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To ensure that subjects requiring special equipment
and resources are taught in ideal conditions, a wide range of specialist rooms is
available. These include five well equipped,
recently rebuilt laboratories, a language
aural facility, a large gymnasium/sports hall, as well
as rooms for Art and Crafts, Geography/Geology, a Music Centre, a Technical
and Crafts Centre for Technical Drawing,
Construction Studies, Materials Technology (Wood) and Home Economics.
A full range of
audio-visual equipment is readily available to all staff so that school produced or
commercially available teaching material may be easily incorporated into class teaching.
Above: one of the rooms
in the new Music Centre
Below: The new Technical
and Crafts Centre entrance
Below: a Construction
Studies class and a Home Economics class in the new
Technical and Crafts
Centre
The Information and Communication Technology Centre is equipped
with two sub- networks of 56
multimedia PC computers up to modern specification.
In addition, other PCs throughout the school are
wirelessly networked and the internet may be accessed
from each terminal through a broadband connection. The best of software is provided,
including MS Office, Autocad and software for painting, music, desktop publishing and many
other applications. Scanners
are available for those wishing to incorporate drawings
and photographs into their work. The European Computer Driving Licence
(ECDL) course and qualification is available to students in our accredited
ECDL test centre. All Transition Year students undertake the
qualification. An ICT club operates in the afternoons.
The Centre is open before school, during breaks and after school and pupils are
encouraged to use it freely. In addition, formal classes in ICT are provided at
various points in the curriculum. Teachers also incorporate the use of ICT into some
parts of the curriculum. The internet and e-mail are used for some international
school projects.
There is also a third network in the Technical and Crafts
Centre, along with other PCs distributed throughout the school
in a variety of subject departments. The school has recently
installed the first phase of wireless networking which now gives us the
capability to expand the network throughout the school as demand grows.
The library is a major resource used widely by staff and
pupils, with a full-time Librarian to encourage the proper use of its resources and to
supervise students using it as a private area. Students are frequently involved in
mounting displays and competitions in the Library. It also offers extensive study
facilities.
Sports facilities include grass rugby, hockey, cricket and
athletics pitches, a shale hockey pitch, an astroturf hockey pitch and tennis courts, hard
surface tennis courts and hard surface basketball courts. The large gymnasium is
equipped for gymnastics, badminton, basketball, indoor soccer and all other indoor sports.
Our catering
facilities are very popular.. Pupils have the choice of bringing their own lunch, of
obtaining a snack from a buffet stand or of choosing a full dinner from a menu of
approximately twenty items. Prices are reasonable and the
facility is operated by a staff consisting mainly of existing and former parents. |
