About the school

Park Hall is an 11-18 comprehensive school with a successful 6 th form. There are approx 1300 pupils on roll, 80 teachers and 70 non-teaching staff. The school is the largest in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull and has a good reputation locally. The majority of pupils come from Castle Bromwich, an area of privately owned houses in the North of Solihull although a significant number of pupils migrate from the adjacent LEA borders of Birmingham and Warwickshire. The diversity of this catchment area, with many pupils living in areas of high social deprivation, has been recognised with the school becoming part of the North Solihull Excellence In Cities & Aim Higher Partnership in 2003. This has resulted in additional funding for targeted intervention to raise achievement.

Building Schools for the Future

North Solihull is in the first ‘Wave’ of schools to benefit from the Governments new Building Schools for the Future programme and work has already begun on the creation of a brand new Park Hall School. Highlights of this project will include a new building for 1400 pupils, a multi-use games area and state of the art ICT facilities. The school are also in partnership with RM who will be providing all of the computer equipment; training, staff & support needed for this leading edge ICT system. The new school is scheduled to open in September 2008.

Curriculum & Facilities

Pupils at Park Hall School have the opportunity to study a wide range of traditional subjects and vocational courses at all Key Stages including AS/A2, Applied A Levels, GNVQ Intermediate & BTEC National courses. There are opportunities for all staff to contribute to A Level teaching. We are now developing a new & dynamic curriculum for 2007 and for the new school in 2008. ICT is a particular area of strength for the school and is extremely well resourced with a student/computer ratio of 4:1 & interactive whiteboards in the majority of classrooms. The school is affiliated to the Specialist Schools Trust as a potential Maths & Computing College.

Sports facilities at Park Hall are also excellent and the school boasts 20 acres of playing fields in addition to 2 gymnasia and a well-equipped sports hall. These facilities are used extensively by the local community and there is a comprehensive selection of extra-curricular activities available. Citizenship is another key area for the school and it is widely recognised as a flagship department for this subject area within the UK.

CPD

Staff development has a high priority at Park Hall School and Ofsted have described the arrangements for the continuing professional development of staff as ‘good’. Staff CPD is a weekly feature of the school timetable and this is supported by a strong leadership team and committed governing body. All staff are provided with laptops for their personal use and the school has been recognised with Investors In People status.

The Future

For some years the school has found it difficult to improve examination results at KS3 & KS4 although there have been improvements in both English and Mathematics in the last two years. Following an Inspection by Ofsted in October 2005 the school was placed in Special Measures although the 6th form was graded ‘good’ on most aspects. The school is committed to ensuring further improvements in teaching and learning and are seeking to appoint strong and dynamic colleagues to realise this objective. In return we can offer a strong and supportive Leadership Team & Governing body, excellent CPD provision, diverse and experienced teaching colleagues, a high level of Teaching Assistant support and the opportunity to teach in a state of the art learning environment with the opening of the new school within the next 12 months.