Purbrook Park school
Encyclopedia
Purbrook Park School, often referred to as PPS, is a comprehensive
co-educational secondary
specialist language school situated in Purbrook
, north of Portsmouth
, Hampshire
. The school has an enrollment number of approximately 800 pupils, aged 11 through to 16. Once admitted into the school, each pupil is placed into one of four houses (a system devised in 2008). Purbrook Park became a trust school in April 2009, which helped the school further its successful working partnerships with educational institutions, businesses and other schools in the area. The current acting headteacher
is Miss Hazel Rhymes, taking over from former headteacher Mr Keith Clark.
The house was an extraordinary creation and included the recreation of the first Roman antrium in England. After Taylor's death, the house passed to his son, Charles Taylor
, but was let and fell into disrepair. In the nineteenth century the Georgian masterpiece was demolished and a plain Victorian mansion put up in its place. The Deverell family lived at Purbrook into the twentieth century when it was converted to a grammar school
and more recently a foundation school
. Since the conversion into a school, outbuildings have been built to accompany specialist subjects.
in September 2008, consisting of four houses. Each house contains ten tutor groups, a total of forty tutor groups combined throughout the school. The four houses were named and all link to historical warriors, explorers and merchants.
The school is acknowledged by the following organisations:
Through years 8,9,10 and 11 the pupils choose options and though they have more time to study for their GCSE's now the average results of GCSE's are A*-C!
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...
co-educational secondary
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...
specialist language school situated in Purbrook
Purbrook
Purbrook is a village and local government sub-division located in Hampshire, England. Purbrook is on the outskirts of Waterlooville just North of the Portsmouth city Boundary...
, north of Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. The school has an enrollment number of approximately 800 pupils, aged 11 through to 16. Once admitted into the school, each pupil is placed into one of four houses (a system devised in 2008). Purbrook Park became a trust school in April 2009, which helped the school further its successful working partnerships with educational institutions, businesses and other schools in the area. The current acting headteacher
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
is Miss Hazel Rhymes, taking over from former headteacher Mr Keith Clark.
History
The main building has existed on the site since 1769, this building was much larger and grander than the present one. The original building was called Purbrook Park. This was built by the eminent Palladian architect Sir Robert Taylor, who was also the architect of the first bank of England. The client was Peter Taylor. Taylor was a local MP and something of a crook, accused of chipping silver off the coins when paying the king's troops.The house was an extraordinary creation and included the recreation of the first Roman antrium in England. After Taylor's death, the house passed to his son, Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor was the 22nd President of Liberia, serving from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003....
, but was let and fell into disrepair. In the nineteenth century the Georgian masterpiece was demolished and a plain Victorian mansion put up in its place. The Deverell family lived at Purbrook into the twentieth century when it was converted to a grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
and more recently a foundation school
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....
. Since the conversion into a school, outbuildings have been built to accompany specialist subjects.
Houses
The school introduced a house systemHouse 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...
in September 2008, consisting of four houses. Each house contains ten tutor groups, a total of forty tutor groups combined throughout the school. The four houses were named and all link to historical warriors, explorers and merchants.
| Name of House | Head of House | Former Head of House |
|---|---|---|
| Spartans Sparta Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c... |
Mrs C Gissing | Mrs K Russell |
| Romans Roman army The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire... |
Miss K Allen | N/A |
| Trojans Troy Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida... |
Ms J Summers | N/A |
| Vikings Viking The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to... |
Mr J Harrison | Mrs A Walsh |
Trust Partners
Since 1st April 2009, the school has been a trust school.- Hampshire County CouncilHampshire County CouncilHampshire County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils...
- Portsmouth University
- Barnardos
- Havant CollegeHavant CollegeHavant College is a sixth form college situated in Havant, Hampshire. In 2006 its A/AS-level performance was above both the county and the national average. In March 2010 Havant College announced a reduction in the number of A levels offered to students due to a cash shortage and lack of student...
- Novatech
- Southern Co-operative Society
The school is acknowledged by the following organisations:
- Language CollegeLanguage CollegeLanguage Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...
- Investor in People
- International School Awards
- Arts Council EnglandArts Council EnglandArts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
- Specialist Schools and Academics Trust
- School Achievement Award
- Cisco SystemsCisco SystemsCisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
Curriculum
| Subject | Head of Department | Optional or compulsory at GCSE |
| Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity... |
R Gunn | Compulsory |
| English English studies English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,... |
H Brown | Compulsory |
| Science Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe... |
B Lloyd | Compulsory |
| Modern Foreign Languages | N Aggett | Compulsory |
| Humanities Humanities The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences.... (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... or both) |
M Bonner | Compulsory |
| Design & Technology | N Gibbons | Optional |
| 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.... |
L Van Den Braak | Optional |
| 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.... |
A Taylor | Optional |
| Drama Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a... |
M Randall | Optional |
| 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.... |
M Harris | Optional |
| Music Music Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture... |
C Faunch | Optional |
| Information Communication Technology | D Rochester | Optional |
| 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:... |
N/A | Optional |
| Business Studies Business studies Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries... |
N/A | Optional |
| 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... |
N/A | Optional |
Academic performance
It gets reasonable above-average GCSE results.Through years 8,9,10 and 11 the pupils choose options and though they have more time to study for their GCSE's now the average results of GCSE's are A*-C!
Purbrook Park County High School
- Maj-GenMajor-General (United Kingdom)Major general is a senior rank in the British Army. Since 1996 the highest position within the Royal Marines is the Commandant General Royal Marines who holds the rank of major general...
Paul Bray CB, Paymaster-in-Chief and Inspector of Army Pay Services from 1989-92 - Raymond DobsonRaymond DobsonRaymond Francis Harvey Dobson was a British trade union official, politician and airline company executive.Dobson went to Purbrook Park School in Portsmouth...
, Labour MP from 1966-80 for Bristol North EastBristol North East (UK Parliament constituency)Bristol North East was a borough constituency in the city of Bristol. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.... - Sir David HopwoodDavid HopwoodSir David Alan Hopwood FRS is a British geneticist.He gained his PhD from St John's College, Cambridge and served as an assistant lecturer in genetics at Cambridge until he became a Lecturer in Genetics at the University of Glasgow in 1961...
, John Innes Professor of Genetics from 1968-98 at the University of East AngliaUniversity of East AngliaThe University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
, President from 1985-7 of the Genetical SocietyThe Genetics SocietyThe Genetics Society is a British learned society. It was founded by William Bateson in 1919 and therefore is one of the oldest learned societies devoted to genetics....
and from the 2000-3 of the Society for General MicrobiologySociety for General MicrobiologyThe Society for General Microbiology is a learned society based in the United Kingdom but with members in more than 60 countries. With approximately 5000 members, it is the largest microbiological society in Europe... - Air Vice-MarshalAir Vice-MarshalAir vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in...
Patrick Neville CB OBE DFC, Chief of Air Staff from 1986-9 of the Royal New Zealand Air ForceRoyal New Zealand Air ForceThe Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force... - Dr Reginald Rainey OBE, entomologist, President from 1979-81 of the Royal Entomological Society of LondonRoyal Entomological Society of LondonThe Royal Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. It has a major national and international role in disseminating information about insects and improving communication between entomologists....
- Kim WinserKim WinserKim Winser, OBE is a businesswoman born in Helensburgh, Scotland and educated at Purbrook Grammar School, Hampshire, England. In her childhood, she was a highly talented tennis player, and considered moving to America to pursue the sport before switching over to business where she joined Marks &...
, Chief Executive from 2006-9 of AquascutumAquascutum"Aquascutum" is a UK-based luxury clothing manufacturer and retailer, owned by Jaeger.-Company history:Aquascutum was established in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, when tailor and entrepreneur John Emary opened a high quality menswear shop at 46 Regent Street...