Thames Park Secondary School is a

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, comprehensive and

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 t ...

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

free school in

Grays, Essex Grays (or Grays Thurrock) is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. The town which is both a former civil parish and one of Thurrock's traditional Church of England parishes is located on the north ...

, England. It opened in September 2020 as a member of the Osborne Co-operative

Academy Trust An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

(OCAT) and is a

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

for digital technology and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

. The school was previously located on a temporary site at High Street, Grays, before its relocation to Chadwell Road in September 2022. The school's headteacher is Sam Dyer and the executive headteacher is Ashlie Hughes. Ashlie Hughes is the headteacher of Thames Park's sister school, St Clere's.

History

In 2017,

Thurrock Council Thurrock Borough Council, usually known as simply Thurrock Council, is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Since 1997, Thurrock has been a unitary authority, combining the functions of a non-metropolitan county wit ...

approved four free school applications made to combat Thurrock's rapidly growing population. These included the

Orsett Heath Academy The Orsett Heath Academy is a coeducational secondary free school academy in Grays, Essex, England. It is the newest member of the South West Essex Community Education Trust and was built under the leadership of nearby William Edwards School ...

, Treetops Free School and Thames Park Secondary School. Thames Park's creation was to be overseen by the Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust, providing Thurrock places for another 900 students. The school would design its logo and brand with the help of design agency Periscope. The logo's four elements would represent ripples in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

and local parks,

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

areas, industry and agriculture. In 2019, the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

began funding the construction of the school, which would be located adjacent to

Palmer's College USP College (Unified Seevic Palmer's College, previously known as Seevic and Palmer's Colleges Group) is a large general further education college in Essex, England. It was established in August 2017 from the merger of Palmer's College in Gra ...

. Originally the school was planned to be built on Elm Road but these plans were dropped. In the meantime, the school would temporarily be housed in a building previously used by South Essex College's Grays campus. In August 2020, the Department for Education appointed development company Bowmer and Kirkland to construct the school's permanent site and plans were drafted. The plans prioritised the school's specialism in digital technology and were praised as being "

state-of-the-art The state of the art (sometimes cutting edge or leading edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contexts it can also refer to a level ...

" by the school's first headteacher, Kam Bains. The school opened to its first intake at its temporary site in September 2020 through a ceremony which included a live video-link speech by Angela Smith of Basildon. The plans for its permanent site were submitted a month later, gaining approval from Thurrock Council in March 2021, with a

DfE The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department f ...

investment of £22 million. The school's permanent site began construction in July 2021 and was completed by August 2022, and it opened to students in September of that year.

Structure and curriculum

The school is split between four houses, each named in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

after the elements of the school logo they are coloured after. They are

Aqua Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to: Arts * Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color Business * Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...

(blue), Silva (green), Terra (red) and Ventus (yellow). The names were decided through a student "name the houses" competition. The houses hold assemblies, school-wide events and competitions against each other. Each house is led by a head of house, who appears to usually be a student. The school is managed by a

local governing body An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

consisting of the school's stakeholders, the OCAT

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and school governors. Governors consist of staff, parents and members of the local community. Parent governors are elected every four years and all parents may run for election. The school is currently chaired by community governor Mike Fall. The

senior leadership team Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

controls the school under the oversight of the governing body and consists of the headteacher and his assistant. There is also a

student council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

and forum and a platform for parents and students to complain. The school offers a " broad and balanced" curriculum that specialises in digital technology and artificial intelligence. As a result, the school has invested in providing free Chromebooks to each student for use in lessons. This is so that the school "can extensively use digital education platforms in a way that most schools cannot." The curriculum is "delivered using a blended learning model." For example, the school has a unique

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...

subject that is provided to years 7 and 8. The curriculum also embeds

relationship and sex education Relationship and Sex Education (RSE), previously called Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), is a form of sex education taught in UK schools. SRE focuses on exploring the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, having relationshi ...

. Parents can opt their children out of sex education but cannot do the same for relationship education. MFL education for French and Spanish is offered, with Spanish replacing the school's previous provision of design technology in 2022. The school is part of Thurrock Trailblazer, a school programme run by the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

that encourages provision in the arts and culture. The programme has allowed Thames Park to hold a number of

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

and collaborate on multiple projects with fellow OCAT schools. Classes in the school consist of around 30 pupils with 180 pupils per year group.

School site

The school's temporary site was located on High Street, Grays and was a 5-minute walk from

Grays railway station Grays railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line serving the town of Grays, Essex. It is down the line from London Fenchurch Street via and is located at the junction where a branch line from via re-joins the route from Ra ...

. It was also accessible from Argent Street which had a public

car-park A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

and was next to the Grays Town

Wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

. The site's building was previously used by South Essex College's Grays campus and for office accommodation. Before the September 2020 opening, the building was extensively modified and redeveloped, being completed by the end of July. Fire exits were built for the school and medical services were facilitated. A multi-use games area was also built and the building was described as being "spacious" by

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 ...

. SEND requirements dictated by the Equality Act 2010 were fulfilled by the provision of lifts for students. The school's permanent site is located on Chadwell Road, Grays and is adjacent to Palmer's College. It takes up 18 acres of land between Wood View Road and Dock Road and was built by Bowmer and Kirkland. Construction began in July 2021 and finished in August 2022. It has a capacity of 900 and consists of two main blocks; the sports block and the teaching block. Within these buildings is a sports hall, main hall, departmental "zones" and an external multi-use games area accompanied by pitches. At the site's centre is an extracurricular

learning resource centre Learning Resource Centre (LRC) is a term which is used in the United Kingdom to describe a type of library that exists within an educational setting such as secondary schools, further education colleges and universities. LRC can also stand for ...

. The public have been granted

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

and the option to use school facilities outside of the school day. Both

vehicular A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...

and non-vehicular entry appears to be centred from Wood View Road. In light of this, proposals have been made for a new crossing to be built on the road so that students can be encouraged to walk or cycle to the school. The costs of the site were paid for by the DfE, who allocated £22 million for its construction.

Headteachers

* Sam Dyer (2023-present) * Kam Bains (2020–2023) * Ashlie Hughes (executive 2020–present, also the headteacher of St Clere's School)

References

External links

School website
{{authority control Secondary schools in Thurrock Free schools in England Grays, Essex Educational institutions established in 2020 2020 establishments in England