Oakmeeds Community College

Oakmeeds Community College is a mixed secondary school located in central Burgess Hill, West Sussex, England. The headteacher is Colin Taylor B.Ed M.

Oakmeeds celebrated its semicentennial in 2005. According to Ofsted, in 2010 there were 1059 students at Oakmeeds, between age 11 and 16.^[1] The Ofsted report in 2004 classed Oakmeeds as a "Good School" and in 2008 classed Oakmeeds as a "Borderline to Good School". It is recognised as a Business and Enterprise College and also has Eco School status and the Sportsmark, GCSE results are generally below average. In March it was rated as inadequate by Ofsted and put in Special Measures.

Oakmeeds takes its name from the oak trees in the school grounds, running along the path of a Roman road, and Meeds Pottery, which stood there before Oakmeeds was built. It mainly serves Burgess Hill; but also has students from nearby villages, including Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint, as well as the City of Brighton and Hove area, and Haywards Heath, to the north. Oakmeeds used to have pupils placed into four different houses, based on areas around Sussex. These were Caburn, Ashdown, Beacon and Firle. However, due to a reorder of the pastoral system of the school, it was decided that the houses would no longer exist from September 2008.

At the end of 2008, T block suffered substantial damage to one side as a result of an arson attack. The arsonist, a former pupil at the school who was convicted in March 2011,^[2] destroyed art and RE coursework and put half of T block out of action until September 2010.^[3]

References

External links

• The West Sussex County Council information site
• The Oakmeeds Website (some information is out of date)
• Ofsted inspeection report, 2007: Oakmeeds School
• Teacher forced dying 11-year-old with alopecia to remove her wig because it might encourage other children to dye their hair