The Forest School, Horsham
The Forest School is a comprehensive secondary school in Horsham, West Sussex, England. It educates students between the ages of 11 and 16 and is a specialist Engineering and Business and Enterprise College. The school liaises closely with Millais School, the girls' school in the town. It was formerly an 1118 secondary modern school, becoming an 1116 comprehensive in 1976. From September 2021, the school is co-educational History. The school's history can be traced back to 1928, when the Oxford Road Senior School opened. This was a co-educational school that in 1932 had  an average attendance of 208: 116 boys and 92 girls; by 1938, this number had risen to 294: 153 boys and 141 girls. After 1944, the school split into Horsham secondary boys' and girls' schools.. The boys' school—then named Horsham Secondary Modern School for Boys—moved to its current campus in Comptons Lane in 1954. In 1958, the girls' school was relocated to a nearby site, and both schools were renamed under the Forest name, leading to the opening of the Forest secondary boys school. In 1976, education in the town was reorganized to form three comprehensive schools and  a separate sixth form college in place of the existing grammar and secondary modern structure. The Forest school was reconstituted as an 1116 boys comprehensive, with sixth form provision moving to The College of Richard Collyer. For a period of time which included 19791985, the school was divided into departments or "Houses", each its own colour. Brunel – Art/Design/Metalwork/Woodwork (Pink), Faraday – Sciences (Yellow), Mansion – Languages (Light Blue), Newton – Mathematics (Red), Shelley – English language/Literature (Dark Blue), Tyler – Humanities (Green) In the late '70's and early '80's, the first computers arrived and these were Commodore Pets (2  with 1Kb memory and 1 with 32Kb memory). These were under the care of the Mathematics department and were later joined by a batch of 16Kb "Pets" and a BBC Micro. The Science Department procured a Sinclair ZX80, then a ZX81 as their first computers. In 2008, the past Houses (Tudor, Stuart, Lancaster, and York) were disbanded, and new "communities" were formed (Dyson, Hawking, Branson and Marconi respectively). The school introduced a 'Vertical Tutor Group' system in 2009, but ceased this in 2020. At the end of 2009 The Forest School Radio was launched. The station was run by students , and the episodes were downloadable podcasts usually available weekly, however, it has since been discontinued. In April 2010 the redesigned school website was launched complete with virtual learning facilities, which are now used mostly for homework and revision material. This website has been taken out of service and now the school has an updated website. The website was created by Cleverbox, who also designed other materials for the school, including prospectus designs and van artwork. In March 2018 the Forest Newspaper was founded, however it collapsed a year later in mid-2019 due to a lack of interest and declining membership . No attempt has been made to restore the newspaper since. In July 2018, the school's headteacher, Siobhan Denning, left after 11 years at Forest School, which saw the school go from almost a 'special measures' Ofsted rating to a 'good' rating. In September 2020, the school withdrew the a 'Vertical Tutor Group' system to return to more traditional Tutor Groups as to be ready for intake 2021 From 2019, the school had been upgrading the out-of-date classrooms to a more moderns standard which included upgrading the interactive whiteboards to new LED OLED screens, the school grounds have  also been upgraded with new ground markings to allow the students to use them for PE. As of July 2020, West Sussex County Council announced proposals to alter The Forest School from a single sex boys' school to a co-educational school from September 2021 entry. and is also used by local groups after school time. In September 2021, the school became co-educational with the new year 7 intake this included 30 girls to start the schools transition to becoming co-educational this also allowed the school to start improving the school more drastically. Also, the school disbanded the  past communities; Marconi, Dyson, Branson and Hawking, these have been replaced by a new House system. The houses are; Osprey, Eagle, Kestrel, Falcon these were introduced to remove the old Male dominated communities to make the school with more open minded and more excepting of the female sex. These were also accompanied by a new strapline 'Learners Today; Leaders tomorrow' these were all chosen by the entire student body using a "democratic" voting system. The school Campus. The school is located on a 20 acre site which includes; The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee school was built in 1977 on  the northern part of the Forest school site; facilities are: science labs (eight), mathematics rooms (seven), English rooms (seven), humanities rooms (eight), DT rooms (eight), media studies rooms (one), music rooms (two) ,drama studios (one), computer rooms (ten), inclusion rooms (three), PE changing rooms (eight), library, main hall, gymnasium, sports hall and multi-use sports area. The Phoenix Stroke Club is situated in the north west area of the school in an old clubhouse. The building cost £1.5 million, and was opened in October 2006. A new Science classroom and a new Food Technology classroom was opened in September  2018. Results. In 2019, the school's Progress 8 benchmark at GCSE was below the national average. The Attainment 8 score was just below the national average. The proportion of children achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs was 36%, compared to 43% nationally. Absence was higher than the national average. Uniform. Blazer and tie: House colour- compulsory for Year 7, optional for Year 8-11. Trousers: Black, plain worsted type material. (Cotton jeans and cords are not allowed) If a belt is required this must have a small, simple and plain buckle. Skirts: Optional for girls  but must be the House colour skirt from TMU Shirts: Plain, white, school style. (If long-sleeved, sleeves must be worn long and buttoned at the wrist at all times) No logo shirts must be worn. Shoes: Plain black leather lace-up or slip on shoes. We will not accept suede shoes, trainers, trainer style shoes, canvas shoes or boots (this includes 'Kickers' style boots or similar). No shoes with visible sports logos are acceptable and they must be able to be polished. Acceptable shoes are defined by the school. Socks: Plain black only. Students must have a separate pair  of white socks for PE. Tie: Appropriate House ties must be worn in the conventional style and length with the top button done up. Ties available to purchase from the main School Office New tie: To be worn with blazer, old tie can still be worn. Sweatshirt: Black with embroidered school badge. No other sweatshirt or jumper is allowed – in or out of school