Poole High 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 ...

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 the centre of

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

, in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

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 (unitary authority), Dors ...

History

Built in 1939 as Henry Harbin Senior School, the school has expanded in every decade since its opening. The school was originally two separate schools - girls on the eastern side, boys on the west, separated by a quadrangle in the centre of the main school building. This layout was almost exactly the same as the original building at Kemp-Welch School, which opened in 1938. The school became a mixed school for 12- to 16-year-olds in the 1970s, reverting to an entry age of 11 in September 2013, as part of Poole's re-organisation into a two-tier education system. In the late 1980s the school became a 'technical high school', and its name was officially changed to Poole Technical High School in the early 1990s. It was during this period that the school added a sixth form and introduced an academic express stream, with a particular focus on the teaching of 'triple science' qualifications. It is one of a small group of partially selective schools that were permitted to retain selection under the provisions of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Redevelopments have included the new main school canteen, an English block, extensions to the Art and Science blocks, and the Merchants' Hall, which includes a canteen for the sixth-form and seminar rooms. At its 2011

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 ...

inspection, the school was graded as 'good'. From September 2013, the school has admitted students in Year 7, taking the total number of students in attendance at PHS to over 1900, making it one of the larger schools in the country. Work completed over summer 2014 focused on extending the life of the newly named "Shaftesbury Centre". The name of the building was chosen to honour the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, who opened the school in 1939. Before 2017 the school operated a house system, in every house, there were two registration groups per year. The houses were called Jolliffe, Garland, Lester, Masters, Thompson, White, Spurrier and Harbin. In 2017, Spurrier and Harbin, were abolished and Year Eleven pupils were placed in a separate year eleven group. However all elements of the house system were suspended from 2017 apart from for Sports Day activities. In September 2019 Poole high school officially turned on its PV system, 592 panels generating 185 kWh of electricity.

Notable former pupils

* Carl Fletcher, ex professional Welsh football player and former manager at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. *

Jamie Gleeson Jamie Gleeson (born 15 January 1985) is an English footballer who plays for Poole Town. Career Gleeson was born in Poole and began his career as a trainee at Southampton before joining Kidderminster Harriers in 2004. He played seven matches ...

semi professional football player at Poole Town. *

Lewis Price Lewis Peter Price (born 19 July 1984) is a retired Welsh international professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the First-Team Goalkeeping Coach for League One club Milton Keynes Dons. Apart from making 6 Premier Lea ...

, Welsh international goalkeeper who currently plays for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. *

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and b ...

, musician, singer, composer, and producer of

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

and

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...

References

{{authority control Schools in Poole Secondary schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Foundation schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Educational institutions established in 1939 1939 establishments in England