Welcome To Foulstone School

The Foulstone is an improving school characterised by many good features including great team spirit amongst the staff and some lovely, lively and challenging pupils!

We passed OFSTED in May, 2007 and since then have improved further. We have been named amongst the top 100 most improved schools in the country in 2007 for year on year Key Stage 3 improvement and GCSE results have risen from 29% 5 A*-C in 2001 to 44% last year (with a possible 50+% at C and above this year).

Our main assets are our people. The staff is highly committed and we have many supportive structures in place, testified by our re-designation by Investors in People in March, 2008. We have an agreed approach to teaching and learning (Foulstone House Style) and a 'Learning Together' initiative which has been put together by staff and pupils alike to define the expectations of everybody in school with clear rewards and sanctions pyramids. (You can find these approaches on this website.)

The school is at record levels for attainment as well as attendance (93%) and has a positive feel to it.

Our school motto is “Positive Foulstone, Moving Forward, Learning Together”; we expect everyone to buy into this positive emphasis.

We have particular strengths in Performing Arts, Art and Drama and consequently are seeking Arts status as a Specialist School from May, 2008. However, the core subjects have improved markedly, with all of them targeting 40+ C and above this year. The curriculum is diverse and exciting with a wide range of academic and vocational courses. We are well prepared to begin the Diplomas in 2008 with pupils already subscribed to those courses as well as Young Apprenticeships. In this context, the more traditional subjects like Geography and History are still popular and strong options.

We offer a wide range of after-school enrichment classes (the timetabled school day finishes at 2.30 p.m.) with Activities Days for all in the Summer term.

Why should you join us? One of the main reasons is that we are a talent-spotting school. Of our current teaching staff, twenty two have received internal promotions in recent years and we have given opportunities to many others. We, therefore, have many middle leaders with a relatively youthful profile. We are prepared to give chance for advancement and we love to support ideas – nearly all suggestions are met with a “yes, have a bash”. We like risk-taking and innovation, whilst maintaining more traditional values like basic decency, politeness and good standards of conduct and uniform.

Essentially we are a modern, forward-looking comprehensive school looking to improve further, welcoming your talent and looking to develop it on behalf of our pupils.

Living Near Barnsley

Barnsley is a town on the up run by a forward-looking council. The areas around the town are delightful, with countryside in either direction. I personally live near Holmfirth and have a delightful, motorway-free journey to school. Other colleagues live near Sheffield, Wakefield and Leeds - Barnsley is well connected to many places. Housing is very competitively priced; you’ll find a home in or near Barnsley much cheaper and often better situated than in many areas. Come to sunny Barnsley! – or, more importantly, to Positive Foulstone.

Phill King (Headteacher)