Lawrence Sheriff School

Infobox UK school
name = Lawrence Sheriff School


size =
latitude = 52.3713
longitude = -1.2555
dms =
motto =
motto_pl =
established = 1878
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Voluntary aided grammar
religion =
president =
head_label = Headmaster
head = Peter Kent
r_head_label = Deputy Heads
r_head = John Miller, Annabel Kay
chair_label =
chair =
founder =
founder_pl =
specialist = Maths and Computing
specialist_pl =
street = Clifton Road
city = Rugby
county = Warwickshire
country = England flagicon|England
postcode = CV21 3AG
LEA = Warwickshire County Council
ofsted = 125753
staff =
enrollment = 800
gender = Boys
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses = Caldecott, Simpson, Tait and Wheeler
colours =
publication = The Weekly Word
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://lawrencesheriffschool.com/
website_name = lawrencesheriffschool.com

Lawrence Sheriff School is a selective boys' grammar school in Rugby in Warwickshire. The school is named after Lawrence Sheriff, the Elizabethan man who founded Rugby School. The school's name is often shortened to 'LSS', or often just 'Sheriff' by boys at the school. In a recent OFSTED inspection the school achieved 'outstanding' in all fields of inspection.

History

Lawrence Sheriff School was founded to fulfill Lawrence Sheriff's original intentions to provide a school for the boys of Rugby, which was originally carried out by Rugby School. By the eighteenth century, Rugby School had acquired a national reputation as a public school and moved to its present site.

As the proportion of pupils from outside Rugby increased and the people of the town seemed to benefit less from Lawrence Sheriff's original bequest, local concern led to the nineteenth century proposal of a Lower School for local boys, with Foundation Scholarships to the Great School. The Lower School was opened in 1878 on the present site of Lawrence Sheriff School with a curriculum designed to meet the needs of a commercial education and preparation for Rugby School. By 1906, a compromise between the traditions of the Foundation and a proposal to hand the school over to the County, led to a Governing body chaired by the Headmaster of Rugby School and containing both Foundation and County Governors.

This partnership continued into voluntary aided status under the 1944 Act.

At the time the school opened, it was on the outskirts of Rugby town, which in 1878 was much smaller than now. The original building (now called Big School), was extended in 1909 with science wings (now used for Chemistry and Physics) on each side. The school continued to grow with several extensions, including the Jubilee Wings (1926 and 1934), the library wing (1957), and major expansion in the early 1960s, which included new biology labs and a new gymnasium. Big School was badly damaged by a fire in 1983, but was immediately restored, so the only tell-tale signs of this event are the steel reinforcements of the ceiling timbers. The venerable school organ was damaged beyond repair and was replaced. The most recent period of growth started in the late 1980s and the school has seen many extensions and new facilities over the last fifteen years.

Present day

Lawrence Sheriff School is now the selective boys' grammar school for Rugby and the surrounding area, with the buildings owned and maintained by the Governors, and the running costs funded by the local Authority.

The school also has an old boys society: the Old Laurentians.

The school has been expanded greatly in the last five years with the construction of a new sixth form centre and the conversion of Penrhos House, originally the sixth form common room, into a Music block.

The school also own nearby playing field, Hart Field, with five Rugby pitches and changing rooms. It is of poor quality, and many Physical Education staff members have complained of the embaressment they suffer everytime visiting schools come to Hart Field. However over the summer months of 2008 the field has undergone regeneration with new pitches created.

Thanks to Sport England funding, the school also houses a regional and local table tennis centre.

The Learning Resources Centre

The Learning Resources Centre is now open to students at Lawrence Sheriff School. This new building comprises of 8 new classrooms (to be split between Maths and Computing) as well as a new library area. This relieves pressure on other departments (notably Art and Design & Technology) of the school who can now move into the vacant old Mathematics rooms, it also allows students using the library to make use of a much more suited 'open' space - rather than the converted Headmasters' House ('Sheriff Centre') which has housed its many books until now. There has, however, been one aspect of controversy since the opening of this new building. Included on the floor is a floor mural, made up of mathematical and literal references (such as the famous formula E = mc²) but also including a cartoon drawing of a made up book entitled "Plays and Devilishly Daring Melodramas". It did not take long for students of the school to quickly realise that this book name had been formed of the initials of Peter Kent, Annabel Kay, Dennis Barnett, Diane Halestrap and Melissa Hipkins - the 5 main members of the schools' Senior Management Team. Apart from the sheer pathetic quality of this display, students at the school feel that this widely reflects the views and personality traits of the aforementioned SMT members (such as self-importance). The inclusion of this book within the floor mural was superfluous, and simply a provocation to students to dislike those involved. Some school members feel very strongly about this.

Various other comments have been made by staff and students about the new building:
* The lighting within the building is bright white 'surgical' style, reportedly causing several students headaches while they work.
* The choice of furniture within the classrooms (apart from being aesthetically poor, with bright orange frames "more suited for primary school") features chairs which are found to be hard to sit up in and tables which are slightly too high.
* Bizarrely, the paint on the walls seems to rub off onto things that make contact with it. Whilst this was initially cause for some amusement with younger students (getting chalk on their fingers and plastering it over other peoples' property), recently people have unwittingly ruined their jackets by leaning on the wall.
* Also bizarrely, the entrance to the building is on the "wrong side". To enter the building, students from most areas of the school must walk around it to the door, whereas a door on the opposite side would have been much more convenient for all.

Apart from the issues with the building, it is seen by many students to be a worthwhile addition to the school. The facilitation of extra classrooms will allow the school to continue in its current growth. As well as this, the provision of two new computer rooms will allow some departments (specifically those that aren't primarily computer based) to explore the advantages of using computers within lesson times.

Recent changes

Many contentious changes have been made in the past academic year, including a new timetable and tutoring system. These have seen considerable debate outside of official forums, by staff and students alike. This system is being introduced in other schools around the country. Its common name is "Vertical tutoring", due to the fact that forms now consist of students from every year. In Lawrence Sheriff, forms are also organised so that only pupils from one house are in a form. Since the start of 2007, much more emphasis has been put on house competition by the senior staff, with forms now having to prepare banners and other "supporters' items" for the school's annual sports day.

There is also a student council at the school.

Notable Old Laurentians

Former pupils at the school are called Old Laurentians and include:
* Steve Beebee — Author and journalist
* Arthur Bostrom — Crabtree in "'Allo 'Allo!" (head boy at the school)
* Will Carruthers — musician
* Ben Croshaw — Producer of Zero Punctuation
* Wayne Clarke — award-winning broadcaster
* Reginald Foort — organist
* Robert George Spencer Hudson — geologist
* Jason Pierce — singer
* Mike Powell — Warwickshire cricketer
* Kevin Warwick — scientist

Other information

* The school has four houses: Wheeler, Simpson, Caldecott and Tait.
* The Parents' Association is in the Guinness Book of Records as the UK's oldest Parents Association
* The school has a partnership with Rugby School and twinned at Years 12 and 13 (the sixth form) of education with Rugby High School

External links

* [http://lawrencesheriffschool.com/ The Lawrence Sheriff School website]
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/old.laurentian/ The Old Laurentians website]
* [http://www.rugbytabletennisclub.net Regional Table Tennis Centre]