About Us

About us

 

Cumberland School is situated in Newham which is just three miles from the city and takes in much of London’s revitalised docklands. It includes City Airport, ExCel international exhibition centre and luxury homes overlooking the Thames.

 

The borough is at the centre of London’s plans for the 2012 Olympic games. The Games will see an 80,000 – seater stadium built in Stratford – which will also be at the heart of a prestigious new development, Stratford City, comprising 4,500 new homes, nearly half a million square metres of office space, hotels, schools and a shopping centre to rival any in the country.

 

Major regeneration schemes are also underway in other parts of Newham, including Canning Town and West Ham. And there’s still plenty of space for more development – the largest available city in Europe.

 

It’s not just the shining new buildings and facilities that make the borough a happening place. Newham has the youngest and most diverse population in the UK. More than 40 per cent of the 254,000 people in Newham are under 25 years old and more than 100 languages are spoken locally – from Albanian to Zhuang. All of which makes for an exciting area rich in culture, flavour and atmosphere where local people take great pride in being part of a global village.

 

The borough’s youthful vigour and creativity has fused with the traditional East End values of warmth, friendliness, community spirit and good humour to make Newham a welcoming place with a unique character.

 

Newham is a great place to buy a house with better prices than comparable parts of London. It’s also a great place to stay when visiting the capital. With ten brand-new hotels, including the unique West Ham United with rooms overlooking the football pitch at Upton Park, there is accommodation to suit every pocket. It’s much cheaper than staying in the centre of London and yet it’s only 20 minutes from most of the top attractions.

 

Cumberland School moved into brand new premises in July 2005 which have the latest facilities and a ‘state of the art’ learning and teaching environment. In particular, the equipment and spaces for sport, including a new state of the art sports hall. This was built as a joint project with Cumberland School, Newham and Greenwich Leisure Limited. It houses two basketball courts, six badminton courts, a handball court, ten 60m sprint lanes, an indoor jump pit, indoor throws area, indoor pole vault, a fully equipped fitness  room and a classroom. Facilities for information and communication technology, design technology and art are also outstanding.

 

The new site also means that we are expanding from six forms of entry to ten forms of entry.

 

Cumberland School is a mixed multicultural inner city 11-16 comprehensive.  We became a Specialist Sports College in September 2003 and have recently been successfully re-designated with ICT as a second targeted subject. The school has been identified as a Higher Performing Specialist School and has successfully bid for a second specialism – Applied Learning. We are the lead school in the west part of the borough of Newham for the School Sports Co-ordinator Programme, which is part of the Government’s Sport Strategy. We have been awarded the Active Sports Mark.

 

At Cumberland we believe in promoting the highest levels of achievement for all our pupils.  We welcome and celebrate the diversity of our pupils and all are encouraged and supported to fulfil their potential.  Cumberland is a forward looking school, creative and imaginative in its approach in ensuring that a quality education is provided for everyone.

 

This year 2009 32% of our pupils gained 5+ A*-C grades including maths and English at GCSE.

 

The KS3 Teacher Assessments all show good progress with English 68%, maths 71% and science 64%. All three subjects improved on last year’s results. 

 

The latest Ofsted inspection (June 2007) was very successful.  Ofsted praised the overall effectiveness of the school.  It said:-

 

·         all students are valued and they make excellent personal development

·         the school gives high quality pastoral care and guidance

·         students are safe and happy at school

·         the school is welcoming, orderly and calm

·         students achieve well overall

·         most students thoroughly enjoy their learning because teaching is good overall

·         the headteacher’s clearly articulated vision is widely shared by adults and students alike

·         standards at the end of Y11 have risen dramatically

 

Staff development is very important at Cumberland and we pride ourselves on a dynamic and supportive programme.  All staff are encouraged to develop professionally and there is a full programme of INSET and support for Newly Qualified Teachers and a tailor-made Graduate Teacher programme.  We also take students from a variety of PGCE courses.  Newly Qualified Teachers can start in the July and all new staff are given a laptop computer.

 

The school was re-designated, for the third time, as an Investors in People school in January 2008.  This is evidence of the strong commitment to and implementation of intensive training and development of its entire staff.  The executive summary noted, ‘The school is a very powerful and dynamic learning environment for everyone within the school community.’

 

The school attracts most of its intake from 6 primary schools.  However, up to another 35 primary schools also send their pupils to us.  Our pupil population reflects the local community and covers the full range of abilities. The school has more forms of entry in KS3 than KS4 and this reflects the growing roll of the school. More than 70 languages are spoken at the school and pupils come from very varied backgrounds. The school has successful Literacy and Numeracy Strategies.  These have been developed to support those pupils that come to us with below average reading skills.

 

There is an active School Council that meets regularly, holds a budget, and is an important voice in the school.  Every year pupils take part in the annual drama production and Christmas Concert.  Pupils’ achievements are celebrated in assemblies, at the Leavers Celebration, Certificates Evening, Awards Evening and at various other events throughout the school year.  We also reward excellent attendance and run a merit system, which rewards a range of achievements with certificates and prizes.

 

All form groups are mixed ability and pupils are placed in classes of 30.  Technology classes and option subjects are smaller in size.  There is setting of pupils in some subjects.  On transfer to Cumberland as much information as possible is discovered about the pupils and in early September they sit two tests - Cognitive Ability Tests and the NFER Reading Test.  From these assessments, decisions are made about whether the Year 7 classes are properly balanced in terms of ability, capability, ethnicity, gender and friendship groups.

 

Cumberland is committed to giving all pupils equal access to the curriculum.  We have high expectations and work extremely hard to ensure the pupils achieve to the best of their ability.  The school is justifiably proud of its applied learning programme and offers Applied GCSEs in Business, ICT and Health & Social Care.  We have been awarded the Study Support Quality Mark for our excellent study support programme.  The school offers one of the new Diplomas in Health, Society and Development and will be delivering Sport & Active Leisure from September 2010.

 

School priorities are housed in our Whole School Development Plan and the School Self Evaluation Form (SEF).  Department priorities are identified in department plans, schemes of work and departmental handbooks.  Each Year Team has its own age specific action plan.

 

The London Borough of Newham has an Inclusive Education Policy.  This means we have places for children with moderate learning difficulties plus other pupils with statements or designated ‘Action Plus’ for emotional difficulties and severe and complex needs.   The school is also a resourced school for children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and has excellent facilities for these pupils.  There is only one special school in the borough.  Newham secondary schools are expected to take all children from their local community.  Cumberland has benefited from having such children in its community.  It is an enriching experience for all and these children benefit greatly from being in a main stream setting.  In our new school all teaching areas have been built to accommodate wheelchair users. The school was awarded the Inclusive Quality Mark in 2006.

 

Our Special Educational Needs Department has a substantial budget and a team of teaching assistants, one full-time administrative assistant and nine teachers.  We also have two EAL teachers and three teaching assistants who support pupils whose first language is not English. 

 

The Leadership Group consists of the Headteacher, two Deputy Headteachers, six Assistant Headteachers and a Director of Resources.  The Deputy Headteachers each line manage a Key Stage and all of the Leadership Group, apart from the Headteacher, line manage departments (or the equivalents e.g. Applied Learning).  The school has three Advanced Skills Teachers, one each in Food Technology, English and Science.

 

Each department has its own area in the school with specialist rooms.   All classrooms have an interactive whiteboard. 

 

Cumberland School provides a programme for its gifted and talented pupils, a Learning Support Centre and employs five learning mentors.

 

There are 85 full time teachers. We have fifty support staff working in teams, providing assistance in the delivery of the curriculum. Twenty four admin and technical staff and nine lunchtime supervisors also support the delivery of teaching and learning.

 

The school is generously endowed with a variety of new technologies.  Each pupil has a very high level of access to computers in all subjects and the ratio of computers to pupils is above the government’s target level.  The school works hard in providing the necessary resources to pupils to take responsibility for their own learning.  Eighty pupils have qualified for a laptop computer to be used at home under a government scheme.

 

The Governing Body meets twice a term and has three committees – and meet regularly. The Governing Body is very supportive of the school and spends an “away day” each year reviewing the work of the school and strategically planning the next year’s work.

 

Pupils have a wide range of choices as they progress into further education, training or work.  We have strong links with both the two colleges in the borough.

 

Every parent and carer can be confident that their child will be given a quality education in a first class environment.  The school is also committed to playing its part in upholding the five principles of the 2004 Children Act

 

  • stay safe
  • be healthy
  • enjoy and achieve
  • make a positive contribution
  • achieve economical well being

All those that work at Cumberland School can be confident that we are committed to supporting the development of all staff and that they will learn and develop effectively and that educational standards will continue to rise.

 

Cumberland School has:

Great teachers and support staff, great pupils and great facilities. If you think you have the skills and commitment to join this team and help us to make a difference, I look forward to hearing from you.

 

This brief introduction is intended to give a flavour of what Cumberland has to offer. For further information, please contact Sandra Bailey, School Manager (Acting).

 

 

January 2010

J Bradshaw

Headteacher