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Sherfield School is a co-educational, Independent primary and secondary school (age 3mths-19) located at old Sherfield Manor in Sherfield on Loddon in the English county of Hampshire. It was founded in 2004 by the Gems Education Group[1] and, as of 2009, caters for around 500 students.

Curriculum

According to the School website [2], Sherfield School offers the following educational advantages:

The curriculum at Sherfield School is supported and moulded together by the GEMS Education core values of World Citizenship, Leadership Qualities, Universal Values and Forward Thinking. The school, as well as the Gems Education group in general, supports the view that in this way pupils are not only prepared for academic success, but are equipped to be, "well-rounded lifelong learners and responsible, proactive members of the global community, poised to engage the future with competence and confidence."

To achieve these ends, the curriculum at Sherfield School emphasises the teaching of higher thinking skills as well as encouraging students to undertake managed inquiry based learning (rather than relying on didactic methods of teaching).

Sherfield School further emphasizes the preparation of pupils in a world where globalisation and technology are driving rapid change forward. Sherfield School's curriculum thus encourages the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to enhance classroom delivery of lessons and to enable students to more easily draw on world resources. The school has a French classroom for example which features intellidesks - computers within desks. When a catch is pulled on the desk, the computer rises out of it and the student is able to work with teachers on a variety of research projects in class. However, these computers have never been set up to the system correctly, and haven't been for 3 years.

As a minimum standard the curriculum at Sherfield School complies with the UK National Curriculum as a framework of learning. Philosophically the school has developed a curriculum that expands on this concept. Sherfield emphasises having a curriculum with a sufficient flexibility that can be adapted to provide the best possible education for every individual in the school - via their potential and according to their talents and strengths.

History

The Gems Education Group successfully acquired the location and site of Sherfield School in February 2004 and has since extensively refurbished it. Previously the site, once a Manor House, was owned and operated by North Foreland Lodge, a girls boarding school. The buildings on the site date back, in part, to 1864 and have since been extended over the years to a size in excess of 125,000 sq ft (11,600 m²) with the site also including nine residential units. North Foreland Lodge had been using the site as a school since 1947 but in 2003 Gordonstoun School began a hostile take-over with the help of some NFL school governors. Within a year it had ruined NFL's reputation and finances, backed out of a successful buy-out offer on the day contracts were to be exchanged, and forced a once very successful school to close.

The property was subsequently relaunched as Sherfield School in September 2004, operating as a co-educational day school for children aged 2 – 19.

References

See also

• Education in England
• Education in Northern Ireland
• Education in Wales
• Education in Scotland

External links

• Sherfield School home page
• Gems Education Group
• National Curriculum online official website
• Department for Education and Skills (England)
• Independent Schools Association
• Movie Makers Guide
• Independent Schools Council

Coordinates: 51°18′32″N 1°1′26″W / 51.30889°N 1.02389°W / 51.30889; -1.02389