Brighton Hill Community College

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Brighton Hill Community School
Brighton Hill Community College Logo.png
Established 1975
Type Comprehensive
Headteacher Charlie Currie
Chair of Governors Mr Lawrence Jolly
Location Brighton Way
Basingstoke
Hampshire
RG22 4HS
United Kingdom
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Local authority Hampshire
DfE URN 116441 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Staff 150
Students 1084[1]
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–16
Houses Dorney, Greenwich, Portland, Stratford
Colours Navy blue and yellow         
Nickname BHCC
Website www.brightonhill.hants.sch.uk

Brighton Hill Community School (known locally as BHCS) is located in Brighton Hill, Basingstoke in the county of Hampshire in the south of England. The Headteacher is Mr Charlie Currie

Brighton Hill has run exchange trips with Marienschule, a school in Basingstoke's twin town, Euskirchen. It runs sport-related trips, as well as trips for other subjects. It holds annual Gifted and Talented events for Sports students.

Brighton Hill Community School is also a Training School.

Curriculum

The students at the school begin their GCSE subjects in year nine, which allows them to complete some GCSEs at the end of year ten and spend year eleven studying a different subject. There are some options that have double the number of lessons. The school has a two-week timetable, which include compulsory English, Maths, Science, Physical Education, Key Skills Qualification ICT, Citizenship, Religious Education and Personal Social and Health Education (which is referred to as 'Prep 4 Life') for all students.

All Key Stage 3 students also study French, German, Geography, History, Philosophy, Ethics and Beliefs, Food Technology, Textiles, Woodwork, Graphics, Music, Art and Drama. From Year Nine, students choose up to four courses to continue studying, including all of the above courses, Business Studies, Pre-Vocational Studies, Separate Sciences and Health and Social Care. The school also offers a variety of Out of Hours programs, including French, German, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Drama and Critical Thinking AS level.

Uniform

Brighton Hill School's uniform consists of a daffodil-yellow shirt or blouse, black trousers or skirt, a navy blue jumper, a navy blue blazer and a yellow, blue and green tie for the boys. This uniform has earned the students a nickname of "Yellowbellies" among locals. The boy's PE kit consists of either a white polo shirt and blue shorts (indoor PE) or a yellow and blue (interchangeable) rugby shirt and socks (yellow and white), were as the girls PE kit consists of a yellow top and blue shorts.

In 2010, a yellow polo shirt was introduced for summer uniform, compulsory for the academic year 2010/2011.

History

In 2005/2006, Brighton Hill School changed its tutoring system by introducing mixed-year tutor groups. This change led to subsequent pupil protests that were covered in the regional news.[2] The college also changed its house system, consisting of the houses Austen, Dickens, Kingsley, White and Adams, to a community system with communities called Athens, Barcelona, Montreal, Rome, Sydney and Tokyo. In a recent Ofsted inspection, the school was highly praised. However, it was also criticised for poor communication with parents.[3] In recent years, the school has constantly ranked above local and national averages.[4]

In June 2008, the college was featured again in the local newspaper after over 200 pupils were suspended following a protest on the school field against an extension of 20 minutes to the school day, and the plans to force the entire school of 1,300 students to queue all at once. The protest was started by a small group of year ten students before the beginning registration of the day. These students quickly spread word about their plans and after 1–2 hours there were around 200 students on the far side of the field from the main school buildings. Many children came and went throughout the day due to a warning issued by the head master, which stated that for every missed lesson a student must suffer one hours detention, and if the whole day is missed the student will be suspended for the rest of the week. This also happened to be the last week of school for the year.

Shortly before the school day had ended, senior members of staff forced the protesting students off the field before other students finished their lessons to avoid difficulties. All students turned up as normal the following day. A teacher was waiting at the school gates with a list of 117 names of those who were to be sent home, due to being excluded for the rest of the week. This caused complaints from parents because of the disorganisation and inconvenience caused by the school towards the parents and students.

Halfway through the school summer holiday, all 117 excluded students were sent a letter stating that expelled students had had the punishment erased from their records, as discussed between the head master and the school governors.[5]

Head teachers

Charlie Currie is the current head teacher. Currie served as interim head teacher for two terms after the resignation of David Eyre in 2011, before becoming appointed permanent head teacher for the start of the 2013-2014 term. Other previous head teachers include Lawrie Shaw, Bill Wright and Andy Kilpatrick. Wendy Small was acting head mistress for one year, for the academic year 2009-2010.

Notes

  1. Brighton Hill's Ofsted Information
  2. Shake-up drives pupils to protest
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  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Head bans over 100 pupils after protest

External links