovered by the driver and absconded.
In 2011 the school celebrated its Diamond Jubilee. Many celebrations have been planned, including the burying of a time capsule in the school grounds during the summer term, and the appointment of the new headteacher, Christine Marshall in March 2011, following John Trumans departure in December 2010. The Main Celebration Day was on 21 July 2011.
House system
In its days as a boarding schoolBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
pupils at Exhall Grange were placed into one of six houses
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
, each of which had approximately 50 boarding and day pupils ranging in age from 5 to 18. The school was unusual in that all meals were taken in houses, as opposed to a central dining system. The boys' houses were named Canterbury, Lancaster, Warwick and Windsor. The girls' houses were Avon and Kenilworth. A seventh house, York House, was used for staff accommodation.
Beginning in September 1988 the house system was changed so that pupils were accommodated in various age groups. Canterbury and Lancaster housed juniors and those in the first, second and third years. Warwick housed fourth and fifth year pupils and Windsor accommodated boys from the sixth form. Avon and Kenilworth became Avon Junior and Avon Senior. Three superhouses were then created for the purpose of sporting activities. These were named Phoenix, Wyvern and Yale.
As the school's role changed during the 1990s and 2000s, much of the boarding accommodation was gradually done away with. Warwick and Windsor were the first houses to close in the early 1990s, followed later by Avon. Lancaster and Canterbury (by then known collectively as Lancaster) were the final houses to close when the school ceased to be a boarding school in 2004. The only boarding accommodation offered on the site now is at Rushton Hall. But today the houses are Easter - Pink, Edison - Green, Hawking - Orange and Ingram - Purple.
Headteachers
| Name | Years |
| Dr Highmoor | 1951—1952 |
| Mary Caborne | 1952—1953 |
| George Marshall | 1953—1981 |
| Richard Bignell | 1981—2005 |
| John Truman | 2005—2010 |
| Christine Marshall | 2011— |
Alumni
Ryan KellyRyan Kelly (actor)
Ryan Kelly is a Scottish born actor best known for playing the role of Jack 'Jazzer' McCreary in the BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers, a part he has played since 2000.Kelly was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Midlands at the age of three...
, who plays the role of Jack 'Jazzer' McCreary in Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
attended the school.
Ian Moore, author of children's poetry book 'Poems, Beans and Chips' and co-director of children's poetry website www.poemsbeansandchips.co.uk attended the school between 1985 and 1994.
Paul Bowler, author of the science fiction novel Frozen in Time, also attended the school.
External links
- Exhall Grange Official Website
- Exhall Grange School's page on Warwickshire County Council website
- 2006 Ofsted Report (PDF document)
- Article about Exhall Grange School
- Site for former pupils (includes an extensive picture archive of the school)
- Information about RNIB Rushton School and Children's Home