Bay House School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...

located in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, England.

History

Normal school and grammar school

The Bay House site was originally a co-educational

Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

known as Gosport County Grammar School, which was founded in 1902. The Grammar School was originally in the High Street, in a building of 1901. By 1951 the school was on four sites, including the Bay House site. The sites were amalgamated on the Bay House site in 1958.

Comprehensive

Bay House School, as it is today known, was established in 1972 through the amalgamation of Gosport Grammar School and Privett Secondary School. Sited adjacent to

Stokes Bay Stokes Bay ( grid ref.:)) (50.782982, -1.163868) is an area of the Solent that lies just south of Gosport, between Portsmouth and Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. There is a shingle beach with views of Ryde and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight to the ...

, part of its premises occupies Bay House, built in 1838 by

Decimus Burton Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and R ...

as a seaside villa for

Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, PC (27 October 177412 May 1848), of The Grange in Hampshire, of Ashburton in Devon and of Buckenham Tofts near Thetford in Norfolk, was a British politician and financier, and a member of the Baring famil ...

. The gardens of the house stretched all the way down to the sea at

as there was little more than a track in the way, which later became Stokes Bay Road. John Croker, a friend of Lord Ashburton, was so impressed by the grounds that in 1842 he purchased the land next to Bay House and built his home there- Alverbank House, which later came to become the Alverbank Hotel.

Ashburton House, Gosport From 'The Illustrated London News', 12 April 1863 The admiralty are about to take a lease of Lord Ashburton's mansion and grounds on the shore of Stokes Bay, which have recently been purchased by the War Department. It is the intention of the Admiralty, when they house and grounds are handed over to them, to fit the mansion up as a college for naval cadets.

In 1870, a naval college was established at Bay House, which became known as Ashburton House. Prince Alfred Ernest, Duke of Edinburgh, who was Queen Victoria's second son, attended the academy. He stayed at Alverbank House while he was studying there. In 1892, Col. Francis Sloane-Stanley, a close friend of the Prince of Wales- who was later to become

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

- took over the house. In a major fire in late 1984, the house, a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

, was badly damaged, but was subsequently restored to its current condition. The house re-opened to pupils in 1987. In 1943 the house was sold to Gosport Borough Council, and the 17 acres of parkland were donated to the people of the borough. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the house became Gosport County Grammar School. The school was renamed Bay House School in 1972. The school has developed significantly since this time, including introducing a Sixth Form to the Gosport Area.

Academy

Previously a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework ...

administered by

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is an English council that governs eleven of the thirteen districts geographically located within the ceremonial county of Hampshire. As one of twenty-four county councils in England, it acts as the upper tier of ...

, in January 2012 Bay House School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by GFM Education.

Teachers

The school has roughly 250 teachers. Some of the teachers appeared on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

quiz show '' Eggheads''. In March 2010, the assistant head teacher, Jim Wood, told an education seminar in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

that school teachers should act like

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...

. In 2010 former head of year James Braid was jailed for abusing boys throughout his 30-year career.Teacher jailed for abusing boys at Bay House School
BBC.co.uk (1 February 2010). Retrieved on 10 April 2012.

Academic performance

In 2019, Bay House’s Progress 8 and Attainment 8 measures at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

were both average. Absence and persistent absence were less good than the average. In 2019, the average

A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

grade achieved by Bay House students was B−, which is above the England average of C+. A level progress was categorised as "well above average". Student retention was good, with 96% of students completing their main course of study, compared to 89% in Hampshire overall and 91% in England.

Ofsted report 2017

From the recent report in 2017, Bay House received a "GOOD" rating and some key messages from the report were: * Bay House School (lower school, under 16) "continues to be good". * Post-16 (sixth form) outcomes continues to be exemplary. * Bay House School has "a very positive ethos and sense of purpose". * The pupils and students conduct themselves well and behaviour continues to be superb. * The progress of pupils in English, mathematics, and science is fairly strong.

Notable former pupils

Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admi ...

Sir Robert Freer CBE,

Commandant Royal College of Defence Studies The Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies, formerly the Commandant of the Imperial Defence College, is the head of the Royal College of Defence Studies, a British military staff college which instructs senior officers, diplomats, and ci ...

from 1980–2, AOC from 1975–8 of

No. 18 Group RAF No. 18 Group of the Royal Air Force was a group active from 1918 to 1919, and from 1938 to 1996. History The Group was initially formed on 1 April 1918 in No. 4 Area RAF. It was transferred to North-Eastern Area RAF on 8 May 1918. Disbanded ...

and from 1972–5 of

No. 11 Group RAF No. 11 Group is a group in the Royal Air Force first formed in 1918. It had been formed and disbanded for various periods during the 20th century before disbanding in 1996 and reforming again in 2018. Its most famous service was in 1940 in the Ba ...

, and Station Commander from 1963–66 of

RAF Seletar Seletar Airport is a civilian international airport serving the north-east region of Singapore. It is located approximately northwest from Changi Airport, the country's main airport, and about north from the main commercial city-centre. T ...

(in Singapore) *

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

David French CB MBE, Station Commander from 1988–90 of

RAF St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site for ...

* Richard Pike, Chief Executive of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Inst ...

from 2006 to 2011 * Pam Rhodes, former presenter of ''

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...

'' * Matt Ritchie, professional football player for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

References

External links

Bay House School

A VLE provided by the school to help pupils with their studies

Statistics
HantsWeb
EduBase
{{authority control Academies in Hampshire Educational institutions established in 1972 Gosport Secondary schools in Hampshire Decimus Burton buildings