KINGDOWN SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY IT SERVES
Kingdown is an 11-18 Co-educational Comprehensive School, serving the attractive market town of Warminster and the surrounding downland villages. Warminster has a population of approximately 20,000 and is situated midway between Bath and Salisbury.
We have approximately 1525 pupils on roll with over 270 in our very successful Sixth Form. In 2000, Kingdown was designated as a ‘Specialist Sports College', bringing extra staffing, resources and facilities to the School. A lottery bid added flood-lit tennis courts and an all weather pitch.
In January 2006, Kingdown achieved a second specialism and became a ‘Vocational Specialist' School. This has enabled us to provide a wider range of vocational courses 14-19 and to extend vocational learning in all curriculum areas.
Following our ‘Outstanding' OFSTED grade in 2008, we were allowed to bid for a third specialism and have become a ‘Leadership Partner School', supporting leadership development and succession planning across Wiltshire.
School transport is provided in our designated area and there are good public transport services from neighbouring towns. We provide a huge range of extra-curricular activities and, to encourage pupils to stay on after school, we provide late buses on three nights each week. Kingdown has achieved the 'Sportsmark Gold Award' for excellence in Physical Education and Sport and also ‘Artsmark Gold' and we believe strongly in the role of the Arts in our curriculum.
We have invested heavily in ICT in the last five years and are proud of our facilities and the level of expertise our staff display. Our new website and VLE are increasingly being used for both communication and to enhance learning.
Our students come from a variety of social backgrounds and encompass a wide variety of abilities. Relationships with our parents are good and we have a strong PTA. The local community regards the School highly and gives us considerable support. In turn, the School provides venues and facilities for many community activities and events.
Our exam results are excellent and improving. This year (2009), our students achieved 75% five A*-C (56.4% with English and Maths) at GCSE (both above target), and we had 100% pass rate at A2 with 57% of grades at A/B. Our most recent OFSTED report (March 2008) described Kingdown as ‘an outstanding school'.
Our aim:
To develop Kingdown as a centre of learning for the community of Warminster, by
• making effective learning the most important purpose of the school;
• providing a caring, safe and challenging environment for learning.