Head Teacher Ms Tamra Bradbury Introduces King Arthur's Community School
Welcome!
King Arthur's Community School is a friendly, hardworking and busy school. We believe in and strive for inclusion and opportunities for all, good working relationships and high standards of achievement. Our students excel academically, vocationally, and in the sporting arena and the arts. A few highlights from 2008-2009 include the best GCSE results ever, Bronze, Silver and Gold success in the UK Mathematics Challenge, County badminton champions, community Music Concert in Wincanton Memorial Hall and Student Leadership Programmes across many aspects of school life.
The staff are well-qualified, experienced and committed to providing a supportive and safe environment in which students can thrive. We value our partnerships with parents and the local community and seek to further develop the concept of being a community school. We believe in honesty, hard work, good manners and respect, and work to encourage these qualities in our students.
In October 2008, King Arthur's celebrated 50 years of providing education in the Wincanton area, and we were reminded of a comment from the opening speech of Field Marshall Lord Harding of Petherton who opened the school in October 1958, "Whatever the truth about King Arthur, of one thing we can be sure. There did live, about 1500 years ago, in this part of England, a great warrior. He showed great qualities - bravery, perseverance and kindness - and, if his name was Arthur, it is a name which we as a school should be proud to bear."
Ms. Tamra Bradbury
Headteacher
A Short History of King Arthur's Community School
King Arthur's Secondary Modern School was officially opened October 1958. The 13-acre site on West Hill was once part of the New Barn Farm owned by Herbert Dyke. The land was commandeered by the army during the Second World War and was used as an Army Training and Transit Camp. After 1945 the huts were converted to bungalows and used by local soldiers and their wives as housing accommodation until the council could build more houses. Building began on this site in the 1950s to build the school which is today known as King Arthur's Community School.
During the 1940s and early 1950s children stayed at school until they were 15. At the age of 11 they took a selective test called the 11+. Those who passed were selected for an academic education at a Grammar School. Those who failed stayed at their Primary School - called County Schools - until they were 15 years old.
In his opening day speech, Mr. Edgar Murray, the first Headmaster said, "For a child who is not quite good enough for a grammar school it is better for them educationally and socially to be at the top of a school like this than dragging along out of their depth at a school that does not suit them."
An archive document said that "the staff accepted that most of their pupils were from non-academic families so specialized in the kind of subjects that would be of use in an agricultural economy - farming, rural science, woodwork and metalwork. The woodwork and metalwork rooms were among the best in the county. Girls were taught housecraft - useful for bringing up families and for the types of jobs most of them would find."
The School has undergone many changes since the late 1950s as external factors have impacted on the education system. For example, during the 1980s, ‘O' Levels and CSEs were replaced by GCSEs and the school now offers BTEC and OCR courses alongside these. Equal opportunities have meant that all students follow Design Technology courses in mixed-sex classes. Advances in technology have meant that interactive white boards have replaced the blackboard and chalk. More recently, King Arthur's Community School was the first school in Somerset to achieve Specialist Sports College status.
As King Arthur's celebrated 50 years of providing education in the Wincanton area in October 2008, we were reminded of a comment from the opening speech of Field Marshall Lord Harding of Petherton who opened the school, "Whatever the truth about King Arthur, of one thing we can be sure. There did live, about 1500 years ago, in this part of England, a great warrior. He showed great qualities - bravery, perseverance and kindness - and, if his name was Arthur, it is a name which we as a school should be proud to bear."
To learn much more about what is going on at King Arthur's today, look at our school website:
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