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Denefield School is a secondary school located in Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire, England. The school offers education for mixed students from aged 11 to 18.

History

The school was founded in 1976 and was originally called Long Lane Comprehensive School after its location. This name was later changed to avoid confusion with a primary school of the same name on the same road.

When founded, the school had an enrolment of 180 students in Year 7 which was greatly increased the following year when all the students from Cintra Secondary Modern School joined after that school closed.

The school was divided into 3 houses named after local rivers, Thames, Kennet and Loddon. These houses were also included in the school’s logo which at the time was a large oak tree with the three rivers flowing from the base of the trunk. The large oak tree which was the inspiration for the logo still exists and can be seen in the playing fields behind the school buildings.

The Sixth form took its first students in 1981. Over the years Denefield has continued to grow and by 1992 when it became a grant-maintained school it had over 1,000 students on roll. It was awarded a specialism as a Technology College in 1994.

The 3 rivers house system was abolished in 1994 when a new system focused on academic years was introduced. Instead of being grouped into 3 houses students were grouped into 6 letters taken from the first 6 letter of the Reading town’s name. Year 7 students for example were therefore grouped into 7R, 7E, 7A, 7D, 7I & 7N and this replicated in each year up to year 11. The Sixth Form's Year 12 and 13 only had an R, E & A groups due to the reduced student numbers. Despite there no longer being an official link between the years as under the old house system, students would often cheer fellow letter group students from other years at annual sports days.

In 1999, Denefield became a foundation school and in January 2012, Denefield became an academy school. At this time a new and the current house system was introduced along with a new school uniform, school logo and motto.

Building

The original school building was erected in 1976 as temporary accommodation, however, the old building still stands and much of the school has been rebuilt and refurbished. The school has state of the art facilities for Science, Technology, Art and Music and has large grounds which are used for sporting activities. The school was graded 'good' in its last Ofsted inspection in June 2014.

Houses

Denefield has had two house systems since it was opened in 1976. The current 4 house system was introduced as part of the series of changes brought in after the school was found to be ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted inspectors. The houses are named Norcot, Langley, Sulham and Kentwood which are named after 4 local wards in the catchment area.

Headteacher

The current headteacher is Miss Lucy Dawe, she took over in September 2015. She took over from Mr Glyn Whiteford, who confirmed that, after repeatedly taking the school into and out of special measures, he would be leaving the school on August 31, 2015. Miss Dawe was previously deputy head.

References

1. DFES Performance Tables
2. "Cintra network website". Cintra Network. April 2016.
3. ^ "Headteachers at Denefield". What do they Know. March 2016.
4. "Chronicles of Purley 1990-1994". Project Purley. September 2016.

External links

• Denefield School Website

51°28′18″N 1°3′22″W / 51.47167°N 1.05611°W / 51.47167; -1.05611

• Use dmy dates from September 2013
• Secondary schools in West Berkshire
• Tilehurst
• Educational institutions established in 1976
• 1976 establishments in England
• Academies in West Berkshire