Corfe Hills School is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...

in Broadstone, Poole,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England, in the urban fringe between Poole and

Wimborne Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poole ...

. The school became an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

in 2011. The school serves

Corfe Mullen Corfe Mullen is a village in Dorset, England, on the north-western urban fringe of the South East Dorset conurbation. The village had a population of 10,133 at the 2011 Census. It is served by six churches, four pubs, five schools, a library, v ...

, Broadstone,

Merley Merley is a large housing estate in the unparished area of Poole, a mile (2 km) south of Wimborne Minster. Originally called Myrle, Merley was a manor in the tithing of Great Canford (or Canford Magna). The village merges with that of Oakl ...

and

Sturminster Marshall Sturminster Marshall is a village and civil parish in east Dorset in England, situated on the River Stour between Blandford Forum and Poole. The parish had a population of 1,895 at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,969 at the 2011 Census and ...

. The current

headteacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

is James Sankey.

History

The school was established in 1976. By 2000, the school had 1,600 pupils. In 2012, the school was reported to be using a £9,000

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...

as a space to encourage reading. A former chemistry teacher of the school (teaching between 2001 and 2011) was convicted in 2014 and jailed for owning and distributing indecent images and movies of children. The school was a site of an audio experiment in 2016 with

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...

in which 11 teenage students participated in the listening of radio drama shows. In 2018, the school had 1,040 pupils. In 2019, the school spent £1.2 million on a renovation of the school heating system. In 2020, the school had 869 students (less than half the number of students compared with 20 years ago). In 2022, the school had 882 students.

Productions

For over 30 years the school has produced a musical for a week at the Poole Lighthouse theatre, a regional arts centre. Further music and drama productions take place in the spring and summer terms and a Christmas carol service is held at Wimborne Minster. The school also enters a team into the annual Rock Challenge Dance competition, being placed in several years allowing entry to the regional premier competition. Productions include Guys and Dolls, Hot Mikado, In to the Woods, Calamity Jane, "

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

", Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver Twist, Sweet Charity and many more.

Sports and Clubs

The school has international links, of which its

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

, hockey and Netball tours are the best known. In recent years the teams have travelled to Dubai, South Africa, New Zealand and Fiji. The school sporting facilities include an indoor sports hall and outside area, including football and rugby pitches, a cricket strip, a 400m running track and four tennis courts. In September 2021, the school launched a cadet unit with

Dorset Police Dorset Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Dorset in the south-west of England, which includes the largely rural area covered by Dorset Council, and the urban conurbation of Bournemouth, Christchurch ...

County top

The school is located on the

county top The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

for Poole unitary authority, called Corfe Hills, hence the name. The actual summit of the hill is on the Higher Blandford Road near the mobile phone tower by the school entrance. At 78 metres, Corfe Hills is the highest point in Poole.

Notable former pupils

James McVey, the lead guitarist with The Vamps was a former pupil of the school.

Headteachers

* James Sankey (2020–present) * Phil Keen (2016-2020) * Gary Clark (2012-2016) * Alan Hinchliffe (2003-2012) * Andrew Williams (c.1990-2003) * Dr Brian Harper (1976-c.1990)

References

External links

School website

Ofsted Report
{{authority control Upper schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Corfe Mullen Academies in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Educational institutions established in 1976 1976 establishments in England Schools in Poole