Forest School, Horsham

The school began following the separation of the Oxford Road senior school into separate schools for boys and girls in the mid-1940s. The boys' school - then named Horsham Secondary Modern School for Boys - moved to its current campus in Comptons Lane in 1954. In 1958, the girls' school was relocated to a nearby site, and both schools were renamed under the Forest name, leading to the opening of the Forest secondary boys school.[3]

In 1976, education in the town was reorganised to form three comprehensive schools and a separate sixth form college in place of the existing grammar and secondary modern structure. The Forest school was reconstituted as an 11–16 boys comprehensive, with sixth form provision moving to The College of Richard Collyer.[3]

For a period of time which included 1979–1985, the school was divided into departments or "Houses", each its own colour.

Brunel - Art/Design/Metalwork/Woodwork (Pink), Faraday - Sciences (Yellow), Mansion - Languages (Light Blue), Newton - Mathematics (Red), Shelley - English language/Literature (Dark Blue), Tyler - Humanities (Green)

In the late '70's and early '80's, the first computers arrived and these were Commodore Pets (2 with 1Kb memory and 1 with 32Kb memory). These were under the care of the Mathematics department and were later joined by a batch of 16Kb "Pets" and a BBC Micro. The Science Department procured a Sinclair ZX80, then a ZX81 as their first computers.

In 2008, the past Houses (Tudor, Stuart, Lancaster, and York) were disbanded, and new "communities" were formed (Dyson, Hawking, Branson and Marconi respectively). The school has introduced a 'Vertical Tutor Group' system, which was put into practice in June 2009.

This was edited in September 2019, when Year 11's were removed from Vertical Tutor groups and placed in Year 11-only groups, purportedly to help them revise, although the effectiveness of this move is debatable.

At the end of 2009 The Forest School Radio was launched. The station was ran by students, and the episodes were downloadable podcasts usually available weekly, however, it has since been discontinued.

In April 2010 the redesigned school website was launched complete with virtual learning facilities, which are now used mostly for homework and revision material. The website was created by Cleverbox,[4] who also designed other materials for the school, including prospectus designs and van artwork.[5]

In March 2018 the Forest Newspaper was founded, however it collapsed a year later in mid-2019 due to a lack of interest and declining membership. No attempt has been made to restore the newspaper since.

Entrance

In July 2018, the school's headteacher, Siobhan Denning, left after 11 years at Forest School, which saw the school go from almost a 'special measures' Ofsted rating to a 'good' rating.[6]

As of July 2020, West Sussex County Council announced proposals to alter The Forest School from a single sex boys’ school to a co-educational school from September 2021 entry.[2]

The school's current buildings were first opened in 1974, and many of the present buildings date from that time. Its 20-acre (81,000 m²) site also houses the Business & Enterprise Centre, which contains six computer-equipped classrooms and a 200-seater auditorium,[7] and is also used by local groups after school time.[8] The building cost £1.5 million,[9] and was opened in October 2006.[10] A new Science classroom and a new Food Technology classroom was opened in September 2018.

The school has consistently achieved higher than the national average.

School uniform is black trousers, a white shirt (long or short sleeves) a black v-necked jumper (with the school's logo) and a tie with stripes the colour of the community. Prefects wear the same uniform except for the shirt, where instead of white they wear blue and a thinner-striped community-coloured tie.

Senior Prefects wear a badge stating their role. It is worn on the tie and is the Community colour. Furthermore, the Senior Prefects wear all-black ties, with logos in their respective community colours. There are 20 Senior Prefects, including the Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy. Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy have an all black tie with a blue stripe along the bottom, also with a badge.

In 2010, a new summer uniform was introduced which consists of a black polo shirt with the school's logo and community name, instead of the usual white shirt with tie. The uniform returns to normal during the winter.

• The school hosts events organised by staff and pupils. This includes football matches between the students and the teachers.
• There is an annual Performance Evening, which is drama, dance, PE, music, and art.
• In June 2009, an annual event was introduced called 'The FM Factor', a talent show featuring pupils from both Forest and Millais school (hosted at Forest) in which pupils perform dancing, singing, acting, and stand up comedy. In 2009, the contest was won by Michael Jackson Tribute Group "The Thrillerz", who performed a medley of Jacksons hits from the 1980s.
• In July 2009, three pupils organised and choreographed a 'Teachers got Talent' show featuring musical performances from the staff - and featuring successful acts from the 2009 FM Factor. The event raised £500 which went towards a local school for children with disabilities.
• In July 2010 the school collaborated with Millais School to produce a production of 'Billy Elliot: The Musical' in celebration of the shows 5th anniversary in the London West End. It was performed at The Capitol Theatre in Horsham and had three sell-out performances.
• On the second to last night of the summer term the school held the second FM Factor, the winners being Tribal Gaffa Tape who performed The Tesco Song.
• In April 2011 the school put on a production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat".
• The school is regular entrants to the UK Rock Challenge. Its awards from this include 'Performers Choice' and 'Drugs Awareness Award' in 2009, 'Best Staging' in 2010, and 'Best Backstage Crew' in both 2009 and 2010.

In March 2012 the school put on a production of We Will Rock You (musical) with four performances over three days.

• The school raises money for charity with events such as non-uniform days, cake sales, and teacher vs. pupil events. Pupils brought in items from their homes to send to Haiti after the devastating earthquakes.
• In November 2013, the school raised £1500 for the 2013 Philippines Disaster [15][16]