INFO FOR APPLICANTS
Information for Applicants
With around 450 boarders, there are very few independent or state schools with a greater number of boarders. When our planned expansion is complete we expect to be around 1,100 on roll including around 500 boarders, having been just 530 pupils of whom 330 were boarders in 2001. As a State School we only admit UK or EU passport holders or others who already have the right of residence in the UK and none with Tier 4 visas.
Thinking of teaching? Find out more about PGCE and School Direct courses here. The School is part of the School Direct Warwick Partnership, as such we offer both salaried and unsalaried School Direct training places.
More information regarding teaching and support roles at the school can be found here and here.
The origins of Royal Alexandra and Albert School
We are an amalgamation of the Royal Alexandra School, which admitted its first pupils in 1760 and the Royal Albert School which began in 1864. Both were originally founded as Orphanage Schools and we still continue this charitable work. Some 50 Boarders and 30 Flexi Boarders are "Foundationers", so called because their places are funded by the School's Charitable Foundation and other charities.
So what exactly is a State Boarding School?
The education provided between 8.30 am and 3.35 pm is financed by government through the Local Authority - in our case Surrey County Council. Everything else: the boarding provision, meals and the activities that we run is financed by the charges paid by parents.
We have two categories of pupil:
Full Boarders, whose parents currently pay £4,785 per term which is only £14,355 per year (compared to around £35k for a major independent boarding School). There is no reduction in charges for weekly boarders and we usually have between 200 and 250 boarders in School on a Saturday night.
Flexi Boarders, who are attached to boarding houses, entitled to all meals, take part in all activities and sleep between 7 and 10 nights per year in School. The termly charge for Flexi Boarders is £1,786 and the charge is slightly lower for Junior Flexi Boarders.
We teach on Saturday mornings and have no compulsory exeat weekends.
Places for local children are very heavily oversubscribed - for September 2016 we had four applications per place for Year 3 and three applications per place for Year 7. Despite this we always aim to find a place for the children of new members of staff moving into the area.
Education Structure
Juniors
The Junior School has one class in Year 3, one in Year 4 but two in Year 5 and Year 6. We usually have about 150 pupils in the Junior school
Secondary
We currently have five classes in Years 7 and 8 ( an average of 26-28 pupils per class) and six in Years 9-11 with a maximum of 160 pupils.
The percentage achieving five GCSEs including English and Maths at grade C or above rose from 37% in 2005 to 62% in 2011, 66% in 2013. It fell to 57% in 2014, but last summer our results increased to 67%.
In addition to compulsory Maths, English Language and English Literature and Dual Award Science we offer a very wide range of optional subjects at GCSE: Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Citizenship, Drama, Food Technology, French, Geography, History, Music, PE, Physics, Product Design, and Spanish.
With the exception of a very few pupils in alternate provision, all our pupils are entered for 9 GCSEs. We run three BTEC courses but no other courses.
Sixth Form
This only opened in 2010, so we only have five lots of A level results. The percentage of entries gaining grade B or above at A level has progressed as follows:
2012 19% with 24 Upper Sixth
2013 39% with 55 Upper Sixth
2014 61% with 55 Upper Sixth
2015 53% with 70 Upper Sixth
2016 51% with 75 Upper Sixth
We have already established a reputation as a strong Sixth Form with three former pupils already studying Medicine and the Head Boy in 2014 declining a place at Oxford to go to UCL(!)
We currently have nearly 170 pupils in the Sixth Form. The Sixth Form is selective as each subject has its own admissions criteria.
We offer A levels in Art, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Drama, Economics, English Literature, English Language & Literature, French, Geography, History, Maths, Further Maths, Music, Physics, PE, Product Design, Psychology, Sociology and Spanish.
We also offer BTEC Courses in Business Studies and Computing
Boarding Structure
We have a co-educational Junior Boarding House - Rank-Weston - with a capacity of 60 beds. This is the only primary boarding provision within the state sector in England.
Albert and Edinburgh Houses are Lower Secondary Boys (Years 7 - 9). Gloucester House and Kent House are for Upper Secondary Boys (Years 9 - 11) as well as having a further 21 study bedrooms for Sixth Form boarders.
Elizabeth House is for Lower Secondary Girls (Year 7 - 9). Cornwall House and Alexandra House are for Upper Secondary Girls Years 9 to Upper Sixth and both have 21 study bedrooms for Sixth Form boarders.
Gatton Hall accommodates up to 45 Sixth Form students with boys and girls on different floors.
Children of staff
We currently have a number of staff children on roll. All staff, teaching and non-teaching are entitled to a 33% discount on charges (pro-rata for part-time staff.)
Improving Facilities - Work since 2003
Teaching
We have built three new Primary classrooms, a new teaching block with two new Science Laboratories, two new general purpose classrooms and a Dance Studio. We converted an old gymnasium into a Performing Arts Centre, created the Bothy Music Centre which includes 10 practice rooms and two classrooms. Six extra temporary classrooms were brought in during Summer 2011 to allow us to cope with rising pupil numbers and a further two were installed in 2012. We also created another Science Laboratory and a new Art Room
Sport
We have constructed a floodlit Astroturf pitch for hockey, three floodlit netball courts and a tartan athletics sprints track, built a Cricket Pavilion and a large covered play area for wet weather use and refurbished the Swimming Pool changing rooms. An outdoor gymnasium was opened in 2010 followed by a professionally equipped Fitness Centre in 2013. We have also invested in other sports with a new Stable Block, floodlit outdoor Riding School and an indoor Riding School.
We refurbished an annexe to Gatton Hall in order to create Maitland House which contains 9 bed-sits with en-suite facilities for staff.
The Dining Hall and kitchens have undergone a million pound programme of refurbishment and enlargement, allowing us to serve up to a thousand lunches an hour.
ICT facilities are excellent. We have created four classrooms each with 27 workstations. The two main ICT classrooms were completely remodelled and new equipment installed in 2016. Seven secondary boarding houses also have ICT rooms with 27+ workstations which are used during the day as classrooms. Rank-Weston House and Gatton Hall have smaller ICT rooms. The Sixth Form Centre has further generous ICT provision. The Sixth Form Annexes allow pupils to connect their laptops to the School network. Every classroom has a PC or laptop connection and electronic whiteboard / projector. All teaching staff have the benefit of a school laptop. All units of staff accommodation have at least one network access point.
Further Plans
We plan to level a large area near the Chapel in order to create more grass pitches with a floodlit rugby pitch. When the Sixth Form has reached its planned capacity we will need a new Teaching Block with around a dozen classrooms. An extra Sixth Form Boarding House is also on the shopping list !
In short this is a dynamic, go-ahead School which has been steadily expanding, as well as refurbishing existing premises and adding new ones. Visitors remark on the enthusiasm and friendliness of the staff, the excellent staff-pupil relations and our impressive, ambitious Sixth Formers.
Making an application
There is the facility to on our website to download an application form, fill it in and submit as an e-mail attachment - you may/should be interested to know that all staff appointed in the last eight years have applied electronically!
For ordinary teaching posts applicants do not need any experience or understanding of boarding. We will explain it to you!
You should submit an application form plus a letter in which you explain what experience you would bring to the post and to the wider life of the School.
Please also note that our job adverts do not usually have a closing date. We believe that people who are really interested in working in this successful and growing School will request information and then apply at once - and we consider applications as soon as they are received.
Further questions?
Please have a look around the rest of our website if you have not already done so. It is constantly being updated and improved, but it does give an indication of what sort of school we are.
If you would like to ask about any aspect of a post please e-mail hr@gatton-park.org.uk who will be happy to answer your questions.
Mark Dixon
Headmaster
