About our School

Denefield School opened in 1976 as a mixed comprehensive school for students aged 11-18, and became an academy in January 2012.  We have a very pleasant 6.5 hectare site on the edge of the parishes of Tilehurst and Purley, bordering farmland.  There are currently 1015 students on roll, 164 of them in the Sixth Form.  Building work has recently been completed on a £9 million project providing state-of-the-art facilities for science, technology, the Sixth Form and the expressive arts.  A phased programme of refurbishment for other areas of the school is well advanced.

Denefield School is truly a lifelong learning centre. For a number of years we have run our own 21place nursery, which is open full time from 8.00am to 6.00pm.  The nursery caters for babies from 3 months old and Denefield staff are able to benefit from term time only contracts, reduced rates and a salary sacrifice scheme allowing savings of close to £1,000 per year on childcare costs.

Curriculum

Denefield aims to provide a curriculum that meets the needs of all students by offering a breadth of educational opportunity.  Subjects are taught according to National Curriculum guidelines and a wide range of teaching and learning styles are used to ensure that students are actively engaged in their lessons.  In Years 10 and 11 all students follow a core curriculum of English, mathematics, science, PSHE and PE.  In addition, students select courses from a wide-ranging choice of GCSE and BTEC options.  We give our students the opportunity to take the EBacc suite of qualifications, with the most able following single science courses.  In the 2013 GCSE examinations 33% of students achieved the EBacc benchmark.  The curriculum is based on five 60 minute periods per day, organised as a two-week timetable.

Pastoral care and academic guidance

The school is organised into four houses: Kentwood, Langley, Norcot and Sulham. The Heads of House, Student Managers and tutors have responsibility for the welfare, academic progress and discipline of the students in their care.  The tutors in each house team have a particularly important role since they look after the same group of children as they move through the school.  Time is set aside each day for a programme of activities designed to promote the students’ social and learning skills, support literacy, monitor completion of extended learning (homework) and to enable tutors to get to know each student as an individual.  We moved to vertical tutor groups in September 2012 to further strengthen care, guidance and support for students, and to create a family atmosphere in the tutor room.  Student Voice is important at Denefield School and we have an active School Council and House Councils led by the Sixth Form senior student team. 

Sixth Form

There is a long established tradition of Sixth Form education at Denefield which is now enhanced by the provision of courses for the whole ability range.  We currently offer a wide range of courses at AS/A2 level, as well as courses from the BTEC suite.  In addition, students have the opportunity to extend their experience through completing the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).  New Sixth Form facilities were completed during autumn 2012 which have greatly enhanced the self-study and social spaces available for students in Key Stage 5.

Links between home and school

We aim to develop strong links between home and school.  In addition to consultative evening meetings between staff and parents, we also hold Academic Review Days where parents, tutors and students meet to discuss any concerns, acknowledge successes and agree targets for further improvement.  Parents also receive termly monitoring reports and are provided with regular communications about developments in school.  In addition, we publish various brochures and organise information evenings for parents at key points in their children’s education, together with awards’ evenings to celebrate the success of students at different Key Stages.  We hold regular Parents’ Forum meetings which have addressed many of the concerns and questions raised by parents and given them an opportunity to support the school during a period of change.

Special educational needs and disabilities

At Denefield we place equal value on the education of all students.  It is one of our key priorities that children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) should achieve their full potential with the teaching, monitoring and support of this key Curriculum Area.  Students with SEND are encouraged to achieve their best within each curriculum area where they are provided with differentiated materials by their class teachers, whilst teaching assistants also offer additional individual support.  Some students are withdrawn from lessons for brief periods to work with specialist staff in the study centre.

Able, gifted and talented provision

Students who are identified as able, gifted and talented are provided with a wide range of challenging activities to support their learning. There are regular opportunities for extension and enrichment tasks in lessons as part of the curriculum, and teaching includes a variety of teaching styles to cater for learners’ individual needs. Teachers have high expectations of students and set personalised targets which are regularly reviewed to ensure appropriate progress for all. Students are also encouraged to participate in extra curricular activities such as Mathematics Challenge and outreach activities with primary schools.

Extra-curricular activities

A variety of out-of-school hours clubs and activities are available to students.  These vary across the academic year but might include dance, science, reporting for the school magazine, eco club, Combined Cadet Force, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and many others.  There is a wide range of opportunities in physical education and the arts.  The school enjoys a high reputation for music; we have school bands and choirs, and a large number of musical functions are held annually.  There are also excellent opportunities for students to begin or continue instrumental tuition as well as to participate in the annual school musical production.  Educational visits and exchanges all appear in our annual programme, including a week’s camp in the Brecon Beacons for Year 7 students.  Enrichment activities are vital to the development of our students and we continue to seek new and exciting educational opportunities to develop each individual.

School uniform

Students are expected to dress appropriately for a learning environment.  School uniform is compulsory for students in Years 7-11 and Key Stage 5 students wear ‘business dress’. 

ICT resources

Each member of the teaching staff is provided with a laptop computer for their individual use and all classrooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards or data projectors. In addition there are a number of ICT suites around the school which can be booked for use by all curriculum areas.

Denefield active in the community

Students at Denefield are encouraged to learn from the expertise, experience and information available within the local community.  The school in return aims to provide a significant contribution to the community through the high quality education, guidance and care we provide for our young people and through participation in community service at Key Stage 5.  We give the opportunity to children in local primary schools to join us for short taught modules at Kids College and to take part in a range of Able, Gifted & Talented programmes.  Our Sports Ambassadors and Young Sports Leaders help to lead sports events for both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children.  Denefield is active in its support of charities and each year the four houses organise a number of fundraising activities for worthy causes both locally and nationally.  We are also committed to sustaining and extending our links with local businesses, both to enrich the curriculum and to encourage sponsorship and financial support for the work of the school. 

Library

This well equipped centre is open to students from 8.00am to 4.00pm for access to multi-media resources, books, maps, newspapers and the internet.  This facility is used to develop a positive attitude to life-long learning, by training students to acquire independent study skills.  A full time librarian is available to support the students.