About Us



Lacon Childe School was established in 1735 and has a strong tradition of achievement and academic excellence.  Building upon the long history of success in education, the school was granted Specialist Sports College status in 2001 and is now considered to be a leading Sports College nationally.  Our school enjoys modern, purpose-built accommodation, including a specialist Sports Centre, and we are very proud of the high standard to which we maintain our facilities.

 

Moving forward with our specialism has not meant that we have forgotten our roots: we are an 11-16 comprehensive situated in the small market town of Cleobury Mortimer in rural South Shropshire and we have thriving links with the local community. The catchment area extends to about 200 square kilometres and many pupils live in small villages, hamlets and isolated farms, 70% of pupils travelling to school by bus each day.

 

The excellent teaching staff range from young, recently qualified, through to very experienced staff, all full of enthusiasm and creativity.  High expectations, dedicated and talented staff and our supportive family ethos helps every pupil at Lacon Childe achieve.

 

Our pupils are at the very heart of everything we do.  Every day at Lacon Childe provides us with examples of the amazing capacity our young people have to learn, to enjoy and to succeed.  We also have a strong pupil voice and are very proud of our pupils' willingness and ability to make thoughtful contributions to our school community.

Lacon Childe is a forward-thinking school with some reassuringly traditional values.  The combination enables us to help children achieve and succeed not only academically, but also to become well-rounded, responsible citizens who have the skills, resourcefulness and resilience to play a meaningful role in the ever-changing world in which they are growing up.

 

 

 

The school is housed on one site in purpose-built modern accommodation. There are excellent facilities for PE, ICT, Science, the Arts, English, Maths and MFL. In 2002 we underwent a major building project due to the growth of the school we now have a new Science/Technology block, second ICT room, enlarged Art room and new accommodation for English, History and Learning Support. More recently an extra ICT room has been opened by converting part of the Learning Resource Centre.

The pupils achieve above national standards at GCSE usually placing the school the top 25% nationally for value-added. We were recently placed in the top 100 most improved schools nationally - a remarkable achievement considering our high starting point. At KS3 results are excellent. Each year at least 80% of pupils continue in further education.

 

There are 39 teaching staff ranging from young, recently qualified teachers through to a very experienced staff. The school has a superb Special Needs department and employs 11 Special Needs Assistants; the majority of support is integrated within the classroom. There are 3 full time Secretaries, 2 ICT Technicians, a Science technician and 1 part time Librarian. We also provide our own cleaning.  The catering is supplied by Class Catering Limited.

 

The school was inspected by Ofsted in May 2009 and received an outstanding report.

 

We have received many awards as a result of the outstanding performance of the school such as Sportsmark Gold, FA Charter Mark, Investor in People, Investor in Careers, Healthy Schools Gold Award, a NOF grant for 3 years for Out of Schools Hours Learning. In 2003 we achieved a School Achievement Award from the DfES.

We offer a very extensive programme of extra-curricular activities called the L@fter club which runs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays from 3.30-4.45pm. We then provide transport home for pupils who live in the outlying villages. In addition to this each term is packed with visits, trips, workshops and activities for pupils to support their learning and provide them with enrichment experiences outside the classroom.

We took the decision to apply to become a Specialist Sports College as a result of the strengths of the PE Department, the range and participation rates in extra-curricular activities and the community involvement in Sports. The school became a Specialist Sports College on the 1st September 2001, and is now considered to be a leading Sports College nationally. We have excellent facilities for PE and Sport including a Health and Fitness suite, large Sports Hall and superb outdoor pitches and courts, as described earlier.

Finally, the school is situated within a rural community in South Shropshire but with excellent links to the West Midlands conerbation with National and international transport links.