Denefield School
History
The school was founded in 1976 and was originally called Long Lane Comprehensive School after its location. This name was later changed to avoid confusion with a primary school of the same name on the same road.
When founded, the school had an enrolment of 180 students in Year 7 which was greatly increased the following year when all the students from Cintra Secondary Modern School joined after that school closed.
The Sixth form took its first students in 1981. Over the years Denefield has continued to grow and by 1992 when it became a grant-maintained school it had over 1,000 students on roll. It was awarded a specialism as a Technology College in 1994.
In 1999, Denefield became a foundation school and in January 2012, Denefield became an academy.
Ofsted judgements
The school was judged Good with outstanding features in 2005;Satisfactory in 2010. In 2012 it was judged Inadequate. In 2014 it was inspected again and judged Good. It was judged as Good following a short inspection in January 2018 and again in November 2023.
Building
The original school building was erected in 1976 as temporary accommodation, however, the old building still stands and much of the school has been rebuilt and refurbished. The school has facilities for Science, Technology, Art and Music and has large grounds which are used for sporting activities. The school was graded 'good' in its last Ofsted inspection in November 2023.
Headteachers
| Name | Dates in post | |
|---|---|---|
| 6th | Mr Edwin Towill | Sept 2019 to date |
| 5th | Mrs Lucy Hillyard (formerly Miss Lucy Dawe) | Sept 2015 to Aug 2019 |
| 4th | Mr Glyn Whiteford | Sept 2008 to Aug 2015 |
| 3rd | Mr Eric Joint | Sept 2000 to Aug 2008 |
| 2nd | Mr Mike Scott | May 1984 to Aug 2000 |
| 1st | Mr Derek Hopkins | Sept 1976 to Apr 1984 |
References
- ^ DFES Performance Tables
- ^ "Cintra network website". Cintra Network. April 2016. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016.
- ^ "Denefield School: Inspection 2012". Ofsted: Denefield School. Ofsted. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ^ "Ofsted: Denefield School 2014". Ofsted. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ^ "Headteachers at Denefield". What do they Know. March 2016.
- ^ "Chronicles of Purley 1990-1994". Project Purley. September 2016. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016.
