Icknield High School

Icknield High School

Type	Academy
Headteacher	Christopher Dean
Location	Riddy Lane Luton Bedfordshire LU3 2AH England Coordinates: 51°54′28″N 0°25′40″W / 51.90785°N 0.42791°W / 51.90785; -0.42791
DfE number	821/5407
DfE URN	137679 Tables
Ofsted	Reports Pre-academy reports
Staff	125
Students	1458
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–16
Website	www.icknield.beds.sch.uk

Icknield High School is a state funded, non-denominational secondary academy school catering for pupils aged between 11 and 16 in Luton, Bedfordshire. Located near the A6 on Riddy Lane, the school is considered to be one of the best in Luton, with top results in KS3 and GCSE.^[1] The headteacher is Mr Christopher Dean.

Courses

The school has a specialism in Art . There are 19 courses on offer at GCSE level with four different art qualifications. These are:

• Art & Design
• Graphics and Digital Media
• Textiles
• Film

School Days

During 1998, Icknield High School was the subject of an ITV documentary titled School Days. The six-part series took in day-to-day activities around the school, in addition to focusing on a handful of pupils threatened with expulsion from the school.

Academy Status

It was announced in late March 2011 that the governing body at the school have taken the contentious decision to fully investigate and explore the possibility of Icknield High School converting to an academy, after much objection from parents and external bodies who felt that the school would operate better under its then current structure. The school formally gained academy status on 1 December 2011.

Uniform

The five years are each represented in the school's uniform by coloured bands on the ties, as of May 2015, these are: Yellow(Year 8), Blue (Year 9), Red (Year 10), Green (Year 11) and Silver (Year 7) for years 7 through 11 respectively. The uniform also includes a blazer with an additional jumper, which is not compulsory. Prefects are given ties which include all five of these colours. The senior prefects are in turn given a band of a certain year, to whom they have to help; the bands are then sewed on to the cuffs of the blazer, ie a senior prefect selected to govern the year 8s would be given blue bands. The Head of Student Voice (school council) receives multicolour stitchings to the cuffs of the blazer, showing each year colour that belongs to the school.

Hijab controversy^[2]

In 2004, the school's policy on uniforms, which banned hijabs, came up for review by the school governors after Luton Borough Council pointed out that the ban might breach the Race Relations Act. The issue was quickly resolved and a black Hijab is now an optional item of school uniform which must be tucked into collar so tie can be seen by school. .^[3]

Notable former pupils

• Leon Barnett - a footballer who attended the school from 1997 to 2002, and was a prefect
• Steve Dillon - comic book artist
• Gavin Shuker - Member of Parliament for Luton South, elected in May 2010.
• Jason Wood - comedian

References

• "Space for Art Case Study: Icknield High School" (Microsoft Word). Artworks Creative Spaces. The Clore Duffield Foundation. 16 May 2000.  — An account of the £240,000 project in 1999 to build a new art block at the school.
• "Icknield High School". Sustainable food procurement initiative : Case Studies. DEFRA. 21 May 2004.  — A case study of the changes to the school's lunch menu instituted by David Lucas, the school's chef, who was previously a chef at the Savoy Hotel, London. It is not unusual to see chips, mussels, or pheasant on the menu.
• "Broadband enabled video conferencing". ICT in Schools. TeacherNet, Department for Education and Skills. 16 May 2000.  — A case study of the introduction of broadband technology to the school.
• Richard Hancock (7 November 2003). "Icknield High School" (PDF). Ofsted.  OFSTED Report.

External links

• Official school web site