Testwood School (formerly Testwood Sports College) is a secondary school with academy status located in the town of

Totton and Eling Totton and Eling () is a civil parish in Hampshire, England, with a population of about 29,000 people. It contains the town of Totton and is situated between the eastern edge of the New Forest and the River Test, close to the city of Southampto ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The school was built in the late 1930s but its opening was delayed by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The school takes pupils between 11 and 16, and holds adult skills classes after school hours.

History

Testwood School opened in 1946 as a secondary school, and became a comprehensive school in 1969. The school is formed of the original building alongside other extensions added through the years. Major extensions were added in recent years including the Sports Hall, and an extension to the science block and library in 1997. A further extension containing more science laboratories and ICT rooms opened in 2001.

Sports college status

In 2004, the school was given the special status of sports college. With this new status, the astroturf was built, and a whole change of school image took place. The logo was changed, as was the uniform. With the specialist status, many in the local community use the school's facilities, and the school has become well known in the community. Since the status was granted, improvements have been made to the sports facilities including refurbishment of the changing facilities, and an extension to the sports hall. Since becoming a sports college, the school has been the hub of the New Forest School Sports Partnership, which encourages and supports sports in the local community through the feeder schools, and through the

Dreams and Teams Dreams and Teams is an international programme funded by British Council and UK’s Youth Sports Trust aiming to develop leadership skills among international young leaders around the globe, through sports. Description Active in 40 countries, Dre ...

project working with Serokolo High School. The NFSSP has its main base at Testwood, and another base at the other local sports college, Noadswood School.

Academy status

In late 2011, the school applied for academy status, which was granted in the autumn of 2011.

Name change

It was announced that Testwood Sports College was reverting to its previous and original name, Testwood School. This was because when the school obtained sports college status, it was to receive government funding, but the government had ended the programme a few years previously. The school decided to keep the name Testwood Sports College, as it is known for its sporting facilities. It was agreed that Testwood was not only good for sporting, but its overall curriculum, and it was decided to revert the name.

Ofsted

In February 2014 Testwood received a judgement of "Inadequate" from Ofsted and was placed 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 ...

. In June 2014 the Governing Body of the school was sent a pre-warning letter by

Lord Nash John Alfred Stoddard Nash, Baron Nash (born 22 March 1949)''Debrett's'John Nash, Esq/ref> is a British former businessman, also formerly a Conservative Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools. Nash was chair of the British Venture Capi ...

of the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

advising that standards were seen as "unacceptably low" by the Secretary of State. Since the Ofsted report, I Appleton was replaced in May 2014 by J.A. Pitman. Since she has arrived there have been changes to the uniform, back to what it used to be. More positive changes have been made around the school. In July 2015, Testwood School received a good rating from Ofsted, and the school is no longer in special measures.

Facilities

The school has a synthetic turf pitch, a recently refurbished sports hall, an field including two adult and two junior football pitches; tennis courts, outdoor basketball hoops, a gymnasium, fitness studio and two drama/dance studios. The school also has 35 general purpose teaching rooms, nine science laboratories, a music suite, six purpose built technology rooms, three art rooms, six ICT suites and a Learning Resource Centre. The LRC spans 450 square meters and was one of the best school libraries in the country when opened. It contains 60 computers alongside the collection of books.

Structure

Pupils usually come to Testwood from the three main feeder schools: Abbotswood Junior School, Calmore Junior School and Oakfield Primary School. Applications for School Prefect occur during Year 10, and duties continue until the final exams in Year 11. Six students per year group serve on the school council along with the Head Boy and Girl and Deputy Head Boy and Girl. Testwood bases its organisation on tutor groups. Each has its own tutor and is part of a house system. The houses are named

Bedivere Bedivere ( or ; cy, Bedwyr; la, Beduerus; french: link=no, Bédoier, also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-hand ...

, Lancelot,

Galahad Sir Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Si ...

and

Excalibur Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...

References

External links

*
Hampshire County Council school details
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1946 Secondary schools in Hampshire Academies in Hampshire 1946 establishments in England Specialist sports colleges in England