The School
introduction
In September 1965, Chipping Campden Grammar School and Moreton Secondary School united to form Chipping Campden School, a co-educational 11-18 Voluntary Controlled Comprehensive Secondary School. In one sense this School looks back to c 1440 when John Fereby left money to provide education for boys in the area who could use it. There is a line of unbroken development from that handful of boys and their parson schoolmaster to the present Comprehensive School of 940 students. In 1990 the School celebrated its 550th Anniversary with a weekend of events and a visit by The Princess Royal.
Legally, the present School retains the old Grammar School fifteenth century foundation and the Foundation Governors remain, with their powers and endowments, as Governors and Trustees of the new School. In September 1999 the School became a Foundation School.
The School caters for every child in the community, regardless of ability, aptitude, race, religion or background. Chipping Campden School is truly comprehensive in that it is a school where all students are regarded as persons of equal importance and where varied courses of work are arranged which recognise that children have different abilities and develop at different rates.
A Comprehensive School offers special opportunities and poses special problems. For example, in schemes of work it gives us a chance to avoid making rigid decisions at eleven-plus or even later. Our principal aim is to ensure students, whatever their abilities, develop at their own best pace. If we, in a secondary school open to all students, have a chance to stress social unity, we also have to see that in a school of 1080 students, each boy and girl can grow up in established smaller groups and know, and be known well by, several teachers. We believe that we are particularly strong in the pastoral care which we give to our students.
Eight years of almost continual growth and capital investment has resulted in a school with excellent facilities including eight Science Laboratories, five ICT suites, 2 drama studios, a Language Lab and a Music Technology suite.
As a Technology College we have excellent, well-resourced rooms for Design Technology and over 300 networked curriculum computers providing a student/computer ratio of almost 5:1. A £1.2 million building programme completed in September 2002 provided us with a wonderful Art and Music Centre with the latest music recording and editing facilities, a purpose-built Media Studies area with video editing studio and a refurbished suite of five Modern Languages classrooms.
We have a Sports Centre which is run in association with Cotswold District Council. The Sports Centre includes a swimming pool that was completely refurbished by Costwold District Council in 2003.
In November 2002, we began our next big building project for a large new Sixth Form Centre, refurbished classrooms and new offices. This building project was completed by the end of August 2003. The new Sixth Form Centre includes a study room with 10 powerful new network computers, and a well-equipped common room. The Centre also houses the offices of the Head and Deputy Head of the Sixth Form.
In common with all schools, we are looking to improve access for disabled students. In 2002 we installed two lifts and a third has been installed in the new Sixth Form Centre.