Chessington Community College

Chessington Community College is a secondary modern community secondary school, sixth form college with a sport centre in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is adjacent to Chessington South railway station operated by South West Trains and connected by bus routes 71 and 467.

It has been rebuilt as part of a £27,000,000 project funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families as part of the Governments Better schools for the future scheme and has been completed with all staff and students now able to enjoy the facilities. The school has mounted many successful productions including Beauty And The Beast, A Midsummer Nights Dream and the most recent A Willy Wonka Production all of which were covered by the local newspapers of Surrey

History

Before 1953, there was only one secondary school in the Chessington area, Moor Lane secondary mixed school, which was opened in 1936. After World War II, large areas of Chessington, east and west of the Leatherhead Road, were scheduled for building development to serve as overspill areas for Surbiton, Kingston and Malden. This meant that new schools had to be provided and it was decided by the then county council to build a new secondary boys' school in Garrison Lane and to retain Moor Lane as a secondary girls' school.

In September 1953, Fleetwood County Secondary boys' school was opened as a three form entry school with 324 boys on the role. There were the usual problems connected with establishing a new school and others due to the following reason:

As house building in the area progressed, boys of all ages were continually being admitted to the school making a stable organisation almost impossible, and in some cases resulting in boys of different age groups being taught in the same classes.

The school very soon became overcrowded and this problem was accentuated because all the rooms had been built for classes of 30.

Some forms had more than 40 on roll and it was only just possible to get them into the rooms. This situation was relieved in 1958 by the addition of two classrooms and a library.

The number of boys from Chessington families was quite small with many boys travelling in from a distance. For the majority there was, as yet, no community tradition and the first settling down period of two or three years was difficult.

Time and the natural course of events solved most of these early problems; building slowed down and the annual intakes were reduced to the normal 3 form entry. Casual admissions during the year became normal and forms were reduced in size so that no form was of more than 35, most being just below 30.

A healthy community spirit began to develop in the school with the increasing growth of extra-curricular activities, societies and other activities which had a noticeable effect on the attitude and behaviour of boys in general.

As a boys' school, Fleetwood was inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectors from the Ministry of Education in July 1962, just prior to the admission of girls. The inspection concluded that Fleetwood County Secondary School for Boys was a good school which made a most valuable contribution to the community it served.

Under the Surrey Development Plan for Secondary Education, girls were admitted to what was renamed Fleetwood County Secondary School, the first girls being admitted in September 1962 when 38 girls joined the existing 383 boys. In the following years, numbers began to rise as more girls joined the school.

During the 1980s, during a period of falling rolls and partly due to the geographical location of the school, numbers began to fall. Consideration was given by Kingston Local Education Authority to close the school. This angered many of the parents and residents in the Chessington and Hook areas who felt that local amenities were being taken away from the south of the borough to its detriment. Following a great deal of political debate locally, Kingston’s Education Committee decided to keep the secondary school in the south of the borough but given the complaints about lack of recreational facilities decided that a new educational establishment was needed in the borough which would also serve the community needs of the Chessington and Hook area.

In September 1989, Chessington Community College was established with Mr. J. P. Hayes as its first headteacher.

In 1992, the College opened its £2 million sports centre which was built not only to provide indoor sporting facilities for the pupils of Chessington Community College but also to serve the sporting needs of the local community in the evenings and at weekends. The College progressed well under the headship of Hayes with the percentage of Year 11 pupils gaining 5 A* -C GCSEs rising from 19% in summer 1990 to nearly 50% in summer 1995.

Awards

The school has achieved sports college status which means the college is a benchmark for the provision sports teaching in the borough, the school often leads and hosts sporting event from Football competition to Netball competitions, the status also means the school gets more fundings for their sports facilities.

Chessington Community College has also achieved Investor in People. The Investors in People Standard is based on three key principles:

Plan – Developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation; Do – Taking action to improve the performance of the organisation; Review – Evaluating the impact on the performance of the organisation.

The college is part of the Socrates Comenius Project, Comenius seeks to develop knowledge and understanding among young people and educational staff of the diversity of European cultures, languages and values. It helps young people acquire the basic life skills and competences necessary for their personal development, for future employment and for active citizenship.

Chessington Sports Centre

Chessington Sports Centre has a large multi purpose sports hall which can be used for badminton, volleyball, 5-aside football (floodlit astro-turf), basketball, netball(floodlit), cricket, martial arts, trampolining, gymnastics, climbing etc.

References

Sixth Form at CCC: A History by Mark Tilley (Original Works)

External links

• Chessington Community College Website
• Chessington Sport Centre

Coordinates: 51°21′25″N 0°18′33″W / 51.35694°N 0.30917°W / 51.35694; -0.30917