Cantell School
 | |
| Established | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Type | Community school |
| Headteacher | Harry Kutty |
| Location |
Violet Road Southampton Hampshire SO16 3GJ England |
| Local authority | Southampton |
| DfE number | 852/4311 |
| DfE URN | 116469 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 952 |
| Ages | 11–16 |
| Website |
www |
Cantell School is a high performing secondary comprehensive school in the Bassett area of Southampton, England. The School achieved Specialist status for Mathematics and Information and Communication Technology, in September 2003 and was known as Cantell Mathematics and Computing College. In 2013, the school returned to the original name of Cantell School. In 2013, OFSTED confirmed Cantell to be a GOOD school and this judgement had been supported by strong rates of progress for all students ever since. The Headteacher of Cantell School is Harry Kutty, who has been at the school since 2008. Mr Kutty has held several Senior posts at Cantell before taking up the helm in September 2016 and is also a current serving OFSTED inspector.
The school has also been largely rebuilt, funded through the Private Finance Initiative, and now boasts impressive world class facilities for all subject areas, including playing fields, Astroturf pitches, two sports halls, an indoor climbing wall, and excellent facilities for science, technology and the arts. The school is situated close to the University of Southampton and works closely together to support the development of teaching, learning and assessment across Southampton and beyond. Cantell School is a centre of excellence for learning and the Secondary lead school for the Portswood Teaching Alliance. The CTC is an all purpose training centre used to train teachers from all over the City.
History
The school occupies the site that was previously home to Glen Eyre School.[1] Cantell was formed as an amalgamation of this and Hampton Park Secondary School in 1986 and Deanery Secondary School. In 1988 the school occupied an area of some 4 hectares (9.9 acres) and it was proposed that 0.1 hectares (0.25 acres) of this be sold off for housing.[2]
Cantell Secondary received an OFSTED inspection in Autumn 2004 and was put into the special measures category because it was failing to give its students an acceptable standard of education. As a result, it received visits from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education to inspect its progress. The school considerably improved and came out of special measures after the June 2006 inspection. It received a satisfactory inspection grade in its 2012 OFSTED report.
Present
The school is going from strength to strength, and in 2013, achieved its best ever GCSE results (69% 5A*-C including English and Maths), and topped the City league tables for students' progress (Value Added). The school's fantastic achievements were recognised by a visit from OFSTED in November 2013, which awarded the school the Ofsted rating of Good with Outstanding features.
In January 2006 there were 1,177 students at Cantell (532 boys and 645 girls) out of the full capacity of 1,300.[3]
Facilities
The current school building was completed in 2003 at the cost of £15 million , it replaced the previous East and West buildings which were constructed in the 1960s, and were in a state of disrepair. The school's sports hall (completed circa 1998 at a cost of £1 million, part funded with National Lottery money) along with a small electricity sub-station were the only parts of the old school to survive the rebuild.
As Cantell is formally known as "Cantell Maths and Computing College" and is a specialist ICT centre, during the two-week school break over Christmas 2006 and 2007, Cantell installed 90 new laptop desks (split between 4 ICT rooms) costing £2500 each. Over the 2007 summer holidays for students, 30 more of these laptop desks were installed in another ICT room.
Students
Uniform
Year 7-9 students must wear black trousers, black shoes and a navy blue polo shirt with the 'Cantell' logo. Years 10-11 Students must wear black trousers, black polo-shirts with the 'Cantell' logo and black shoes. Optional blue sweatshirts and fleeces with the Cantell logo are also available for these years. Girls have an option to wear skirts which may not be too long or short, unless for religious reasons. For the PE uniform it must be a sky blue shirt and black or blue shorts (summer) and jogging bottoms (winter).
Ability
Cantell is proud of its diverse intake, with over 50 languages spoken by students across the school. Regardless of background or ability, the progress of all students is the highest in Southampton, and is above almost all schools in Hampshire.
Although the students have a wide range of ability, their standards on entry to the school are marginally below those found nationally. The proportion of students for whom English is an additional language is approximately 50%. The number of students who have special educational needs is in line with the national average. However, only four students have a statement of special educational need which is low.
Notable former pupils
- Will Champion, drummer for Coldplay
- Wade Elliott, footballer
- Sam Hoskins, footballer
- Louisa Rose Allen, singer and songwriter
References
- ↑ "FORMER HAMPTON PARK SECONDARY SCHOOL SOUTHAMPTON - PROPOSED COMMUNITY USE". Hampshire County Council Land Subcommittee. 24 March 1988. Archived from the original on 2 January 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ↑ "CANTELL SCHOOL, SOUTHAMPTON - SURPLUS LAND". Hampshire County Council Schools Subcommittee. Archived from the original on 23 January 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ↑ Edubase: Details for Cantell Maths and Computing College Archived 20 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 24 March 2007
External links
Coordinates: 50°56′29″N 1°23′55″W / 50.9415°N 1.39874°W