Twyford CofE High School is a co-educational Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 high school located in Acton

Acton, London

Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...

, west London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It consists of 1240 pupils aged 11–18 (with 284 students in the Sixth Form) and prides itself on its "academic, social, spiritual, sporting, dramatic and musical" achievement. Twyford is a Specialist Music College, as well as a specialist Language College. The school has recently made the controversial decision to apply for academy status at the discretion of the board of governors, even after some protest by parents.

School Elements

Twyford Church of England High School was set up by the London Diocesan Board for Schools in 1981 and is one of
a family of 13 LDBS secondary schools within the city. The school opened as the result of a concerted campaign by
local parents and has grown stronger and stronger over its 30 year life. It was rated by Osfted in its most recent
inspection as "Outstanding" overall and has a considerable reputation within the Diocese and the local area.
The school has also grown in size during this time also with a particular increase at Post-16. There are now 900
students in Years. 7 -11 and 470 in the Sixth Form. The admission criteria for the school favour students from
practising Christian or other World Faith back grounds and the strong Christian ethos of the school is one of its
defining features. Culturally the school is very mixed and representative the wider urban area in which the school is
situated. Twyford is currently heavily oversubscribed and students starting in Year 7 come from 71 different primary
schools and 7 London Boroughs.
The school's motto is "I have come that you should have life, and have it to the full" (John 10 10) and the atmosphere
at the school reflects this. It is upbeat, positive and energetic with an emphasis on high engagement.

Student Leadership Team

In twyford a group of sixth formers lead the school in verious stations of school life for 2011/2012 this team is as follows;
Student Leadership Team:




Head Boy: James Philips


Head Girl: Josephine Lyon


Deputy Head Boys: Opeyemi Adebiyi & George Bryan


Deputy Head Girls: Angeline Bejjani & Francesca Tiley




CHAPLAINCY


Head of Chaplaincy: Grace Lindley


Deputies: Kaie Dalton & Joanna Matashi




MUSIC


Head of Music: Alice Laddiman


Deputies: Funmi Badejo and Jess Duckworth




LANGUAGES


Head of Languages: Alex Peppiatt


Deputies: John Dawton and Amy Percival




SPORT


Head of Boys Sport: Lewys Weaver


Deputy: Luke Paynter


Head of Girls Sport: Ashlee Thomas-Rowe


Deputy: Hannah Bothamley

Faith and Ethos

Christian values are at the heart of Twyford's ethos. For example, its discipline procedures are redemptive and each new term students start with a clean slate.The school's motto speaks of "fullness" and this strongly informs our ethos. They reinforce this using a phrase attributed
to St Irenaeus "The glory of God is a life which is lived to the full." Twyford is very clear in its expectation that every
student knows and appreciates their own gifts and those of others and makes it his or her business to use these gifts
for good of the wider community. Their first specialism in Music has been a very valuable medium for making this
message meaningful for students and music permeates our school as a result. However in every area of school life –
curricular and extra-curricular - students are given opportunities to do and be good for the benefit of themselves and
others. A mechanism for driving this is the House system which exists throughout the school and works vertically -
grouping the whole school into seven multi age communities. This complements and contrasts with the pastoral
system which works horizontally. The house system works predominantly on the principal of student leadership,
giving students at all ages opportunity to hold roles of responsibility in Music, Sport, Enterprise or on year & school
councils. All tutor groups also have 6th form class mentors. 6th form House Captains take the overall lead and have a
very high profile – taking termly house assemblies and running their house's enterprise week – which includes a
zany range of events run competitively to raise money for the house charity. The Sixth Form student leadership team
give overall direction to student leadership within the school via the 6th
from student council and there are Sixth
Form led councils also in the school's two specialisms of Music and Languages.
The school's Christian ethos encourages students to have a strong sense of community – both in relation to the school
and in the area of wider social concern. All Sixth Form students are encouraged to undertake some form of
community service either within school or in the wider community. Effective recent examples have been involvement
in a soup kitchen at a local church and running language clubs at a feeder primary school.
Although the community is an inclusive one, its Christian identity is very clear. There is an active chaplaincy with a
full-time chaplain who orchestrates the worship life of the school. All assemblies, though taken by a range of staff,
are framed by a short Christian liturgy which is led by students. Similarly there are brief daily tutor-time reflections
prepared by the chaplaincy for staff to utilise using form chaplaincy representative.

Academic

With results well above the national and LEA

Local Education Authority

A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...

 average, Twyford is a school with a strong academic record. It ranks 2nd out of 10 and 5th out of 17 for A-level and GCSE results respectively in the LEA (of both selective and non-selective schools) . The 2007 school OFSTED report labels it "an outstanding school".

Sporting

Rugby, football, netball, and hockey are the most popular sports at Twyford, though opportunities for students to participate in trampolining, table tennis, and basketball are available through many different lunchtime and after school clubs. A wide variety of sports including self-defence and gymnastics are mandatory during progression through the school. Cricket and Rugby are also played, particularly in the summer term.

The school has an affiliation with the London Wasps

London Wasps

London Wasps is an English professional rugby union team. The men's first team, which forms London Wasps, was derived from Wasps Football Club who were formed in 1867 at the now defunct Eton and Middlesex Tavern in North London, at the turn of professionalism in 1999...

 whose training grounds it uses: it provides schooling for Wasps Apprentices, helping make the rugby team one of the country's most formidable; it reached the final rounds of the National Schools Sevens Festival Tournament 2007.

Music

As a specialist music college

Music College

Music Colleges were introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in England. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, music. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Music Colleges will receive extra...

, Music is a highly valued curricular and extra curricular activity within the school. Annual classical and popular music competitions are held in which a wide section of talent is displayed and enjoyed. The school runs many groups and choirs as extra-curricular activities and the Gospel Choir recently won the title of Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year 2009. The choir is renowned throughout London and has played at many major venues including the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Opera House. In addition to the gospel choir, Twyford boasts a full school orchestra, large chamber choir spanning all school years, junior choir, community choir (for parents, friends and staff), student run jazz band, swing band, urban collective and many small vocal and instrumental ensembles including string quartets, female vocal ensembles and a samba band. The Music and Drama departments join together each February to put on the annual school production, with a full student cast, orchestra, stage crew and technical team. A wide range of instrumental tuition is also offered with highly specialised peripatetic teachers.

Twyford Chaplaincy

The dedicated chaplaincy team organises the services of the school and provides support for families and staff. It is headed by the school chaplain (The Rev. John Seymour) and the head of the Twyford Fellowship Group (Geoff Lumley). The student chaplaincy team is currently headed by Grace Lindley.

Twyford Fellowship Group

TFG is effectively the school's Christian Union in which students meet to worship God together using contemporary and relevant worship. It includes Bible study and regular guest speakers as well as the annual weekends away.

Societies and Clubs

Societies and clubs of varying subject can be found meeting weekly at the school including a debating society (taking part in the annual Mace Debating Competition), chess club, Pete Fellows Fan Club and Art club. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is offered at Gold, Silver and Bronze levels and is coordinated by Angus Beattie.

School Structure

Twyford is organised into year groups each containing seven tutor groups, which are also members of the school's seven houses Truro, Wells, York, Fountains, Ripon, Durham & Canterbury.
Each tutor group has its own Form Representative, Chapel Ambassador, Sport reps and Enterprise and Endeavor representative

Each Year Group has a Head of Year and Assistant Head of Year and two Year Representative. The Head of Year 7 liaises with the Primary Schools that our students have come from, and for this reason remains Head of Year 7 each year. Once students move into Year 8 they will then remain with their new year head until the end of Year 11.

The lower years (7 to 9) cover the National Curriculum's Key Stage Three and are overseen by the Head of KS3. In the same way years 10 and 11 are overseen by the Head of KS4.

In the Sixth Form there is a permanent Head of Year 12, and also one for Year 13 as well as an overall Head of KS5.

House system

Each pupil is a member of one of the seven school 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...

 at Twyford. Houses provide lower school students with a sense of community and encourage competition to strive for achievement. House representatives meet at a council to represent the views of students in each house and year.

Points

Conduct points (or simply 'positives') are awarded by teachers to pupils for good behaviour, work, and through the winning of inter-house competitions. 'Negatives' can also be given to pupils for lacking behaviour, presentation, and work, with the effect of deducting points from the grand total. The House that has won the most points at the end of the Easter term

Easter term

Easter term is the name of the summer term at the University of Cambridge, the University of Wales, Lampeter, University of Durham, and formerly University of Newcastle upon Tyne , in the United Kingdom...

 is awarded the Inter-House Trophy.

The Houses

Houses are named after famous cathedrals or abbeys in England and each is associated with a colour.

	Name	Colour	Named After
	Truro	Red	Truro Cathedral Truro Cathedral The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Truro is an Anglican cathedral located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It was built in the Gothic Revival architectural style fashionable during much of the nineteenth century, and is one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom...
	Wells	Orange	Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....
	York	Yellow	York Minster York Minster York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...
	Fountains	Green	Fountains Abbey Fountains Abbey Fountains Abbey is near to Aldfield, approximately two miles southwest of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. It is a ruined Cistercian monastery, founded in 1132. Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian houses in England. It is a Grade I listed building and owned by the...
	Ripon	Light Blue	Ripon Cathedral Ripon Cathedral Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...
	Durham	Dark Blue	Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...
	Canterbury	Purple	Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....

The initial of each House joins to create the full name of the school (TWYFORD CE HIGH SCHOOL), with 'O' being excluded for historical reasons.

Uniform

Uniform consists of the following mandatory items:

• Black blazer (with school badge)
• Black trousers or black skirt
• White shirt or blouse
• Lower school tie (ages 11–14) or upper school tie (ages 14–16)
• Black shoes

On particularly hot days the Headteacher may issue a notice that ties and blazers can be removed.

The following optional items may also be worn:

• V-neck jumper (black/royal blue)
• Cardigan (black/royal blue)

No uniform is worn by members of the Sixth Form.

Sports kit consists of:

• White polo shirt with a school badge
• Navy Blue shorts with badge (boys)
• Navy Blue kilt skirt (girls)
• Navy blue school sweatshirt with crest (optional, all girls and boys except year 7)
• Blue and dark blue rugby shirt (year 7 boys)
• Studded football boots (boys)
• Dunlop green flash trainers

External links

• Twyford CofE High School website