The Howard School is a boys' secondary school in

Rainham, Kent Rainham ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Gillingham. Historically, Rainham was a separate village until, in 192 ...

, England, with approximately 1,500 pupils. It offers a partially selective system and is one of only five bi-lateral schools in the United Kingdom. The partially selective system permits admission to the

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

section by the 11-Plus selection, however a passing mark is not required if the pupil is seen to have the ability to work in the 'grammar stream', and non-selective admission to the

high 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 ...

. The school is a

Sports College Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The programme enabled seco ...

History

The school was named after Dorothy Howard, who played a major part in the local community, and was established in 1975 by amalgamating Rainham Boys' Secondary School and Gillingham Boys' Grammar School to form a bi-lateral school. The Howard School became a grant-maintained school in 1994 when it left the control of Kent County Council. Following a change of central government it became a foundation school in 1998. Although a foundation school, the school works closely with Medway Council, which, since becoming a unitary authority in 1998, oversees education in the Medway Towns. The school became a Specialist Sports College in 2007. In 2008, and again in 2013 and 2016 it received a "good" rating from Ofsted inspectors. This is a change since 2002, when Ofsted inspectors gave a "Serious weaknesses" rating.

The Howard Academy Trust

The school converted to academy status in October 2014 and further converted to Multi-Academy Trust status in December 2015. Temple Mill Primary School, Strood, joined the Trust at the same time as the conversion to MAT and Deanwood Primary School, Parkwood, Rainham, joined the Trust in September 2016. Waterfront UTC, formerly Medway UTC, a

University technical college A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...

in Chatham, joined the Trust in 2018.

Sports College

The school is a Sports College. Since becoming a Sports College, the school has developed its sporting facilities, including: * Building a "5 a-side" football complex * Building a ibrary and improving ICT facilities * Renovating the sports blocks, changing facilities and sports halls * Developing one of the best table tennis centres in the UK, used during the prelude to the London 2012 Olympic Games by various national teams, located at the top of the school grounds.

Notable former pupils

Rik Waller Richard "Rik" Waller (born 1981) is an English pop singer. After appearing as a contestant on the TV series ''Pop Idol'', he had two UK Top 40 hits with cover versions of "I Will Always Love You" and "(Something Inside) So Strong". Early ...

, singer * George Boyd, footballer *

Matt Haines Matthew Haines (born 1 December 1989) is an English professional golfer. Haines turned professional in May 2010 after a successful amateur career, during which he became the youngest ever winner of the Lytham Trophy and represented Great Brit ...

, professional golfer * Derek Hales, footballer * Zech Medley, footballer * Luis Binks, footballer

Howard School

Gary Rhodes Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', '' Mas ...

, chef *

Douglas Hodge Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in '' Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return'' and '' Diana'' (2013), '' ...

, actor

Gillingham Boys' Grammar School

* David Frost, broadcaster *

David Harvey David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...

, geographer

References

External links

*
EduBaseThe Howard Academy Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard School Bilateral schools in England Educational institutions established in 1975 * Secondary schools in Medway 1975 establishments in England Academies in Medway Gillingham, Kent