Fearnhill School is a mixed

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) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England.

Admissions

Fearnhill School (formerly Letchworth Grammar School) is a

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

located in

Garden City. There are over 500 students on roll including approximately 70 students in the

. The school is linked as a cooperative trust with

The Highfield School The Highfield School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The Highfield School teaches from Year 7 through to Year 12 or 13 The school is part of the Letchworth Sixth Form Consortium with Fe ...

"Fernhill School"
Fearnhill School,

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

, ''accessed 29 May 2008'' as The Letchworth Garden City Education Partnership. It is situated in the west of Letchworth, just north of the

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

to Baldock and Cambridge. It is on

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

History

The school's origins lie in Letchworth Grammar School, which moved to the site in 1976 after the former site closed in July of that year. The building of the former grammar school is on Broadway in Letchworth GC town centre.

Academic standards

After several years in

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

and 'Requires Improvement, in June 2015 the school was judged by Ofsted to be "Good" and affirmed the school’s belief that it can become ‘Outstanding’ by adding that the leadership ‘demonstrate the necessary ambition and vision to secure further improvement for the school’. Ofsted confirmed that ‘teachers are committed to the success of their students’, ‘students behave well around the school’, ‘bullying is rare’ and ‘achievement shows substantial improvement’. In 2019, Ofsted again judged Fearnhill to be in "Requires Improvement". In the GCSE results announced in August 2015, 47% of the students achieved A*-C grades including maths and English GCSEs. The A Level results in August 2022 were the best the school has ever achieved. In 2022, the school returned to a "Good" Ofsted Report.

Sixth form

The sixth form at Fearnhill is thriving and successful and it was noted by Ofsted that ‘sixth form provision is a strength of the school’. Each year the school admits a cohort of students into Year 12, including external pupils from any school according to their GCSE results. The sixth form teaches AS and A2 courses as well as BTEC courses.

House system

The school has a house system with four houses named after key figures in the development of Letchworth Garden City: Gorst,

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

, Pearsall and Neville. Each house is led by a senior member of staff and a sixth form House Captain. The houses compete against each other to win events such as sports day as well as Christmas and summer house competitions. Students are also awarded house points for good effort, community service and effective learning. The total number of points for each house is used to determine which house is the winner of the annual house competition. The recent winners of the house competition were: Howard (2013-2014).

Fearnfile

''Fearnfile'' is the Fearnhill fortnightly magazine of news, articles, and original contributions. ''Fearnfile'' is becoming a publication that is written by pupils, for pupils. Previous issues include information about any member of staff who has left or who joined the school that academic year, updates of music and drama events, sports teams and reports from trips.

Sport

Fearnhill School competes in a range of disciplines across each academic year. Across all year groups students have the opportunity to compete in traditional sports such as football, netball, rugby, hockey, basketball, rounders, cricket and athletics. Aside from these activities Fearnhill also compete in volleyball, table tennis, badminton, indoor athletics and cross-country. Recent successes in the district include: 2015-16 U16 Girls District Badminton Champions; 2015-16 U15 Boys District Football Champions; 2014-15 Senior District Athletics Bronze Medallists; 2014-15 U16 Boys District Football Runners-Up; 2014-15 U15 Boys Basketball District Champions. Fearnhill as a long line of athletics success spanning decades. Currently competing against schools from all over Hertfordshire in the county athletics league Fearnhill are yet to mark their stamp on the county stage.

Notable former pupils

Mandeep Dhillon Mandeep Dhillon (born 21 December 1990) is a British actress who has appeared in stage, television, film and radio productions, including the BBC Three comedy series ''Some Girls'' and '' Fried''. She featured in the British romantic comedy '' ...

, TV and film actress * Ruth Goodman, social historian and TV personality *

Nicky Hunt Nicholas Brett Hunt (born 3 September 1983) is an English footballer who plays for and is first-team coach of club Ashton United. He is best known for his spell at Bolton Wanderers at the beginning of his career. Originally a right-back, he co ...

, double Commonwealth gold medallist for archery 2010 *

Dave Kitson David Barry Kitson (born 21 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made 420 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, including 135 for Reading. Kitson began his career with non-L ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

footballer for Reading and Stoke City *

Victoria Pendleton Victoria Louise Pendleton, (born 24 September 1980) is a British jockey and former track cyclist who specialised in the sprint, team sprint and keirin disciplines. She is a former Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion. With two ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

and world champion

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/sport/Olympics-Pendleton39s-going-for-gold.4369841.jp *

Claire Rushbrook Claire Louise Rushbrook (born 25 August 1971) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Roxanne in '' Secrets & Lies.'' Early life Claire Louise Rushbrook was born on 25 August 1971 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. She attended Fearnh ...

, TV actress *

Simon West Simon Alexander West (born 1961) is an English film director and producer. He has primarily worked in the action genre, most notably as the director of the films ''Con Air'', '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'', '' The Mechanic'', and ''The Expendab ...

, film director * Bryn Davies, British trade unionist, actuary and politician

Letchworth Grammar School

* Prof William Bonfield CBE, Professor of Medical Materials from 2000-5 at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, who founded the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine * Prof Meir M. Lehman, known for Lehman's laws of software evolution, and Professor of Computing Science from 1972-84 at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

* Richard Wiggs, founder of the Anti-Concorde Project

References

External links

Official site

EduBase
{{authority control Secondary schools in Hertfordshire Letchworth Buildings and structures in Letchworth Foundation schools in Hertfordshire