King Arthur's School is a smaller than average secondary school in

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. In the 2021 census the civil parish had a populatio ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. It had 350 students between the ages of 11 and 16 in 2017. Before April 2019 it was called King Arthur's Community School.

Description

The campus includes the Wincanton Community Sports Centre and West Hill Nursery. The logo is linked to the Arthurian story of Excalibur, which is also the name of the school magazine. In 2017 the community school was rated as inadequate by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

. At the end of 2017 the head teacher left amid speculation about a merger with Ansford Academy. The school was assisted to restructure by staff from

The Gryphon School The Gryphon School is a Church of England secondary school with academy status for 11 to 18-year-olds in Sherborne, Dorset, England. The school has been the largest member of the Academy Trust "Sherborne Area Schools' Trust" (SAST) since June 2 ...

Sherborne, and in April 2019 formally joined the Sherbourne Area Schools' Trust (SAST). SAST was established in June 2017 with seven schools serving the west and north Dorset area, as well as students from south Somerset.

Academics

The school had been criticised for its poor performance: its poor, “ineffective” governance, and lack of support for children with

special educational needs Special educational needs (SEN), also known as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the United Kingdom refers to the education of children who require different education provision to the mainstream system. Meaning The meaning of S ...

. Teachers' expectations of what pupils can achieve had been too low. To change this the SMT is working with SAST and has in place new procedures.

Secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

in the United Kingdom is compulsory until the age of 16. It is divided into two key stages of three and two years, or two and three. Students must study the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...

. In King Arthur's School,

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

lasts three years, Year 7, 8, 9. SAST encourages the EBacc qualification: ''Core subjects'' are English and Maths, ''EBacc subjects'' are Science, Geography, History or French. ''Creative Subjects'', Art, PE etc. make up the rest of the timetable. In

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

, that is years 10 and 11, this continues, but with a different time emphasis. The Core remains the same, and the language drops from being compulsory to being one of a wider pool of options. There is no 6th form

Notable alumni

Alumni include Professor Sir Robert Burgess, formerly Vice Chancellor of Leicester University; and Lieutenant Colonel Lucy Giles, the first female Commander at

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

References

External links

* Secondary schools in Somerset Wincanton Academies in Somerset {{Somerset-school-stub