Chelmer Valley High School

Chelmer Valley High School (CVHS) is an academy based on a large site on the outskirts of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has specialisms in engineering, and is assessed as one of the best performing comprehensive schools in Essex; it was given an "outstanding" rating by Ofsted in 2007, and as "good" in 2013. The school also received an Ofsted rating of "good" in 2017.

Chelmer Valley High School
Address
Court Road, Broomfield

Chelmsford
,
Essex
,
CM1 7ER

England
Coordinates51°46′17″N 0°28′02″E
Information
TypeAcademy
Department for Education URN137260 Tables
OfstedReports
HeadteacherClaire Goodchild[1]
Genderco-educational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1075
HousesC, H, E, L, M, R, V
Websitewww.chelmervalleyhighschool.co.uk

The school has a number of blocks (Old, New, Tech, Richardson, Eastman and Sixth Form) providing many classrooms, offices and study spaces for students and staff.

Finances

Extra funding resulting from the school's Engineering College status has allowed developments in the technology and science departments. The school spent £25,000 on a new fitness suite. Due to the closure of St Peters College in August 2011, Chelmer Valley has stepped in to take in a larger number of students, resulting in a large amount of money being added to the schools fund. The school is currently expanding to make room for the increased number of students.

Inspections

From the September 2007 inspection, Ofsted rated the school as "outstanding", the highest award available. Ofsted said "Chelmer Valley is a vibrant and dynamic school that has not stood still since the last inspection. The school judges its effectiveness to be good but, because so much of its work is exemplary, inspectors judge it to be outstanding ... the school is justifiably regarded as a highly successful specialist college in engineering. It has excellent provision for design and technology, mathematics and the sciences and is exceptionally successful in embedding the positive influence of engineering in the wider curriculum."[2]

Developments

The school converted to academy status in August 2011, but continues to have engineering as a specialism.

The Eastman building for drama and music officially opened on 11 May 2012.[3]

This follows on from the October 2004 inspection that put the school in the top 10% in the country.[4][5]

Blue Falcons Gymnastic Display Team

The Blue Falcons Gymnastic Display Team was founded in 1974 and is based at Chelmer Valley High School. The team is composed of current and former students of the school. The Chelmsford Royal Navy and Royal Marines careers office support the team and arranged in July 2005 for the Royal Navy to kit them out.[6] The Blue Falcons appear throughout the year at a variety of fêtes, carnivals, military tattoos, and fun days. They appeared at Wembley Stadium in 1991 as part of the BBC’s Children in Need Appeal and have made numerous other appearances on both local and national television. In 1995 the Blue Falcons became the first school gymnastic display team to appear at the Royal Tournament. They performed in front of the Duchess of Kent and 10,000 spectators. The performances were so successful that they were repeated in 1996 and 1997.[7] They appeared at the Colchester Military Festival in 2006[8] and the Burnham Carnival in 2007.[9]

On 2 December 1999, a team of ten gymnasts from the Blue Falcons completed a world record 4,095 vaults in one hour, thus earning themselves a place in the Guinness Book of Records.[10] Four years later, in September 2003, the Blue Falcons held a sponsored World Record Event at the Meadows Shopping Centre in Chelmsford, with two teams aiming to beat their own World Record for the most vaults in one hour. Both teams succeeded in breaking the original record with 4,575 and 5,685 vaults respectively, and the team once again became the official Guinness World Record Holders.[7] On 28 April 2007 the team completed 128,506 vaults in 12 hours to raise money for charity.[11]

References
  1. "Headteacher's Welcome". Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  2. "Chelmer Valley High School", Ofsted, 18 October 2007
  3. "Creative Arts". Chelmer Valley High School. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  4. "High school's joy at good Ofsted report", Essex Chronicle, 16 December 2004
  5. "Chelmer Valley High School", Ofsted, 9 December 2004
  6. "Gymnastics team kitted out by Royal Navy", Essex Chronicle, 21 July 2005
  7. "About Us", The Blue Falcons Gymnastics Display Team
  8. "Acrobatic – the Blue Falcons display team, of Chelmer Valley High School" Archived October 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Essex Gazette, 2006
  9. "Burnham Carnival 2007", BBC News, 2007
  10. "Falcons Update From 1999 - 2001", The Blue Falcons Gymnastics Display Team
  11. "Gymnasts smash 100,000 vault barrier", Essex Echo, 3 May 2007
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.