Peterchurch, HR2 0SG

"This is an outstanding school. At its last inspection, it was outstanding in all main categories. Since then it has significantly improved not just in respect of the areas for development identified in that inspection but also in terms of major developments to its educational provision for pupils and in the response that these have generated."
Ofsted, June 09

Photos

Curriculum and Organization

The Press

Ofsted

Exam results

Write:

Fairfield High School
Peterchurch
Herefordshire
HR2 0SG

Phone: 01 981 550 231

Email: admin@fairfield.hereford.sch.uk

Map

Click here for a map of the area and driving instructions

and here for a beautiful, hand-drawn one

Calendar

For an online calendar of important Fairfield dates, please click here.

The people and the animals

Pupils' Area

Staff Area

We are proud to show you our outstanding school in the depths of rural Herefordshire, complete with pupils, adults and animals.
One of the very smallest schools in Britain and one of the very best if Ofsted, exam results and league tables, parents and pupils are anything to go by. Small schools can provide a completely rounded experience and a full range of opportunities - social, creative, sporting, as well as superb exam results. It requires dedication, vision, commitment and energy and a mutual respect and purpose among everyone who works and studies at the school.

Please follow this link for more about the whole Fairfield experience.

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Mr Barker, Headmaster,

Mr Brereton, Deputy Head and

Mr Walker, science teacher

They have clocked up over 100 years of teaching between them: Mr Walker, 43 years; Mr Brereton and Mr Barker 30 years each. They may not want to know that their total time at Fairfield totals 76 years! Their enthusiasm and ability to pass that on to others, has inspired generations of pupils from the Golden Valley and beyond. They have also inspired teachers visiting the school, especially after watching whole year groups learn science as a single class. Mr Brereton and Mr Walker’s double-act convinced the majority of pupils that science was worth pursuing at college and university.

Mr Barker became Head of English before being made Headmaster in 1997 and took the school from strength to strength, introducing new education initiatives and developing the school’s curriculum, initially offering GNVQ Engineering and then Animal Care through science well before ‘vocational curriculum’ was in many other schools' vocabulary; today, the school offers a whole range of vocational subjects and holds specialist status for it. He also taught RE and the Ofsted Inspectors in 2006 received a knock on their door from a delegation of pupils wanting to tell them how wonderful Mr Barker’s lessons were.

Together with the senior leadership team, Mr Barker has encouraged members of staff to develop their own areas of the curriculum, drawing out the best from pupils and developing the skills of support assistants wishing to enter teacher training. Through his headship, the school gained specialist Arts and Applied Learning status, became a Leading Edge school and was rated "Ooutstanding" in two Ofsted inspections.

Fairfield works – Mr Barker’s vision that the school is small by design with an ethos that happy pupils learn more is a mantra that has led to the school being oversubscribed in all year groups and the roll was increased from 70 to 90 just last September. The turnout at the opening event of the Hay Festival in 2008 against the restructuring of schools in Herefordshire proved the school’s popularity and the standing ovation when Mr Barker walked on stage was intensely memorable.

They will be missed by many, not just by pupils and colleagues.

Appointment of new Head Teacher

"Mr Christopher Barker has been a superb and inspiring head, and from the time that he told us of his intention to retire we knew that finding a replacement would prove to be an enormous challenge."
Read the letter to parents from the Chairman of Governors here.

GCSE exam results

will be available to collect from Mr Barker at school from 10h – 13h on Tuesday, 24th August.
Anyone far away on holiday may phone for their results from 10h (BST!).

The new school year

begins for pupils on Monday, 6th September
Until then, have a great holiday.

7active

tudorhouse llanrug

Year 7s have been very active. Half the year group has been at Llanrug and half at school doing a wide-range of activities - including Circus Skills and Building a Tudor House.

Follow these links for photos of Fairfield-based activities and Llanrug

bookworm The summer edition of our fantastic writers' and readers' magazine is online now here

Monnow House won Sports day on Monday - for the 3rd successive year - and Livi Hale broke the school record for the Junior Girls' 1500 metres.
Well done to everyone.

littleshop

(by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd)

LSH

Fairfield's spectacular show on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th July: rehearsal pictures by James Jones here.

Fresh

Fairfield Contemporary Dance group performed to rave reviews at this year's Fresh Festival of Dance at The Courtyard. Follow this link for some more photos of the day.

To find out all the wonderful things happening at our local arts centre, The Courtyard, click here.

Eden Project

Our Year 8 Eco-Warriors save the planet and have rather a nice time in the process. See them in action here!

and join forces

As you may have seen in the press this week, Facebook and the CEOP Centre have joined forces to make young people safer online by launching the new ‘ClickCEOP’ application.

All young users of Facebook – and their parents – are invited to add the new ClickCEOP ‘app’ to their profile. Through this app, they will be able to access advice, help and support from the CEOP Centre. Crucially, young people will be able to report instances of suspected grooming or inappropriate sexual behaviour directly from their profile to specially trained investigators.

"Every young person on Facebook needs the ClickCEOP app – this is why.

If you work with teenagers, then you’ll know most of them will be using Facebook. You might even be using it yourself... if so, you will want to know about a new, free application in Facebook that is designed to keep young people safe while they are having fun networking online.

ClickCEOP is a new ‘app’ launched today (Monday 12 July) which links the young user directly from their Facebook profile to help, advice and reporting facilities of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – the police agency set up to tackle child abuse.

By adding the app, young people and parents can get support from CEOP on a range of issues – viruses, hacking, dealing with bullying online and they can report someone who is acting inappropriately towards them online.

If you have a Facebook profile, app and bookmark the app. If children in your care are on Facebook, get them to search ‘ClickCEOP’ in Facebook and give them to chance to be one click away from help – if they should ever need it.

www.facebook.com/clickceop

Kind Regards,

CEOP"

NUTS...

Not an insult or a link to a lads' magazine but a serious plea NOT to bring nuts to school.

Recently some cashews were spilt on a staircase; this would not seem an immediate cause for concern. However, we have children in school who are extremely allergic to nuts and accidental contact can produce a very severe and in some cases potentially fatal reaction. Therefore we are asking parents to kindly not send nuts to school with children because, unlikely as it may seem, the consequences could be appalling.
For more information on anaphylaxis, click here.
Thank you.

OfSTEDlogo
Fairfield was most recently inspected on June 11th 2009 and if you would like to read what was said about us, click here.

If you are of a squeamish disposition...

Here are more of Miss Naylor's fantastic photos. Steel yourself to make your way through the tarantulas and scorpions, marvel at the exotic colours of the birds, swoon at the cuddliness of the rabbits and, well, just enjoy all the rest too.

All these buildings were built by our pupils!

To house our menagerie of outdoor animals, pupils following the BTEC Construction course under the tutelage of Mr Dillon and Mr Richards built all of these high-spec, sturdy constructions over the last two years.

For individual, bigger pics, click here