Howard of Effingham School


The Howard of Effingham School is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form with academy status. It is located in the village of Effingham, Surrey, to the west of Little Bookham. The school is part of the Howard Partnership Trust, a Multi-Academy Trust which includes four secondary and five primary schools.
The school is named after Charles Howard the second Baron Howard of Effingham of the Howard Family who was commander of the English forces during the battles against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and was chiefly responsible after Francis Drake for the victory that saved England from invasion by the Spanish Empire.
The Howard Partnership Trust is currently led by its chief executive officer, Rhona Barnfield CBE, and the school's headteacher is Helen Pennington. The school was judged in 2009 to be Outstanding by Ofsted.

History

The school opened in 1940 and over the years has expanded to include a community sports centre, a purpose-built sixth form block and new specialist science facilities which were built after the school was designated as a science college. The school was originally built for 240 pupils but this has now increased to around 1,500.
The school converted to Academy status in 2012 and is now part of the Howard Partnership Trust. The trust includes three other Surrey secondary schools and four primary schools and The Howard Nursery School.. Rhona Barnfield, the trust's CEO was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE for services to Education in the New Years Honours of 2016.

Curriculum and academic performance

The school curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and the school has achieved notable academic success. In 2015 the school was the 30th most successful comprehensive school in the country for GCSE results according to The Daily Telegraph. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection in 2009 found that the school was 'Outstanding' overall with the following breakdown;
There is a well established House system. All students are allocated to one of the four houses when they start at the school.
The houses are named after historical figures with local links;
The school has achieved some notable successes particularly in rugby union and, unusually for a school in Surrey, in rugby league
On 5 May 2002, Howard of Effingham's year 8 boys' rugby union team won the Daily Telegraph Emerging Schools National Tournament. They played at the half time interval between the Army and Navy at Twickenham Stadium where they were easy winners and claimed the best year 8 schools rugby team 2002 title.
In August 2012, Howard of Effingham's Year 7 boys' rugby league team became the first team from the south of England to win the Carnegie Champion Schools competition, beating Castleford Academy 24-22.

Notable alumni