Avonbourne Girls' Academy (formerly Avonbourne College) is a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

with academy status located in

Bournemouth, Dorset Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, England. It is a single-sex all-girls school for 11- to 16-year-olds.

History

The school was originally located in a building on Lowther Road. The old building was used by

Bournemouth School Bournemouth School is a boys' grammar school and co-educational sixth form in Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England, for children aged 11 to 18. History The school was founded by Dr. E. Fenwick and opened on 22 January 1901, admitting 54 ...

and as a hospital until 1939. In 1940 the main building was taken over by the new Portchester School, an all-boys senior school. The nearby Alma Road Boys School became an infant and junior school and the Alma Road Girls School became a senior school for girls in the local area. The Alma Road schools were bombed in an air raid in 1940 and the girls senior school moved into the Lowther Road building. The school changed its name to Avonbourne School in 1948 and remained at Lowther Road until 1970. New buildings for Portchester School were built next to Avonbourne in 1975 and both schools now share sports facilities and playing fields. The site of the school at Lowther Road is now used by Malmsbury Park Primary School who moved into a new building there in 1972. The school converted to academy status in June 2012. A 6th Form block (previously Avonbourne Sixth Form but now operating as United Sixth Form) has been built for the new co-educational 6th Form which opened in September 2012 in conjunction with the boys school,

Avonbourne Boys' Academy Avonbourne Boys' Academy (previously "Harewood College" and "Portchester School") is a secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status in Bournemouth, England, for boys aged 11 to 16. The school was located on Portchester Road, bu ...

(formerly Harewood College), next door. Other recent builds include an arts block in (2013) and a new Primary School, Avonwood (opened autumn 2014). Avonbourne School, alongside other schools from the Avonbourne Trust, were acquired by

United Learning United Learning is a group of state-funded schools and fee-paying independent schools operating in England. United Learning is the trading name for United Church Schools Trust (UCST) and United Learning Trust (ULT). It is one of the largest 10 ch ...

in July 2019, with the 2 lower schools being re-branded as Avonbourne Girls' Academy (previously Avonbourne School) and

(previously Harewood College). This change also affected Avonbourne Sixth Form, which was re-branded as United Sixth Form for the start of the 2019–2020 academic year.

Location

Avonbourne is located on Harewood Avenue, Bournemouth, UK, next to

and the nearby Tregonwell Academy (formally The Bicknell School) and St Peters Primary School. The catchment area of Avonbourne Girls' Academy is from many parts of Bournemouth, mostly the Iford area, where the school is located, and Boscombe, Springbourne, Pokesdown, Southbourne, Charminster and Bournemouth centre. Being popular, many out-of-catchment-area pupils come to the school.

Former House system

When students enrolled to the school they were divided into one of the four houses which were named after prominent females in history. The houses were called by the female's

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

and are associated with a colour. *

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

- house colour is green *

Edith Cavell Edith Louisa Cavell ( ; 4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Be ...

- house colour is blue *

Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...

- house colour is yellow *

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

- house colour is red There were generally two forms in each House for each of the five years. Most teachers in the school belonged to a House. During the course of the academic year, sporting competitions were held between the houses, called inter-house. In July, the annual

Sports day Sports days (British English) or field days (American English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes. Though they are often h ...

was held where many students supported their house. It was a very competitive day with non-competitors dressing in their house colours and staff also involved in sports and challenges. As of September 2019 the houses were disbanded in line with other United Learning Trust academies.

School logo

The school logo was a combination of the four previous houses. It was in a shield shape divided into four with the background of each section using one of the house colours. Each section had a symbol of the house: *Bronte has the symbol of a

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

, being a famous

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

*Cavell has the symbol of a

poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, ''Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug opi ...

, being a famous British

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

nurse and humanitarian *Fry has the symbol of a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

, being a famous

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

prisoner reformer *Nightingale has the symbol of an

oil lamp An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. Th ...

, being a famous

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, becoming known as The Lady With The Lamp The new overall academy "brand" logo is that of the United Learning trust, it is a symbolic tree representing the roots of learning and blossoming knowledge.

References

External links

* {{authority control Schools in Bournemouth Secondary schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Girls' schools in Dorset Academies in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole United Learning schools