Goffs School

Goffs School

Mottoes	"Respect Confidence Achievement" (2006 – Present)
Established	1964[1]
Type	Grammar (1964–1980) Comprehensive (1980–2011), Academy (2011–present)
Principal	Mrs. Alison Garner
Chairman	Mr. John Attard
Location	Goffs Lane Waltham Cross Hertfordshire EN7 5QW England Coordinates: 51°42′23″N 0°03′25″W / 51.70640°N 0.05705°W / 51.70640; -0.05705
DfE URN	117587 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1331 (of which 248 are sixth form)[2]
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Houses	Hawk, Phoenix, Falcon and Eagle
Website	Goffs School

Goffs School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England with around 1,300 students.

The school's motto was "Sola Virtus Invicta", (roughly translates from Latin to "strength of character alone remains invincible"),^[3] however, in 2006 it was changed to "Respect Confidence Achievement".

The school has had five head teachers to date: Dr. Colin Hadley, Dr. John Versey, Mrs. Jan Cutler, Mrs. Paula Kenning and Mrs. Alison Garner, who took over in September 2010.^[4]

In the most recent Ofsted report the school was deemed "good."^[5]

Houses

Goffs School consists of six houses, each named after an influential person from history: Brontë, Churchill, Columbus, Curie, Mandela and Monet. These houses would compete in inter-house sports and enterprise competitions, and tutorial form and registration sessions would be organised in mixed year groups under each house. However, changes introduced in 2009 have taken emphasis off of the house structure – form lessons now occur in year groups, and many inter-house championships have not been reformed to fit the new system. The six-house structure was introduced in 2002; the original house structure consisted of four houses: Davies, Booker, Morgan and Trayhern.^[1] House events often took place including charitable activities towards each house's chosen charity. In 2014 the houses were renamed from Holmes, Pratchett, Branson and Westwood, to Hawk, Phoenix, Falcon and Eagle. Inter-house championships and competitions are being re-introduced within this system to reinvigorate community spirit in the school.

At the end of each year, awards are given to the house with the best achievement, best performance in the weekly quiz, and best attendance level. There is also an overall "best house" award.

Sports

Many of Goffs' sports teams have performed well at the county and in some cases national level. Aside from this, the school often runs inter-house competitions in various sports, such as rugby and a swimming gala in which students and teachers can take part.

The school hosts a sports day annually, held in the summer, which consists of track and field events.

Sporting Facilities at the school include Astro-turf, Sports Hall and a Large Field.^[6]

Notable former pupils

• David Bentley, professional footballer^[7]
• Richard Lewis, professional tennis player, Chair of Sport England,Chief Executive Officer The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
• Suzannah Dunn, historical fiction author

References