Kingsford Community School

Kingsford Community School is a co-educational secondary school with an International School and Confucius Classroom status in the heart of Beckton, East London. With a cohort of 1500 pupils, it is a centre of learning within the community and has contributed to making significant differences to the prospects of young people, their families and indeed the community since it opened in September 2000. In Kingsford’s last Ofsted inspection, the report stated that ‘the pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. They develop into mature and reflective young adults who show a strong sense of responsibility and a genuine concern for others.’

Kingsford Community School is a place for excellence, achievement and progress, it is committed to enabling students to realise their potential through the provision of exciting opportunities which help them to develop their talent. We celebrate and reward both effort and achievement as it is the most effective way to motivate students towards success. All staff work towards setting achievable targets for pupils and regularly review them, in order for each individual to observe and learn from their tangible progress and move forwards to even greater accomplishments.

Kingsford is a place for equality. Equality is at the core of everything we do. We believe that everyone is of equal value and entitled to equal opportunities. We have well established systems for monitoring equality. All Learning Areas have their own policies closely linked to this integral part of the school’s ethos. This ensures that curriculum planning supports our equal opportunities and inclusion strategies.

Kingsford is also a place for partnership. There is clear evidence that students are more successful if parents and carers are actively involved in their education. We keep parents fully informed of their child’s progress through our Profile System, regular parents’ evenings and Student Academic Counselling Days. In the same way, we have developed positive links with primary schools and other secondary schools in both England and abroad. Kingsford’s unique link with independent school Brighton College (the country’s leading co-educational school), has been praised by many, including the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a ‘blueprint’ for partnerships between the private and maintained educational sectors.

Kingsford is a place that transcends the classroom. A dominant aspect of the school’s ethos is committed to the provision of a full range of extra-curricular activities, particularly in: sport, debating, drama, music and computing. For us, learning does not stop when the bell goes. Central to the school-based activities is the Learning Resource Centre, where students can access numerous resources to support their learning, including a variety of e-learning opportunities such as the world renowned Rosetta Stone, an online language learning tool which students can also access at home.

Our new building, is set to enrich student life even further. The state of the art facility boasts: fourteen state of the art classrooms; a lecture theatre for ‘university style’ teaching; a study support centre to promote independent high-level learning skills and additional dining space.

At Kingsford we bridge the gap between independent and state schools and, this can be seen through our links to the London Academy of Excellence and Brighton College Sixth Form. The ability for Kingsford students, each year, to gain scholarships to Brighton College Sixth Form worth £50,000 shows the quality of opportunities available to students studying at Kingsford. Whilst we uphold traditional values of academic achievement and standards of behaviour, we constantly respond to the changing needs of our students and the demands of higher education and employers.

Our sporting prowess is well established within Newham, London and the UK. The school has long held the Sportsmark award, whilst our budding football teams have been regular London Cup winners as well as being National Cup finalists. Students have the ability to participate in a range of sports including: rugby, netball, dance, hockey and athletics. The health of our students is also very important and Kingsford is a recipient of the Healthy Schools Award. At Kingsford we understand the importance of extra-curricular activities. The Coding Club, the Latin Club and Orchestra Rehearsal are just some of the activities students can take part in after school.

At Kingsford, we expect all of our students to contribute to the community and to actively seek to better themselves. Given that students at Kingsford are valued for their individuality and their enormous creative potential, students at Kingsford finish their secondary education as mature, confident and bright individuals.