Forest School, Horsham


The Forest School is a comprehensive secondary school for boys in Horsham, West Sussex, England. It educates boys between the ages of 11 and 16 and is a specialist Engineering and Business and Enterprise College. It is one of only three maintained boys' schools in West Sussex, and liaises closely with Millais School, the girls' school in the town. It was formerly an 1118 secondary modern school, becoming an 1116 comprehensive in 1976. As of July 2020, West Sussex County Council announced proposals to alter The Forest School from a single sex boys’ school to a co-educational school from September 2021 entry.

History

The school began following the separation of the Oxford Road senior school into separate schools for boys and girls in the mid-1940s. The boys' school - then named Horsham Secondary Modern School for Boys - moved to its current campus in Comptons Lane in 1954. In 1958, the girls' school was relocated to a nearby site, and both schools were renamed under the Forest name, leading to the opening of the Forest secondary boys school.
In 1976, education in the town was reorganised to form three comprehensive schools and a separate sixth form college in place of the existing grammar and secondary modern structure. The Forest school was reconstituted as an 1116 boys comprehensive, with sixth form provision moving to The College of Richard Collyer.
For a period of time which included 19791985, the school was divided into departments or "Houses", each its own colour.
Brunel - Art/Design/Metalwork/Woodwork,
Faraday - Sciences,
Mansion - Languages,
Newton - Mathematics,
Shelley - English language/Literature,
Tyler - Humanities
In the late '70's and early '80's, the first computers arrived and these were Commodore Pets. These were under the care of the Mathematics department and were later joined by a batch of 16Kb "Pets" and a BBC Micro. The Science Department procured a Sinclair ZX80, then a ZX81 as their first computers.
In 2008, the past Houses were disbanded, and new "communities" were formed. The school has introduced a 'Vertical Tutor Group' system, which was put into practice in June 2009.
This was edited in September 2019, when Year 11's were removed from Vertical Tutor groups and placed in Year 11-only groups, purportedly to help them revise, although the effectiveness of this move is debatable.
At the end of 2009 The Forest School Radio was launched. The station was ran by students, and the episodes were downloadable podcasts usually available weekly, however, it has since been discontinued.
In April 2010 the redesigned school website was launched complete with virtual learning facilities, which are now used mostly for homework and revision material. The website was created by Cleverbox, who also designed other materials for the school, including prospectus designs and van artwork.
In March 2018 the Forest Newspaper was founded, however it collapsed a year later in mid-2019 due to a lack of interest and declining membership. No attempt has been made to restore the newspaper since.
In July 2018, the school's long serving headteacher, Siobhan Denning, left after 11 years at Forest School, which saw the school go from almost a 'special measures' Ofsted rating to a 'good' rating.
As of July 2020, West Sussex County Council announced proposals to alter The Forest School from a single sex boys’ school to a co-educational school from September 2021 entry.

Campus

The school's current buildings were first opened in 1974, and many of the present buildings date from that time. Its site also houses the Business & Enterprise Centre, which contains six computer-equipped classrooms and a 200-seater auditorium, and is also used by local groups after school time. The building cost £1.5 million, and was opened in October 2006. A new Science classroom and a new Food Technology classroom was opened in September 2018.

Results

The school has consistently achieved higher than the national average.
2012201320142015
10 or more A*/A29201723
5 A*-C 62%68%67%66%
5 A*-C84%85%83%70%
A*-G98%100%100%100%
Special mentions6 Pupils - 12 A/A*, 6 Pupils - 13 A/A*, 3 Pupils - 14 A/A*5 Pupils - 11 A/A*, 1 Pupil - 13 A/A*, 1 Pupil - 15 A/A*5 Pupils - 12 A/A*, 1 Pupil - 13 A/A*, 4 Pupils - 14 A/A*3 pupils - 12 A/A*, 4 pupils - 13 A/A*, 2 pupils - 14 A/A*

Uniform

School uniform is black trousers, a white shirt a black v-necked jumper and a tie with stripes the colour of the community. Prefects wear the same uniform except for the shirt, where instead of white they wear blue and a thinner-striped community-coloured tie.
Senior Prefects wear a badge stating their role. It is worn on the tie and is the Community colour. Furthermore, the Senior Prefects wear all-black ties, with logos in their respective community colours. There are 20 Senior Prefects, including the Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy. Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy have an all black tie with a blue stripe along the bottom, also with a badge.
In 2010, a new summer uniform was introduced which consists of a black polo shirt with the school's logo and community name, instead of the usual white shirt with tie. The uniform returns to normal during the winter.

Events

In March 2012 the school put on a production of We Will Rock You with four performances over three days.

Charity