St Crispin's School
Encyclopedia
St Crispin's School, founded in 1953, is a co-educational
comprehensive school
in Wokingham
, Berkshire
, England, catering for pupils between 11 and 18 years of age. There were 1,130 students at the school in 2011, of whom 190 were in the Sixth Form
. The school is on the London Road just outside Wokingham
town centre.
St Crispin's School was the first of the Ministry of Education's prototype prefabricated
schools. It was built between 1951 and 1953 by the Ministry of Education
's own team of researchers into rational school building (David Medd and Mary Crowley) under the direction of S. A. W Johnson Marshall. The work was inspired by that of the Hertfordshire Architect's Department. In the post-war years, with an increasing demand for school places, the government was under pressure to reduce costs but without compromising the school building programme. The aim was to establish new levels of cost efficiency for both erection and running costs. The building is of light steel construction with components of modular sizes. The classrooms were all originally located in a four-storey block above the main entrance with a central courtyard and a rambling series of inter-connected mostly single-storey buildings which provided accommodation for a hall, a gym and specialised teaching spaces for arts and crafts. The new techniques speeded up the building process so much that the school was able to open five months ahead of the planned schedule. It is widely believed that the school tower was designed with the potential to be modified to a hospital in times of national emergency though no records have been found to substantiate the claim. The informal layout and unassuming architecture influenced the layout and construction of schools across the country. St Crispin's was classified as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage
on 30 March 1993.
The original school site consisted of 29 acres (117,358.9 m²), of which 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) were gardens to be tended by the students. The gardens have long gone but the school still has extensive playing fields and also benefits from the use of the adjacent St Crispin's Sports Centre.
The artwork on the walls was a particular feature of the school in its early years. The composition slabs by the main entrance featured paintings of a modular girl by the mural artist Fred Millett (1920–1980). He also painted four murals depicting the seasons of the year, the most striking of which was a large mural at the east end of the dining hall depicting apple picking. These pictures were removed or painted over in a redecoration programme in the 1970s but was restored in the summer of 2011. For the latest information on the restoration project see the Heritage Mural Restoration section of the school website.
The newest addition to the school is the brand new information and communications technology
(ICT) block, built in 2005, which contains four rooms, each with around 30 computers. Many of the local primary schools come to St Crispin's for special ICT days where they have the chance to try out the new system. Recently, the school has upgraded its computer system, implementing better and faster computers with more educational software, available for the students' use. Also, Cisco
has provided the school with servers and switches which are being set up in a "Networking Lab" to set a base for practical networking and server running for Cisco Students in A-Level.
In 2012, work will start on building a new Science Block on the area where the current tennis courts are located. A new Multiple Use Games Area will then be built in another location on the existing school field. The existing science block will be refurbished and the English Department will then move to this location. The Music department will also be relocated to the area vacated by the biology department. The whole project is due for completion in 2013 and will cost in excess of £5 million.
The school was named after St Crispin
, the patron saint
of cobblers
, tanners and leather
workers. The choice of name was perhaps inspired by the famous St Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V
, a rousing battle cry from the king before the Battle of Agincourt
which was fought on 25 October 1415 (St Crispin's Day).
St Crispin's was officially opened on 14 October 1953 by the Right Honourable Florence Horsbrugh
, the then Minister of Education. It featured in a BBC
Schools Current Affairs broadcast on 16 October 1953. There were 360 pupils aged between 11 and 15 on roll on the first day with 19 members of staff. By the end of the first full academic year there were 580 pupils at the school. The numbers rose rapidly and by 1958 there were 856 pupils on roll. As of the 2006/2007 academic year, there were 1050 students at the school.
In 2003 the school celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and was featured as a "School in Focus" on the Teachernet website. In the same year the school received a substantial addition to its funds by gaining a School Achievement Award from the Department for Education and Skills.
St Crispin's was awarded specialist maths and computing status with effect from September 2004. The award was accompanied by additional government funding of £600,000 spread over four years to allow the technology to be used across all areas of the curriculum.
In July 2008 St Crispin's became the first secondary school in the Wokingham Borough to be awarded the prestigious ICT mark from Becta
, the Government-funded agency for promoting ICT in schools and colleges.
In the summer term of 2008 St Crispin's was recognised as a High-Performing Specialist School by the Department for Children, Schools and Families
. The status was granted as a result of the school's overall performance and, in particular, for its high-level GCSE results and good OFSTED
report. As a result of this recognition the school was invited to apply for a second specialism. A plan for a specialism in Leadership was submitted in January 2009 and approved on 14 February. The school was formally designated as a Leadership Partnership School with effect from April 2009.
In 2010 the school was again inspected by OFSTED
. As a result of the inspection the school achieved the status of being an 'Outstanding' school.
In 1989 around 150 pupils from the school acted as extras in Back Home, a television feature film starring Hayley Mills
and Hayley Carr. The film was set in an English school in 1946 and told the story of an English girl returning home after spending the war years in the US. The students were selected if they had the appropriate look for the period, and they were paid £5 each for their contribution. Bearwood College
was used as the location for many of the school shots and other scenes were filmed in Midhurst
in West Sussex.
Jennifer Rae Daykin
, a Year Nine
pupil at the school, played the part of Lily Brown in the 2005 family film Nanny McPhee
. She subsequently appeared as Chloe Taylor-Thomas in The Catherine Tate Show
in 2006.
In Years 7, 8 and 9 (Key Stage 3
) students study the core subjects of English
, Mathematics
and Science
plus the following foundation subjects: French, Design and Technology, Information and Communication Technology
(ICT), History
, Geography
, Religious Education
, Art
, Music
and Physical Education
. In addition lessons are offered in Personal, Social and Health Education
, Citizenship
and Drama
. Pupils are taught in sets for English, Maths, Science and French. German is offered as a second foreign language from Year 8 onwards to those in the top French sets.
The subjects offered at GCSE
are shown in the table (right). St Crispin's is one of a small number of state schools which still offer the three separate sciences at GCSE. The following Design and Technology options are offered at GCSE: Food and Nutrition; Graphic Products; Resistant Materials; Systems and Control; Textiles.
The subjects offered at A level are also shown in the table (right). St Crispin's participates in the Cisco Networking Academy
Programme and is one of the relatively few schools in the UK to offer this globally accepted professional course in networking. Pupils on this course have networked the computers in the school's IT suite and also those of the neighbouring primary school Westende
.
St Crispin's has pioneered an innovative science buddy scheme, which was featured on Teachernet, the website for teachers and educators. The scheme involved around 30 pupils from the top three sets in Year 11 helping the younger children in Year 7 to conduct experiments and investigations in a lunchtime club. The buddies also visited local primary schools during National Science Week and led practical sessions with Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.
, badminton
, basketball
, cricket
, football
, health-related fitness, hockey
, netball
, rounders
, rugby
, tennis
and trampolining
. There are school teams which play regular fixtures with other local schools in rugby, football, hockey, netball and basketball. Pupils also participate in the Reading Cross Country League. A number of pupils play at county level.
, the Mathematics Olympiad
, and the Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition. In 2004 St Crispin's School, represented by Ella Dolan and Joe Rogers, were the winners of the John Redwood
Cup in the inaugural Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition.
The school has recently (on 23 October 2008) hosted the REME wind and soul band for an all day music workshop with the St Crispin's students. During the first two periods of the day, the students who played wind and percussion instruments were invited to take part in a wind band workshop alongside the REME wind band. pieces played included=- Children of Sanchez, El Cumbanchero, King Kong and Here's That Rainy Day. During the third period, all music students were invited to listen to a presentation given by the REME band on life as an army musician. During the fourth and fifth periods, students who played instruments such as percussion, guitar and brass were given the opportunity to play with the excellent REME soul band, along with many St Crispin's students providing vocals on the songs Valerie (Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson version) and Lady Marmalade. A string workshop also took place during this time. Later that evening, a concert took place in the school hall, which displayed all the work that the students had done during the day. All students, members of the REME band and audience enjoyed the evening. Both the day and the evening were a huge success.
, various sports, computing (including a computer club specifically for girls) and Christian Union
.
, Lulworth Cove
, Cheddar Gorge, HMS Belfast
and the Black Country Museum
. Lower school pupils have the opportunity to participate in a residential team building weekend. Overseas trips have included visits to the First World War battlefields, the art galleries in Barcelona
, trekking in Thailand
and Mexico, ski-ing in Aprica
, Italy, and the USA, and trips to Moscow and Saint Petersburg
. A Level Historians are taken on an annual trip to the Houses of Parliament.
in mathematics and computing
and a Leadership Partnership School. It is both a Microsoft
Academy and a Cisco
Systems Networking Academy. The school has Investor in People
Status and also holds the Sportsmark
Award and the ICT Mark. St Crispin's has strong links with the local community and has a special link with Costain
through its building awareness programme. The school celebrated its best ever GCSE
results in 2011 with 89.1% of pupils achieving five or more passes at grades A* to C and 74.5% receiving five or more grades A* to C including maths and English. At A level 51% of papers were awarded an A*-B grade.
based on designated catchment areas and feeder primary schools. Around 190 places are available at St Crispin's every year. The feeder primary schools for St Crispin's are:
In addition the school receives a significant number of students from the primary schools in Bracknell Forest Authority
. The 2006 intake was made up of 180 students from 26 different primary schools.
where he was formerly the headteacher of Sheffield County School. Drama was one of Bancroft's particular passions and the school has always had a strong tradition in the subject. Bancroft retired from teaching in 1972 and continued to live in Wokingham. He died on 13 July 1981.
status and the extension of the facilities to create new science, maths and sixth form blocks. Originally trained as a French teacher, he had a deliberate policy of teaching every pupil in their first year so that he knew every child in the school. He retired in 1992 and died of cancer on 4 January 2007 at the age of 75.
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
comprehensive school
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...
in Wokingham
Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire in South East England about west of central London. It is about east-southeast of Reading and west of Bracknell. It spans an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, England, catering for pupils between 11 and 18 years of age. There were 1,130 students at the school in 2011, of whom 190 were 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,...
. The school is on the London Road just outside Wokingham
Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire in South East England about west of central London. It is about east-southeast of Reading and west of Bracknell. It spans an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403...
town centre.
Architecture
Prefabrication
Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...
schools. It was built between 1951 and 1953 by the Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education (United Kingdom)
The administration of education policy in the United Kingdom began in the 19th century. Official mandation of education began with the Elementary Education Act 1870 for England and Wales, and the Education Act 1872 for Scotland...
's own team of researchers into rational school building (David Medd and Mary Crowley) under the direction of S. A. W Johnson Marshall. The work was inspired by that of the Hertfordshire Architect's Department. In the post-war years, with an increasing demand for school places, the government was under pressure to reduce costs but without compromising the school building programme. The aim was to establish new levels of cost efficiency for both erection and running costs. The building is of light steel construction with components of modular sizes. The classrooms were all originally located in a four-storey block above the main entrance with a central courtyard and a rambling series of inter-connected mostly single-storey buildings which provided accommodation for a hall, a gym and specialised teaching spaces for arts and crafts. The new techniques speeded up the building process so much that the school was able to open five months ahead of the planned schedule. It is widely believed that the school tower was designed with the potential to be modified to a hospital in times of national emergency though no records have been found to substantiate the claim. The informal layout and unassuming architecture influenced the layout and construction of schools across the country. St Crispin's was classified as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
on 30 March 1993.
The original school site consisted of 29 acres (117,358.9 m²), of which 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) were gardens to be tended by the students. The gardens have long gone but the school still has extensive playing fields and also benefits from the use of the adjacent St Crispin's Sports Centre.
The artwork on the walls was a particular feature of the school in its early years. The composition slabs by the main entrance featured paintings of a modular girl by the mural artist Fred Millett (1920–1980). He also painted four murals depicting the seasons of the year, the most striking of which was a large mural at the east end of the dining hall depicting apple picking. These pictures were removed or painted over in a redecoration programme in the 1970s but was restored in the summer of 2011. For the latest information on the restoration project see the Heritage Mural Restoration section of the school website.
The newest addition to the school is the brand new information and communications technology
ICT (education)
Information and communication technologies in education deal with the use of information and communication technologies within educational technology.-Purpose:...
(ICT) block, built in 2005, which contains four rooms, each with around 30 computers. Many of the local primary schools come to St Crispin's for special ICT days where they have the chance to try out the new system. Recently, the school has upgraded its computer system, implementing better and faster computers with more educational software, available for the students' use. Also, Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
has provided the school with servers and switches which are being set up in a "Networking Lab" to set a base for practical networking and server running for Cisco Students in A-Level.
In 2012, work will start on building a new Science Block on the area where the current tennis courts are located. A new Multiple Use Games Area will then be built in another location on the existing school field. The existing science block will be refurbished and the English Department will then move to this location. The Music department will also be relocated to the area vacated by the biology department. The whole project is due for completion in 2013 and will cost in excess of £5 million.
History
Crispin
Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the French Christian patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and leather workers. Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, twin brothers, fled persecution for their faith, ending up in Soissons, where they preached Christianity...
, the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of cobblers
Shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...
, tanners and leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
workers. The choice of name was perhaps inspired by the famous St Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
, a rousing battle cry from the king before the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
which was fought on 25 October 1415 (St Crispin's Day).
St Crispin's was officially opened on 14 October 1953 by the Right Honourable Florence Horsbrugh
Florence Horsbrugh, Baroness Horsbrugh
Florence Gertrude Horsbrugh, Baroness Horsbrugh, GBE, PC was a Scottish Unionist Party and Conservative Party politician....
, the then Minister of Education. It featured in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Schools Current Affairs broadcast on 16 October 1953. There were 360 pupils aged between 11 and 15 on roll on the first day with 19 members of staff. By the end of the first full academic year there were 580 pupils at the school. The numbers rose rapidly and by 1958 there were 856 pupils on roll. As of the 2006/2007 academic year, there were 1050 students at the school.
In 2003 the school celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and was featured as a "School in Focus" on the Teachernet website. In the same year the school received a substantial addition to its funds by gaining a School Achievement Award from the Department for Education and Skills.
St Crispin's was awarded specialist maths and computing status with effect from September 2004. The award was accompanied by additional government funding of £600,000 spread over four years to allow the technology to be used across all areas of the curriculum.
In July 2008 St Crispin's became the first secondary school in the Wokingham Borough to be awarded the prestigious ICT mark from Becta
Becta
Becta was a non-departmental public body ] funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, in the UK It was a charity and a company limited by guarantee. In the post-election spending review in May 2010, it was announced that Becta was to be abolished...
, the Government-funded agency for promoting ICT in schools and colleges.
In the summer term of 2008 St Crispin's was recognised as a High-Performing Specialist School by the Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Department for Children, Schools and Families was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education...
. The status was granted as a result of the school's overall performance and, in particular, for its high-level GCSE results and good 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 ....
report. As a result of this recognition the school was invited to apply for a second specialism. A plan for a specialism in Leadership was submitted in January 2009 and approved on 14 February. The school was formally designated as a Leadership Partnership School with effect from April 2009.
In 2010 the school was again inspected by 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 ....
. As a result of the inspection the school achieved the status of being an 'Outstanding' school.
The school in film
Pupils from the school have on two occasions been required to act as extras in films. In 1957 the school's playing fields were used to show scenes of a sports day in the eight-part cinema/TV thriller The Great Attraction. The shooting took place over three days and a number of pupils were used in the film.In 1989 around 150 pupils from the school acted as extras in Back Home, a television feature film starring Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...
and Hayley Carr. The film was set in an English school in 1946 and told the story of an English girl returning home after spending the war years in the US. The students were selected if they had the appropriate look for the period, and they were paid £5 each for their contribution. Bearwood College
Bearwood College
Bearwood College is a secondary co-educational independent school located at Bearwood House at Sindlesham, near Wokingham, in the English county of Berkshire. Before the 1990s, it was the Royal Merchant Navy School.-History of the house:...
was used as the location for many of the school shots and other scenes were filmed in Midhurst
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
in West Sussex.
Jennifer Rae Daykin
Jennifer Rae Daykin
Jennifer Rae Daykin is a British teen actress best known for her role as Liliana "Lily" Brown in Nanny McPhee. She attended Westende Junior School in Wokingham, Berkshire, England- Filmography :- Awards & nominations :...
, a Year Nine
Year Nine
Year Nine is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is usually the ninth year of compulsory education and incorporates students aged between thirteen and fourteen....
pupil at the school, played the part of Lily Brown in the 2005 family film Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee is a 2005 fantasy film starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. Thompson also wrote the screenplay, which is adapted from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books.-Plot:...
. She subsequently appeared as Chloe Taylor-Thomas in The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Aschlin Ditta. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. The Catherine Tate Show airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through the BBC...
in 2006.
Curriculum
| Subject | GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills... |
A level |
|---|---|---|
| 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.... and Design Design Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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.... |
Yes | Yes |
| Child Development Child development Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories.... |
Yes | - |
| Computer Studies | - | Yes |
| Design and Technology | Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| Economics Economics Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"... |
- | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | - |
| 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.... |
Yes | Yes |
| French | Yes | Yes |
| Further Mathematics Further Mathematics Further Mathematics is the title given to a number of advanced secondary mathematics courses. Higher and Further Mathematics may also refer to any of several advanced mathematics courses at many institutions.... |
- | Yes |
| General Studies | - | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| German | Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| ICT ICT (education) Information and communication technologies in education deal with the use of information and communication technologies within educational technology.-Purpose:... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
- | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
- | Yes |
| 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.... |
Yes | Yes |
| 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... |
Yes | Yes |
| Religious Education Religious Education Religious Education is the term given to education concerned with religion. It may refer to education provided by a church or religious organization, for instruction in doctrine and faith, or for education in various aspects of religion, but without explicitly religious or moral aims, e.g. in a... |
Yes | Yes |
| Science Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe... (double award) |
Yes | - |
| Statistics Statistics Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.... |
Yes | - |
In Years 7, 8 and 9 (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 the core subjects of 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.,...
, 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...
and Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
plus the following foundation subjects: French, Design and Technology, Information and Communication Technology
ICT (education)
Information and communication technologies in education deal with the use of information and communication technologies within educational technology.-Purpose:...
(ICT), 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 Education
Religious Education
Religious Education is the term given to education concerned with religion. It may refer to education provided by a church or religious organization, for instruction in doctrine and faith, or for education in various aspects of religion, but without explicitly religious or moral aims, e.g. in a...
, 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....
, 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...
and 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....
. In addition lessons are offered in Personal, Social and Health Education
Personal, Social and Health Education
Personal, social, health and economic education has in various forms been part of the national curriculum for schools in England since 2000. Some aspects, but not all, have been compulsory...
, Citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
and 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...
. Pupils are taught in sets for English, Maths, Science and French. German is offered as a second foreign language from Year 8 onwards to those in the top French sets.
The subjects offered at GCSE
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
are shown in the table (right). St Crispin's is one of a small number of state schools which still offer the three separate sciences at GCSE. The following Design and Technology options are offered at GCSE: Food and Nutrition; Graphic Products; Resistant Materials; Systems and Control; Textiles.
The subjects offered at A level are also shown in the table (right). St Crispin's participates in the Cisco Networking Academy
Cisco networking academy
Cisco Networking Academy, a global education initiative from Cisco Systems, offers networking programs, like the CCNA and CCNP courses, which prepare students for the certification exams of the same name, and other computer-related courses...
Programme and is one of the relatively few schools in the UK to offer this globally accepted professional course in networking. Pupils on this course have networked the computers in the school's IT suite and also those of the neighbouring primary school Westende
Westende Junior School
Westende Junior School is a co-educational junior school in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, established in 1974. The school caters for children from the ages of seven to eleven, and there are 229 children on roll . The school is near the town centre in Seaford Road, and is bordered by St Crispin's...
.
St Crispin's has pioneered an innovative science buddy scheme, which was featured on Teachernet, the website for teachers and educators. The scheme involved around 30 pupils from the top three sets in Year 11 helping the younger children in Year 7 to conduct experiments and investigations in a lunchtime club. The buddies also visited local primary schools during National Science Week and led practical sessions with Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.
Sports
Pupils at the school participate in the following sports: athleticsAthletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
, badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, health-related fitness, hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
, rounders
Rounders
Rounders is a game played between two teams of either gender. The game originated in England where it was played in Tudor times. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a round wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and trampolining
Trampolining
Trampolining is a competitive Olympic sport in which gymnasts perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. These can include simple jumps in the pike, tuck or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward or backward somersaults and twists....
. There are school teams which play regular fixtures with other local schools in rugby, football, hockey, netball and basketball. Pupils also participate in the Reading Cross Country League. A number of pupils play at county level.
6th form Christmas Party
Every year at Christmas the students at the school's sixth form host a Christmas Party for members of the public, that is entirely charity funded. This helps the students give something back to the local community, and also helps students develop planning and people skills.Competitions
Pupils participate in the Economics Challenge, Young EnterpriseYoung Enterprise
Young Enterprise is a not-for-profit business and enterprise education charity in the United Kingdom. It is made up of 12 regional organisations, each operating individually under a license agreement...
, the Mathematics Olympiad
British Mathematical Olympiad
The British Mathematical Olympiad forms part of the selection process for the UK International Mathematical Olympiad team. There are two rounds, the BMO1 and the BMO2.-BMO Round 1:...
, and the Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition. In 2004 St Crispin's School, represented by Ella Dolan and Joe Rogers, were the winners of the John Redwood
John Redwood
John Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...
Cup in the inaugural Wokingham Schools' Debating Competition.
Music
Music tuition is provided by Berkshire Maestros at discounted rates. Pupils can learn to play woodwind, brass, percussion, violin, viola, guitar and keyboard.The school has recently (on 23 October 2008) hosted the REME wind and soul band for an all day music workshop with the St Crispin's students. During the first two periods of the day, the students who played wind and percussion instruments were invited to take part in a wind band workshop alongside the REME wind band. pieces played included=- Children of Sanchez, El Cumbanchero, King Kong and Here's That Rainy Day. During the third period, all music students were invited to listen to a presentation given by the REME band on life as an army musician. During the fourth and fifth periods, students who played instruments such as percussion, guitar and brass were given the opportunity to play with the excellent REME soul band, along with many St Crispin's students providing vocals on the songs Valerie (Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson version) and Lady Marmalade. A string workshop also took place during this time. Later that evening, a concert took place in the school hall, which displayed all the work that the students had done during the day. All students, members of the REME band and audience enjoyed the evening. Both the day and the evening were a huge success.
School clubs
A range of clubs are available both at lunchtime and after school. There are clubs for music, drama, dance, art, WarhammerWarhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
, various sports, computing (including a computer club specifically for girls) and Christian Union
Christian Union (students)
Christian Unions are evangelical Christian student groups. They exist in many countries and are often affiliated with either International Fellowship of Evangelical Students or Campus Crusade for Christ. Many Christian Unions are one of the societies affiliated to their universities' students'...
.
School trips
The school provides a regular programme of school trips to enhance the curriculum. Pupils have visited Warwick CastleWarwick Castle
Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century,...
, Lulworth Cove
Lulworth Cove
Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a tourist location with over 1 million visitors a year...
, Cheddar Gorge, HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast (C35)
HMS Belfast is a museum ship, originally a Royal Navy light cruiser, permanently moored in London on the River Thames and operated by the Imperial War Museum....
and the Black Country Museum
Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings, located in Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The museum occupies a urban heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation...
. Lower school pupils have the opportunity to participate in a residential team building weekend. Overseas trips have included visits to the First World War battlefields, the art galleries in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, trekking in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Mexico, ski-ing in Aprica
Aprica
Aprica is a town and comune in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is located on the eponymous pass, the most favourable one connecting Valtellina to Val Camonica.Its main activity is winter tourism.-External links:* * *...
, Italy, and the USA, and trips to Moscow and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. A Level Historians are taken on an annual trip to the Houses of Parliament.
Achievements and specialisms
St Crispin's is a specialist schoolSpecialist 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...
in mathematics and computing
Mathematics and Computing College
Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools Programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools focus specifically on their chosen specialism but must also meet the requirements of the...
and a Leadership Partnership School. It is both a Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Academy and a Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
Systems Networking Academy. The school has Investor in People
Investors in People
Launched in 1991 Investors in People is a business improvement tool administered by UK Commission for Employment and Skills and supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ....
Status and also holds the Sportsmark
Sportsmark
Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.Sportsmark awards are given to secondary schools for provision for sport and physical education. They are currently being reviewed along with Activemark awards...
Award and the ICT Mark. St Crispin's has strong links with the local community and has a special link with Costain
Costain Group
Costain Group plc is a British construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead. It was part of the original Channel Tunnel consortium and is involved in Private Finance Initiative projects.-History:...
through its building awareness programme. The school celebrated its best ever GCSE
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
results in 2011 with 89.1% of pupils achieving five or more passes at grades A* to C and 74.5% receiving five or more grades A* to C including maths and English. At A level 51% of papers were awarded an A*-B grade.
Admissions
In common with all other schools in Wokingham Borough, school places are allocated by the LEALocal Education Authority
A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...
based on designated catchment areas and feeder primary schools. Around 190 places are available at St Crispin's every year. The feeder primary schools for St Crispin's are:
- Gorse Ride Junior School
- Hatch Ride Primary School
- Keep Hatch Primary School
- Nine Mile Ride Primary School
- Oaklands Junior School
- The Palmer Church of England Junior School
- Westende Junior SchoolWestende Junior SchoolWestende Junior School is a co-educational junior school in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, established in 1974. The school caters for children from the ages of seven to eleven, and there are 229 children on roll . The school is near the town centre in Seaford Road, and is bordered by St Crispin's...
- St Sebastian's Church of England School
In addition the school receives a significant number of students from the primary schools in Bracknell Forest Authority
Bracknell Forest
Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority and borough in Berkshire in southern England. It covers the towns of Bracknell, North Ascot, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and surrounding villages and hamlets.-History:...
. The 2006 intake was made up of 180 students from 26 different primary schools.
Eric Bancroft (1953-1971)
The first headteacher of St Crispin's was Eric Bancroft who joined the school in 1953. He moved to Wokingham from YorkshireYorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
where he was formerly the headteacher of Sheffield County School. Drama was one of Bancroft's particular passions and the school has always had a strong tradition in the subject. Bancroft retired from teaching in 1972 and continued to live in Wokingham. He died on 13 July 1981.
John Cole (1972-1992)
John Cole was selected as headteacher designate on 10 July 1971 and formally took over from Eric Bancroft in January 1972. He was responsible for overseeing the change to comprehensiveComprehensive 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...
status and the extension of the facilities to create new science, maths and sixth form blocks. Originally trained as a French teacher, he had a deliberate policy of teaching every pupil in their first year so that he knew every child in the school. He retired in 1992 and died of cancer on 4 January 2007 at the age of 75.
Alex Biddle (1992-)
Alex Biddle was appointed as headteacher in November 1991 and took office on 27 March 1992. He has presided over a significant growth in the school roll from a low of 701 in 1993 to 1050 in the 2005-2006 academic year.Notable alumni
- Luke BedfordLuke BedfordLuke Bedford is a British composer.He was educated at St Crispin's School in Wokingham. He studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh and Simon Bainbridge at the Royal College of Music, and won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 2000. This was followed by post-graduate study with Simon Bainbridge at the...
, composer - Rob Bloomfield, producer and drummer in Does It Offend You, Yeah?Does It Offend You, Yeah?Does It Offend You, Yeah? are a British electronic rock band from Reading, Berkshire.-History:Does It Offend You, Yeah? were formed in 2006 in Reading, UK by James Rushent and Dan Coop and soon joined by Rob Bloomfield and Morgan Quaintance....
- Stephen HughesStephen Hughes (English footballer)Stephen John Hughes is a former English footballer who most recently played as a midfielder for Walsall...
, footballer - Peter LewingtonPeter LewingtonPeter John Lewington is a former English cricketer. Lewington was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born at Finchampstead, Berkshire.-Early career and Warwickshire:...
, Berkshire and Warwickshire cricketer - Jennifer Rae DaykinJennifer Rae DaykinJennifer Rae Daykin is a British teen actress best known for her role as Liliana "Lily" Brown in Nanny McPhee. She attended Westende Junior School in Wokingham, Berkshire, England- Filmography :- Awards & nominations :...
, actress.
Further reading
- St Crispin's School: The Story So Far. Wokingham, Berkshire: St Crispin's School, 2003.