The Barstable School was a mixed intake
secondary school in
Basildon
Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159.
It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
. It closed in 2009 to become a founding member of the
Basildon Academies
The Basildon Academies is a secondary school in Basildon, Essex, England.
The Academies
The Academies are situated across two sites: the Lower Academy (for 11 to 14-year-olds) and the Upper Academy (for 14 to 19-year-olds). There is a Sixth For ...
.
Admissions
The school was for students aged 11–16 (school years 7–11). The schools headmaster was Alan Roach, who incidentally, was also head of
Chalvedon School and Sixth Form College. Barstable recently received a vastly improved Ofsted inspection, bringing the school up to standard requirements. The school has received the
Sportsmark
Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision. designation and is part of
Creative Partnerships
Creative Partnerships was the UK government's flagship creative learning programme, established in 2002 as part of the council's SR2000 settlement to develop young people's creativity through artists' engagement with schools in nominated areas acro ...
.
The school was situated on the south side of the A1321, west of the
A132 roundabout, around one mile directly east of Basildon town centre. The part of Basildon known as Barstable is named after the former Barstable Hall.
History
Grammar school
The Barstable School building first opened on 1 March 1962 as the ''Barstable Grammar and Technical School'', a
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
technical school. The grammar school was designed by the Finnish architect Cyril Leonard Sjöström Mardall (of
YRM Architects,
Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall).
The school started before the building existed. Students were housed temporarily in Woodlands Boys School from September 1958 and in Woodlands Girls School in September 1959. The boys and girls were joined as mixed classes after the February half term in 1962.
Comprehensive
In 1968, the Grammar and Technical School under the Headmaster G G Whitehead merged with the ''Timberlog County Secondary School''. When the two schools merged into one school, it took the name of ''Barstable School''. Timberlog Secondary School became a housing estate in the 1990s, following a time as the site of the Lower School.
On 2 November 1973, many children from the school were injured when involved in a coach collision with a lorry in
Orpington
Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross.
On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...
, when on a school holiday.
On 30 March 1993 the building became a
Grade II listed building. Around this time, the school was grant-maintained.
On 16 September 2003, a 14-year-old boy was taken ill in a PE lesson, and later died in
Basildon General Hospital. Tests showed the cause to be an unidentified heart defect.
In 2006,
David Cameron visited the school. The school suffered from very low, and unacceptable, exam results. In 2006, the school along with
Chalvedon School federated under the title of ''The Federation of Chalvedon School and Sixth Form College and Barstable School'', though formally kept their operating names.
When it closed, over 20% of its pupils were receiving free school meals. Its successful future as a school was not even helped by the fact that from 2008–9 it was receiving £5,137 per pupil, one of the highest in Essex, which had an average of £4,066 per pupil.
In 2009 the school formally closed with pupils transferring to the newly created
Basildon Academies
The Basildon Academies is a secondary school in Basildon, Essex, England.
The Academies
The Academies are situated across two sites: the Lower Academy (for 11 to 14-year-olds) and the Upper Academy (for 14 to 19-year-olds). There is a Sixth For ...
Academy
In September 2009 it became
The Basildon Lower Academy, for ages 11–14.
Chalvedon School became The Basildon Upper Academy. On development of the Academy, pupil numbers changed from around 400 to around 950.
Blocks
Barstable School had five blocks - A Block, B Block, L Block, S Block and T Block. The building was listed in 1993 and is Grade II listed.
A Block
This block housed the Art department, Performing Arts, Citizenship and Religious Studies, the Science department, History and Geography. This building contained three floors, and also contained an elevator to ensure ease of access.
B Block
This block housed Food Technology, the Maths department, the English department and Modern Foreign Languages. Also the Library. It was very similar in structure to "A Block", in that it had three floors, and also contained an elevator.
D Block
This block contained the Special Needs Department.
S Block
This block housed the Gym, Sports Hall and a Swimming Pool. It also housed ''Jake's Gym''. ''Jake's Gym'' is a gym that has been created in partnership with Pulse. It contained an aerobics centre as well as a fully functioning gym.
T Block
This block housed the ICT department and the Technology department.
Academic performance
In the 1990s, around 20% were gaining five good
GCSEs.
In 2005 when 10% of those taking GCSEs gained 5 good grades, including Maths and English, this was the 34th lowest result in England, and the lowest in Essex LEA (one in nearby Thurrock LEA was lower - former Essex). In 2003 it was 11th lowest in England.
Alumni
Barstable Grammar and Technical School
*
Tony Parsons, arts journalist
*
Stuart Bingham
Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...
, professional snooker player
*
Dave Gahan Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
, singer with
Depeche Mode
*
Glenn Keeley
Glenn Matthew Keeley (born 1 September 1954 in Barking, Essex) is an English retired footballer who played as a central defender in the Football League.
Honours
Club
; Newcastle United
* Football League Cup runner-up (1): 1975–76
;Blackbu ...
, professional footballer
*
Dave Favis-Mortlock, geomorphologist and jazz violinist
*
Simon Swordy, former director of the
Enrico Fermi Institute
__NOTOC__
The Institute for Nuclear Studies was founded September 1945 as part of the University of Chicago with Samuel King Allison as director. On November 20, 1955, it was renamed The Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies. The name was s ...
Chicago and Professor of Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago
References
External links
Barstable's WebsiteListed building
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1962
Educational institutions disestablished in 2009
Grade II listed buildings in Essex
Borough of Basildon
Defunct schools in Essex
1962 establishments in England
2009 disestablishments in England