Horndean Technology College

Horndean Technology College
Established 1970
Type Community school
Headteacher Julie Summerfield[1]
Location Horndean
Waterlooville
Hampshire
PO8 9PQ
England
Coordinates: 50°54′48″N 1°00′32″W / 50.91346°N 1.00898°W / 50.91346; -1.00898
Local authority Hampshire
DfE number 850/4173
DfE URN 116437 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Gender co-educational
Ages 11–16
Houses Tyche, Zelus, Phoebe, Cratos, Athena
Website www.horndeantc.hants.sch.uk

Horndean Technology College is a large school, situated in the town of Horndean in Hampshire, England. The school has formerly been called Horndean Community School, Horndean Secondary School and Horndean Bilateral. It is also sometimes informally referred to as Barton Cross, after the road on which its main entrance is situated. The school teaches over 1500 students a range of subjects, and has a large campus with over 11 buildings. The school has started a pilot scheme where they offer podcasts over the internet for at-home learning.

School campus

A block is the main administration block, and it contains the school's library, staff offices, and a large computer suite. It is situated in the middle of the campus. The medical room is in this block, and the main office where pupils are able to come for help, known as student support services (SSS), is near the main entrance to this building.

X block is the maths block, as well as holding most of the information technology lessons. Business and Travel and tourism is also taught here. The lower school cafe is on the ground floor. This building is situated at the lower end of the school.

C block was previously the Modern Foreign Languages block, and originally the Chemistry block, but is now being used as a pre-school/nursery.

W block is where half of the Design Technology classes are situated. Electronics and Product Design graphics are the subjects taught here.

M block is where music lessons are taught. This block is also used for extra-curricular music and instrument tuition lessons.

G block is the English Language and English Literature block. Physical Education is also taught here, and has the interactive multi-gym situated in this building. There are two halls where indoor PE lessons can be taught; one is known as the "Old Hall", the other "The Gym", not to be confused with the multi-gym.

S block and New S block are the science buildings, which are connected by a glass bridge. Art is also taught on the ground floor of the first building. This building is found at the top of the college, and below the field.

H block is where Graphics, Food Technology and Textiles are taught. It was originally the home of the History department (hence the name) which is now in D block. It is situated right between the main field and D block. The Careers department was recently removed to make more classroom space so the Connexions adviser is now in A block. H Block is now the new home for the construction and hairdressing department, which has completed refurbishment. In 2015, D block was refurbished. During the meantime of this many classrooms were moved around including Religious Studies. It was originally planned to be moved back into D block after the refurbishments were completed. However this never came to be, thus RS resides in H block.

D block is where the humanities subjects are taught, History, Religious Studies and Geography. It is the largest building on the campus, with 4 floors, each floor dedicated to largely one subject, with the only exception being the 2nd floor, where the classrooms are shared equally between all three subjects. This building was intended to be a temporary building, but has since been made permanent. D block was refurbished in 2015. It now features only History and Geography and is also the home to a special needs unit

SF block used to be the sixth form section of the school, but since this was eradicated in 2004, it has been used as a Drama Foreign Languages block, as well as some other lessons on the ground floor. The upper school cafeteria is found in this building.

Barton Hall is used mainly for the community, with a bar, hall and the community's reception. Barton Hall is also used for assemblies, concerts and activities such as team building.

Sports Hall is a large sports hall between the AstroTurf pitches and G Block. It is larger than the Gym and Old Hall, and stores most of the sports equipment such as the hockey sticks and rounders bats. It has a female changing room on the upper floor, and the male changing rooms on the ground floor. This building is sometimes used for community events, such as football.

The site also has facilities for Physical Education in its field, including Astroturf pitches, a running track, long jump with sandpit, tennis courts and football and rugby union goalposts.

School uniform

Like most schools in the area, Horndean Technology College requires students to wear school uniform. This consists of

The school does not permit students to wear trainers, or fashionable shoes. It also does not allow students to have excessive jewellery, or to have their hair dyed in an over-zealous way.

School bands

The music department has many bands. The main of which are The Horndean Swing Band, Brass Ensemble (aka. Brass Cake) and the Horndean Steel Pans. They have played at main events such as Merchistoun Hall Fete; The Classic Cars Show in Waterlooville and the Proms put on by the Horndean Twinning for the guests from Horndean's twinned town, Aubergenville. Besides these, there are smaller bands such as BTEC groups. Brass Cake who entered the Portsmouth Music Festival and came first in their class, and the Woodwind Ensemble who have won the Woodwind Ensemble Cup with Distinction in their class at the Portsmouth Music Festival 2007. Also Brass cake won the 2010 and 2011 Portsmouth Music Festival

School multi-gym

The school has a new, refurbished multi-gym. The multi-gym, situated in G Block, is twice the size of the previous one, with a complete set of new machines. The gym is the first in Britain to utilise the new technology that enables pupils to play video games using dance mats, etc. and still be engaging in exercise. The multi-gym was opened on 12 October 2006, by ex-Portsmouth FC manager, Harry Redknapp.

Ofsted report (2008)

The school had its latest Ofsted Report in 2008.[2]

Curriculum

Subject Head of Department Optional or compulsory at GCSE
Maths Jon Colebrook Compulsory
English Shorny Malcolmson Compulsory
Science Thomas Mitchell Compulsory
Design Technology Joanne Ladbrook Compulsory
Physical Education Amy Hughes Compulsory
Information Communication Technology (ICT) Sarah Wood Optional
Modern Foreign Languages Justin Miglairi Optional
Music Melanie Tanner Optional
Business Studies and Travel and Tourism Sarah Wood Optional
Art Stephen Jepson Optional
History Suzy Gudgeon Optional
Geography Gemma Morgan Optional
Religious Studies Jon Hamer Optional
Drama Layla Funnell Optional

Homework

The school operates a Passport to Independence (also known as P2I) scheme for students studying Key Stage 3, as an alternative to setting homework. Under this scheme, pupils receive an assignment for which they have nine weeks to complete. Such assignments are set every half term for core subjects, and every term for others. This has proved to be a bigger success, as more students completed it than homework. Also, the school has a forum called P2I Buster. Created by students, it provides homework guidance from mainly students and teachers. Although this is strongly linked with Horndean Technology College, students from other schools are welcome to sign up and ask for help

Podcasts

The school has released a number of podcasts to help students revise for their GCSEs. They can be found on the school website.

Notable former pupils

References

  1. ↑ "Horndean Technology College". Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  2. ↑ Ofsted inspection report

External links

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