Longdean School

Longdean School is a secondary one school and sixth form with academy status, located in the southeast of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The academy specialises in Maths and Computing.

Longdean School
Address
Rumballs Road

Hemel Hempstead
,
Hertfordshire
,
HP3 8JB

England
Coordinates51°44′31″N 0°26′35″W
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoRejoice in thy Youth
Established1955, 1970
Department for Education URN137110 Tables
OfstedReports
Head teacherGraham Cunningham
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1,300
HousesPascal, Gates, Da Vinci, Franklin
Colour(s)Blue and Silver/White
PrecursorApsley Grammar School
PrecursorBennetts End Secondary Modern
Websitehttp://www.longdeanschool.co.uk

History

Grammar school

Originally called Apsley Grammar School, it began as a state grammar school in Hemel Hempstead. It was founded in 1955 as part of the development of the town after its designation as a new town and the need for expanded secondary school provision. Although named for the nearby village of Apsley the school is actually situated about one mile away, in the Bennetts End district of the town. Its first Head Teacher was Valentine (V.J.) Wrigley.

Comprehensive

The name of the school changed to Longdean School in 1970 on the amalgamation with the adjacent Bennett's End Secondary Modern School to form what was the third-largest comprehensive school in Hertfordshire at the time.

The school motto of Rejoice in Thy Youth was retained after the amalgamation.

Since September 2012 the headmaster has been Mr Graham Cunningham, replacing the previous headmaster, Mr Rhodri Bryant. The last Ofsted report classed the school as a 'GOOD'.

A cashless catering system is operated where money can be credited onto students accounts which is scanned using their finger prints on biometric scanners.

Academy

During the summer term of 2011, Longdean School attained academy status.

The school works in consortium with two neighbouring schools to enhance post-16 provision. The group consists of Adeyfield School, Astley Cooper School and Longdean School. Staff development and well-being are also coordinated at consortium level.

In May 2012, Longdean was included in the Government's £2 billion Priority School Building Programme.[1] Longdean's inclusion was based upon the condition of its existing buildings that have exceeded their 25-year life expectancy. As a result, a completely new school building has been constructed by Interserve/Kajima[2] on former playing fields and both the existing premises are to be demolished. The new school opened at the end of 2016.

Admissions

Longdean is a non-selective coeducational school within the state education system, accepting pupils from its catchment area of Bennetts End, Nash Mills, Leverstock Green and adjacent areas.

Notable former pupils

Apsley Grammar School
  • Paul Boateng, (now Baron Boateng) – the UK's first black Cabinet minister, and British High Commissioner to South Africa from March 2005 to April 2009.
  • Prof Hugh Loxdale MBE, entomologist, Professor of Ecology from 2009 to 2010 at the Institute of Ecology, University of Jena, and President from 2004–6 of the Royal Entomological Society of London
  • Andy Powell – guitarist in the rock group Wishbone Ash

Longdean School

Notable former staff

Apsley Grammar School
gollark: You'd need to pay extra for syntactic sugar ("skins").
gollark: or use the unrestricted free sandbox mode (note: has no IO).
gollark: Get a lootbox containing either a sense of pride and accomplishment or an EXCLUSIVE KEYWORD AND LIBRARY PACK!
gollark: No, other way round, language features cost money.
gollark: A normal language, except you need to pay (maybe not actually, but whatever) for features.

References
  1. "Priority School Building Programme; Schools Prioritised for the Programme" (PDF). 24 May 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  2. "Interserve closes £135m PF2 schools deal". 13 March 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  3. https://www.paralympic.org/jessica-stretton
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