Crispin School


Crispin School Academy is a secondary school in Street, Somerset. Crispin draws students from a wide range of local primary schools. The school is located to the eastern end of Street and shares a campus with Strode College.

History

Crispin School was formed in 1973 by the merge of Elmhurst Grammar School and Strode Secondary Modern School. In 1999, the school was awarded specialist technology status, with a second specialism in music awarded in 2008.
Crispin School was converted to an academy in 2011, under the provisions of the Academies Act 2010.

Subjects offered

At key stage 3, the following subjects are offered: English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Beliefs and Values, Art, Drama, Food Technology, French, Graphics, ICT and Computing, Music, PSHE, PE, Textiles, and Resistant Materials. At GCSE, all students continue to study English, English Literature, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, and Society, Relationships and Values. Optional subjects include Geography, History, French, Spanish, German, Religious Studies, Art, Drama, Food and Nutrition, Graphics, Health and Social Care, ICT and Computing, Music, Media, Photography, Sport, Business Studies, Textiles and Resistant Materials.
Academic standards are high across the school and the majority of students progress to colleges with many taking A Levels and more technical options.
Crispin’s most recent Ofsted inspection took place in October 2017 and the school was rated as ‘Good’ in all areas. The school was seen as continuing to improve and had ‘a deep-seated moral commitment to serving the needs of all the young people in the area’.

Extracurricular activities

There is a wide range of musical opportunities which take place on a daily basis and performances are of a high standard. Daily sessions focus on the school choir and senior choir, orchestra and a string group. A wide range of musical enrichment activities is also offered, including the Annual Carol Service at Wells Cathedral, Joint Christmas Concert with Brookside Academy, Spring Concert where up to 150 students perform, Music Days for particular years, School of Rock Days, Orchestra visits an trips to London which have included attending musicals and a live rendition of the music and film of Ratatouille at the Royal Albert Hall.
School shows are a strength and are performed at nearby Strode Theatre. A large number of students are involved in the productions. Recent productions include Tales of the Arabian Nights, Oliver, Alice, Find Me, Bugsy Malone and Sister Act
Art and photography has been recognised as being an area of excellence at the school and considerable amounts of student work are on display around Crispin. Large numbers of students choose either GCSEs in fine art or photography and some choose both. Annual trips take place to galleries in London, Bristol Zoo and the Eden Project.
Students are also keen participants in a wide variety of sports. They have also been very successful in a wide range of sports, including handball, netball, rugby, and football. Other students have been successful in a range of other areas ranging from equestrian activities to walking to triathlon. There is a very well attended Sports Awards evening at the end of each year.
A number of residential trips take place, including ones to Iceland, France, Italy, New York, Swaziland, and Kenya. Crispin has a link with a school in Kenya and the ‘Masana Block’ is named in recognition of this link.

Houses

In 2017 the school moved to a House system with 10 vertical tutor groups in each House. The four Houses consist of Corvus, Falco, Sturnus and Tyto: all bird genus. Each House has a Head of House, a House Learning Coordinator and a House Captain voted for by the staff and students with the House. The Houses were introduced to develop a clear sense of belonging and togetherness across all of the years. In order to promote this, the school has weekly competitions to allow students to participate in their Houses. The competitions range from Spellings Bees, Tug of War and Fastest Omelette.
Each month also has a theme to promote the social and moral culture within the school. The student have made notable contributions to the local Food Bank as part of Charity Month in December and Unicef’s Shoe Drive in April where over a thousand pairs of shoes were donated.
The competitions contribute towards a final house points total leading to a winning house for the year. The winning house is awarded with a day of treats to celebrate their success together as a House. Students are also rewarded with weekly Tutee of the Week awards, attendance certificates and house points for their readiness to learn each day.

Partner Primary School links

Crispin value the relationship they have with their Partner Primary Schools. Schools are invited into Crispin regularly to participate in subject specific days to prepare them for Secondary School life. Crispin encourages its students to develop leadership skills through assisting the Primary school children during the learning. Students have lead in Drama, English and PE days. Primary Schools have also attended Geography, Music and Art days.

Facebook post controversy

In 2017, the School's official facebook page posted an update entitled 'Success and Shoes', featuring pictures of some students' footwear and suggesting that students who are "‘sharply’ dressed" achieve more academically and behave better at school. The post received backlash from parents and members of the community. The school later apologised.

Alumni

Crispin School has an active alumni programme with over 500 alumni registered with Future First. Alumni return to the school to deliver workshops for each year group about careers and raising aspirations. The school has also arranged work experience visits with alumni. Notable alumni include: