Oathall Community College is a

coeducational 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 ...

secondary school located between Lindfield and Haywards Heath in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, England. There are currently around 1067 students at Oathall, between the ages of 11 and 16. The college has a full spectrum of specialist accommodation, including a farm, a music centre, specialist art building, recently refurbished Science and Maths building, conference facilities and well-equipped classrooms. They have a rolling programme of building development and refurbishment to reach all parts of the school over the next 10 to 15 years. Oathall serves Haywards Heath and surrounding areas, accommodating students from Ardingly, Horsted Keynes, Burgess Hill, Scaynes Hill and Danehill.

Oathall Community College Farm

The college's farm was founded during World War II by the head teacher to help the war effort. Today, students can take a NVQ level one in agriculture and in land-based operations (horticulture and farm machinery) and a level two specialist diploma in environmental and land-based studies, as well as before- and after-school volunteer opportunities in the Young Farmers' Club (YFC). The farm is also incorporated into other subjects, such as mathematics, where students study the growth rates of lambs. The farm's livestock regularly wins prizes, including pig of the year at the

South of England Show The South of England Show is a county show held annually at its own showground in Ardingly, Sussex during June. The show was founded in 1967 and is organised by the South of England Agricultural Society, which is patronised by Queen Elizabeth ...

in 2008.

Developments and modernisation

Many new developments to the campus have been completed recently, including a refurbished Science and Maths (SAM) building, Art Block and a new Food Technology department. The school is currently undergoing a rolling program of refurbishment, due to be complete in all areas of the school by 2030.

Refurbished Language Block

During mid-2019, the Modern Foreign Languages building was refurbished with new flooring, interactive touchscreen whiteboards, and general furniture.

Refurbished Science and Maths Block

Renovations on the school's Science and Maths Block began in 2017 and the building was closed to students while construction was taking place. The old SCOLA building was constructed in 1974 as a result of the increase in the school leaving age from 15 to 16 and the associated increase in students. The old building housed numerous flaws, such as poor insulation, over-glazing and inadequate heating which made for uncomfortable working environments. The building also contained asbestos. The building renovations were financially backed by

West Sussex County Council West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains seven district and borough councils, and 158 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 7 ...

and funds for new equipment were crowdfunded by the school's

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, raising a total of £29,468. In September 2018, the new building was reopened, featuring eight maths classrooms, eight science labs, an IT suite, and two science preparation and storage rooms. The building features

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carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

monitoring systems, open-plan

unisex Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of sex. The term can also mean gender-blindness or gender neutrality. The term 'unisex' was coined as a neologism in the 1960s and was used fairly i ...

toilets, new fire alarm systems, new automated display boards and new interactive whiteboards.

Art department

One of the old wooden hut classrooms was demolished in 2006 to make way for the building of a modernised and better-facilitated art and design building.

References

External links

College website

Official farm website
{{authority control Community schools in West Sussex Secondary schools in West Sussex Haywards Heath 1938 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1938