Hazelwick School Screed

Hazelwick School

Hazelwick was judged ‘Outstanding’ by OfSTED in December 2008. OfSTED commented that ‘an extremely positive ethos, based on helping all students do their best, both academically and socially, permeates the school…Students’ outstanding achievement is due to consistently good teaching and the excellent care and support they receive throughout the school.’

Hazelwick converted to an Academy on 1 August 2011. The Governing Body believes that such a conversion will enhance the existing character and strengths of the school. Hazelwick intends to remain at the forefront of comprehensive schools nationally.

The school's standard admission number is 300 per year but these places are consistently oversubscribed. In addition to our catchment pupils, there are those who join the school from other parts of Crawley and beyond because of parental requests that they should be allowed to do so. These pupils make up over a third of our intake. The present number on roll is just under 1900, of whom over 340 are sixth form students. Our size is seen as a strength and does not diminish Hazelwick’s determination to ensure that each child is respected as a unique individual and a valued member of the school community.

The school is situated in a pleasant, open position on the borders of Three Bridges and Pound Hill and is surrounded by its own playing fields and grounds. There are three separate building clusters on the site which house, for pastoral purposes, its three sections of lower, middle and upper school, although for curricular purposes the different buildings are used by all sections of the school community. A Head of Key Stage is in charge of pupils in each of the Lower School (Key Stage 3) and Middle School (Key Stage 4) and Sixth Form (Key Stage 5) sections of the school. The Sixth Form is consistently within the top three highest-performing in West Sussex maintained schools. At present, there is one Deputy Headteacher (Pastoral Services) who is responsible for wide areas of school life including the school's entire pastoral system which is one of the major strengths of Hazelwick. He is supported by an interlocking system of Heads of Year [two per year group with administrative support] and form staff. The curriculum is overseen by the Senior Assistant Headteacher. Reflective, professional development and support for teaching and learning in order to enable all pupils and students to exceed their predicted levels of attainment are particular priorities and strengths of the school.

The academic organisation of the school is on a subject basis, with an extremely wide range of courses for all abilities. There is a common curriculum pattern for all Lower School pupils, who are grouped in mixed-ability forms although for certain subjects ‘banding’ and ‘setting’ are used. A key characteristic of the school is its extremely wide range of GCSE and vocational subject options for pupils in years 10 and 11. At the end of this two-year course, all pupils are entered for public examinations. The Sixth Form caters mainly for those wanting to study a core of AS, A2 and Applied subjects although it also caters for those who need to improve selected Key Stage 4 subject grades or extend their range of Level 2 qualifications. Academic achievement throughout the school is impressive; the majority of Year 13 sixth formers proceed each year to universities and other forms of higher and further education.

The school is well resourced, particularly in IT, with a modern and constantly upgraded network of some 900 computers both within central computer rooms (including a newly built IT suite) and also within curriculum areas. Areas of the curriculum are being progressively placed on-line through our chosen Virtual Learning Environment - Moodle. Each member of the teaching staff is supplied with a laptop. There are fifteen science laboratories, a new purpose-built Technology building, two gymnasia, a sports hall, a drama suite and a group of music classrooms with keyboard and recording facilities as well as practice rooms. The media resources system provides video, sound recording and computer projection equipment in many locations and almost all classrooms are equipped with a computer projector and an interactive whiteboard. There is, in addition, a dedicated website technician to develop constantly the school's award-winning website and to provide high-quality visual material to enhance the life of the school. In addition to the 130 teaching staff there are over 100 associate staff. The many skills and attributes of associate staff members are a distinctive and complementary asset of the school and reinforce its sense of community. There is a developing programme of professional enhancement and support for associate staff.

Hazelwick has an acknowledged track record of successfully managing its own resources and developing its own site. In 2002 the school began a programme to upgrade and renew its buildings and facilities. The first phase saw the opening of a purpose-built technology and engineering centre and this was followed by the completion of a new humanities suite and food technology area. 2006 saw the completion and bringing into use of a full-sized, floodlit, all-weather (Astroturf) pitch. In spring 2007, Drama was given much-deserved additional specialist teaching and performance spaces in recognition of the wide and extensive role Drama plays in the life of the school. In the autumn of 2007, Hazelwick's new Learning Resource Centre, specialist IT teaching and IT technical support areas were opened. This new building has become the school's main reception and welcome area.

Voluntary groups undertake community service projects and the school has established broad, close and continuing links between itself and the community, locally and further afield. On Saturdays the West Sussex Music Centre runs a music school for outstanding musicians in the area, and this has helped the school build a high reputation for musical excellence, especially in choral performance. Other out-of- school activities include a great variety of high-level sports and games (to county, national and international standard), dramatic and other performances as well as innumerable visits and residential courses, both within the UK and abroad. School visits are a highly distinctive feature of the life of the school. There is a very large Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and a highly developed tradition of expeditions to wild and remote areas. A link with a large school in the Cape Coast area of Ghana and an active project building a village nursery school are now in their 9th year.

The school enjoys the support of parents, is held in high esteem in the area and has a talented, collegial, stable staff. A wide-ranging impression of it can be obtained through our extensive website at www.hazelwick.w-sussex.org

Crawley offers pleasant environments in which to live and work and, together with the surrounding area, provides many convenient housing locations. Brighton is within easy commuting range and central London can be reached by train in under an hour.