1. The Marches School Shropshire

2. Location  Oswestry is in rural Shropshire  Border town near to Wales  1.5 hours from Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.  Nearest towns are Shrewsbury and Chester  Pupil population comes from all socio-economic backgrounds.

3. School  25 year anniversary  Day starts at 8.40 and ends at 3pm  Lessons are 1 hour long  5 lessons per day  No free lessons for students, 25 lessons per week  Sixth Form  Study 4 A levels and do have free lessons or study time

4. Security  School has strict rules on staff and visitors to the school.  All staff have to wear an identity badge which is visible at all times.  Visitors to the school also have an identity badge and have to be escorted around the site – even to the toilet!  Sixth form students also have to wear identity badges  No public cars on site – with a barrier entry system for staff

5. Students  Approximately 1,300  Years 7 to 11  Age 11- 16 New for 2013  Just established a new sixth form with 40 students up to age 18 by 2014

6. Uniform  Students wear a uniform  Years 7-10 wear a grey uniform and includes shirt, tie and jumper for both boys and girls  Year 11 wear a black uniform, again with shirt, tie and jumper for both boys and girls  Sixth form wear clothes of their choice to a dress code

7. Education  Year 7-9 students have a varied timetable in order to experience a wide variety of subjects  In Year 10 students can ‘choose’ between 2 routes  Ebac and Non Ebac  Students following the Ebac route must choose a language e.g. French or German  Non Ebac students usually follow a less academic timetable to include subjects such as Textiles, Sports, Drama etc

8. Staff  Approximately 80 teaching staff  Each Department has their own Admin Assistant  Pastoral Team Made up of 5 Houses with 5 House Leaders Also have 3 Pastoral Leaders Trained Counsellors on site Also have a Community Police Officer 17-20 Teaching Assistants 2 cover teachers

9. Staff  Students can be referred for counselling sessions with school due to bereavement, receive anger management.  Some students have assistance from a Teaching Assistant or TA. Some may have help for all 25 lessons whilst others have reduced levels of assistance depending on their needs.  IE room to place students in isolation for behaviour management issues

10. Teachers  Teachers usually teach 21 lessons out of the 25 unless they have some form of responsibility e.g. Comenius, Director of Subject etc. These teachers can have a teaching timetable of 18 -19 hours per week.  If a teacher is off then a cover teacher will take the lessons

11. ICT Facilities  5 Dedicated computer rooms  Most Departments have their own computer rooms including  Humanities  English  Languages  Science

12. Extra Curricular Activities  The school offers a wide range of extra curricular activities including  Sports Clubs, football, rugby, hockey, netball etc  Art, drama, band, choir  ICT access everyday to all pupils  Homework clubs where they can access support  Eco-club, Gardening Club, Interact, Duke of Edinburugh.  Subject specific clubs e.g. History Club, French and Spanish

13. Rewards  Students are rewarded for various reasons  Behaviour  Attendance  Punctuality  Uniform  No detentions  At various times throughout the year the students with the most points will be rewarded with trips, meals, activities, ice skating and BBQ’s

14. Extra Curricular  School takes every opportunity to participate in various competitions especially within sport including athletics, rugby, netball, football and have gained many trophies.  Some of our students are involved at a County and Country level of sport outside of school include Karate and Katamaran and hopes to be involved in the next Olympics

15. Wider Community  The school encourages links with the community  College and work placements  Fundraising 5 Non-uniform days a year  Lessons for adults (maths and ICT)  Lessons for Primary partners

16. Training  Training School – facility for hire and to offer training to community  Student Teacher programme. This year 5 in 1 department alone  Masters Programmes for staff  Partnerships to support other schools (SJT)